Three women are murdered at a small-town beauty salon in Montana Cynthia Paulus, a 71-year-old Caucasian female, had a standing Friday morning appointment at The Hair Gallery in Florence, Montana, but on Tuesday, November 6, 2001, she changed her plans. She had tickets to a University of Montana basketball game later that evening and wanted to look her best. It was a decision that placed her in the wrong place at the most tragic of times. That morning, a customer arriving for an 11:00 a.m. appointment discovered a horrific scene at the salon. The salon's owner, Dorothy Harris, age 62, was found dead near the doorway in a pool of blood. Authorities would soon discover two more bodies in a small utility room: 44-year-old manicurist Brenda Patch and her client, Cynthia Paulus.
Investigators determined that all three women had their throats slit with a sharp instrument in what was described as a grisly and violent attack.
The scene in the small utility closet where Paulus and Patch were found was described as a 'battle scene,' and it is believed they were the first to be killed. Police theorized that the attacker led them to the utility room and forced them to kneel before they were murdered. Harris, it is thought, returned to the salon minutes later and was killed as she entered. The motive for the brutal slayings was not immediately clear. There was no evidence of sexual assault, and no money or items of value were missing from the salon, ruling out robbery as a primary cause. The only things unaccounted for were a couple of salon capes. A witness reported seeing an oddly dressed individual wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a long black coat leaving the salon around the time of the murders, but this person was never identified.
For years, the case stumped investigators, leaving the small town of Florence gripped by fear. Then, in April 2008, a major break appeared to come when two men, Brian W. Weber and Lincoln Benavides, were arrested and faced federal charges for the murders. Prosecutors alleged that Benavides was the head of a methamphetamine and marijuana distribution ring and had ordered Weber, an enforcer for the ring, to commit the killings. The indictment claimed the murders were related to the violent collection of a drug debt. Both men pleaded not guilty to the murder charges.
The hope for justice for the victims and their families was ultimately short-lived. The case against the two suspects began to fall apart. In October 2009, Lincoln Benavides accepted a plea deal, pleading guilty to two federal drug charges, which resulted in the murder charges against him being dropped. A few months later, in January 2010, a federal judge dismissed the final charges against Brian Weber. Prosecutors requested the dismissal, citing a lack of evidence, the death of a key witness, and concerns over the credibility of another witness. To this day, the brutal murders of Cynthia Paulus, Dorothy Harris, and Brenda Patch remain unsolved, and the case is still open.
