Librado C. Monclova, a 68-year-old man from Scotland, South Dakota, died on November 9, 2021, after violence erupted inside a home in the small Bon Homme County community. That Tuesday evening, deputies were called to the residence just before 6 p.m., stepping into the stunned quiet that follows gunfire—rooms marked by hurried movement, spent ammunition, and the frantic aftermath of people trying to survive what had just happened.
Investigators later described the shooting as rooted in
a domestic situation involving Angela Monclova, where the attack unfolded at her house and left multiple victims down. Librado Monclova and Angela were found dead at the scene, and a third woman, Diane Akins, was gravely wounded and later died at the local hospital. Two others—Vicki Monclova and a 5-year-old girl—were also shot and suffered life-threatening injuries, requiring air transport to a Sioux Falls hospital for extensive treatment.
According to the affidavit summarized by public broadcasters, the first clues came not from a confession but from what survivors and family could piece together in shock. After the shots, Vicki Monclova made it to her son's house on foot, and another son, Jacob, went to the residence and discovered the victims, including the crying child in a bedroom. The child reportedly mentioned someone named “Frankie,” a name that immediately steered investigators toward a man they associated with Angela from an earlier domestic-violence-related call months before.
Law enforcement focused on Francis Lange and moved quickly. He was arrested without incident at his father's house, and investigators reported finding physical evidence that helped tie the path between the homes to the shooting: a Taurus semi-automatic handgun was located between Angela's house and the father's house, along with other items inside the home consistent with shots fired. A handgun box found under Lange's bed reportedly matched the gun's serial number. Lange told police he lived with his father and had previously lived with Angela, but he declined to discuss the shooting further. He was initially charged with three counts of first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and one count of committing a felony with a firearm, and he was held on a $2 million cash-only bond while the case moved into court.
The case ultimately did not hinge on a contested trial. In 2023, Lange changed his plea to guilty but mentally ill, a court outcome that still carried mandatory life sentences while also acknowledging the role of mental illness and allowing for treatment considerations within the system. He admitted in court that he went into the home and shot the people inside.
On July 24, 2023, the legal arc closed with sentencing in Bon Homme Circuit Court. State officials announced that Lange received consecutive life sentences for each murder count, along with consecutive 15-year sentences for the aggravated assault counts, reflecting both the deaths and the lasting harm to the survivors. With that, the death of Librado Monclova—one of three lives taken in the Scotland home that night—was formally folded into the record as part of a resolved triple-homicide prosecution, marked by a guilty plea and life in prison for the admitted shooter.
