Angela Michelle Monclova, a 40-year-old white woman, built her adult life in the small town of Scotland, South Dakota, where people knew her first as family—mother, grandmother, sister—and also as a steady presence at work, spending years as a restorative nurse assistant caring for others. Friends and relatives later remembered her as someone devoted to her loved ones, the kind of person whose days were measured in ordinary routines and constant connection—until one violent night tore
those routines apart.
On November 9, 2021, the calm of a house in Scotland shattered when gunfire erupted inside. Investigators said the attack unfolded as a domestic-violence shooting: a man entered the residence and opened fire on the people inside, killing Angela Monclova along with her father, Librado Monclova, and Diane Akins. Two others were also shot but survived—reports identified them as a 5-year-old girl and another adult family member, Vicki Monclova—both badly wounded in the same burst of violence that ended three lives in minutes.
Authorities quickly focused on Francis Lange, described as Angela's former boyfriend, and filed major charges: three counts of first-degree murder for the deaths, and additional felony charges tied to the shootings of the survivors, including aggravated assault. As the case moved forward, the proceedings began to revolve not only around what happened in the home, but also around Lange's mental state and whether he understood the charges and the consequences—questions that were addressed in court as the prosecution and defense prepared for resolution.
The case ultimately ended not with a jury verdict, but with Lange's admission of responsibility in court. In 2023, he pleaded guilty but mentally ill to the killings and to the assaults stemming from the same attack, acknowledging that he shot everyone inside the home that night. A judge later sentenced him to three consecutive life terms in prison without the possibility of parole, closing the courtroom chapter while leaving the town—and the families tied to that house—living with the echo of what happened on November 9, 2021.
