South Dakota man given life prison sentence for ordering, planning murder of ex-girlfriend

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) – The Sturgis man who ordered and helped plan the 2015 kidnapping and murder of his ex-girlfriend will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Thirty-year-old Jonathan Klinetobe was sentenced by a judge in Rapid City who called him a “significant danger to society.”

Judge Heidi Linngren gave Klinetobe no chance of parole after he earlier pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the first-degree manslaughter of Jessica Rehfeld, a 22-year-old from Rapid City.

The sentencing came after four days of arguments and testimony from prosecutors and defense lawyers, a psychologist and psychiatrist hired by the defense and Klinetobe and Rehfeld’s family members.