The suspect who was previously charged with arson in the death of a Yankton, South Dakota woman last year is now charged with her murder.
47-year-old Joseph James of Norfolk, Nebraska has been charged in Federal Court in Omaha with Murder in Indian Country, Felony Murder in Indian Country, Kidnapping Resulting in Death and Carjacking Resulting in Death.
James is accused in the death of 59-year-old Phyllis Hunhoff, whose body was found in her burned car last November 5th in rural Knox County, on the Santee Sioux Indian Reservation.
Court documents say that James was seen on surveillance video two separate times at the Ohiya Casino gas station early on November 5th getting gas while driving Hunhoff’s vehicle.
The second time he puts gas in a soda bottle and has blood on his t-shirt.
That shirt was recovered by authorities who say DNA testing shows the blood is a match for Hunhoff’s DNA.
