Not guilty plea entered in Billings homicide

BILLINGS (AP) — A not guilty plea has been entered on behalf of a woman who reportedly told police she strangled her boyfriend because he told her he wanted to die.

The Billings Gazette reports the plea was entered Thursday on behalf of 32-year-old Lindsay April Haugen, who is charged with deliberate homicide in the Sept. 15 death of 25-year-old Robert Glenn Mast. Haugen’s bail remains at $400,000.

Charging documents say Haugen told police that Mast said he wanted to die and she strangled him because she had wanted to try killing someone with her bare hands. Officials have not released Mast’s cause of death.

Haugen told officers that she and Mast had been dating since August. She said they stopped in Billings while traveling from Olympia, Washington, to North Dakota.