Montana husband learns fate for shooting wife and bartender in jealous love triangle slaying

A Montana man who fatally shot his wife and a bartender in a jealous rage will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Kraig Walter Benson was sentenced Friday to 140 years in prison for the August 2023 murders of his wife Jenny, 49, and bartender Logan Gardner, 43, at the Four Acres Bar in Superior.

He received 60 years for each count of intentional murder, plus an additional 10 years for using a weapon in a violent crime. KRTV reports.

Benson was found guilty of the murders in October after video surveillance from the dive bar showed him and his wife sitting together at a table when he suddenly got up to smoke a cigarette outside. according to Law & Crime.

He can then be seen grabbing a gun from his wife’s Chevy Tahoe and returning to the bar, where Jenny is sitting on a stool near the bar while Gardner is bartending.

Benson then pulls the gun from his waistband and shoots Jenny in the head, causing her to fall to the ground as he extends the firearm across the bar towards Gardner, who tries to flee the scene.

At that point, the footage shows Benson shooting his wife a second time as she lies on the ground, and Gardner three more times, even though he is already on the ground near the entrance to the bar.

Benson then fled the scene in his wife’s car, and Gardner was later pronounced dead at the scene, while Jenny died a short time later at a local hospital.

He was caught on camera firing a gun at his wife, Jenny, 49, and bartender Logan Gardner, 43, at the Four Acres Bar in Superior

The suspect was eventually located the next day when he continued to drive his wife’s Tahoe on a Missoula County highway with a flat tire.

After his arrest, Benson repeatedly claimed his wife was unfaithful – and claimed he had no memory of the shooting.

During cross-examination at his trial, Kraig testified that his wife “told me she wasn’t going home with me, but she was going home with Logan.

“I went out and I’m pretty sure that’s why I went out… and went back to the bar to make the final call.”

Before sentencing Friday, Benson also claimed he “also lost my best friend that night… the love of my life” and admitted that “having no memory is not an excuse.”

But he also continued to blame his late wife.

“During the trial, the state made Jenny look like an angel, a person without flaws – they were wrong,” Benson argued. according to NBC Montana.

“Since my arrest, the discovery process has shown a different side of my wife of 22 years.”

Agent Ward, of the Division of Criminal Investigation, even testified at trial that Benson called from jail and said he wanted to take a paternity test for his two daughters he shared with Jenny.

Benson was arrested the next day while driving along a Missoula County highway with a flat tire in his wife’s Tahoe.

One of his daughters, Paige, then called her father “narcissistic” in a victim impact statement at his sentencing hearing, while speaking fondly of her late mother.

She and her sister went on to say that they don’t feel safe in the world with Benson

Jenny’s father, Terry Savage, meanwhile, was in tears in court as he said: “Jenny was my only daughter, the joy of my life, my best friend.”

He added that he hopes Benson will live a “miserable” life in prison.

Others also called Benson a “monster,” with some claiming they are still experiencing post-traumatic stress from the gruesome double murder.

He will now serve his sentence at Montana State Prison.