A former Twentynine Palms Marine who was convicted last month of murdering a Murrieta man and burying his body in Joshua Tree National Park in 2018 was sentenced to 18 years to life in a Riverside County Court last week. Judge Kelley Hansen denied the defense attorney’s request Thursday that Curtis Krueger’s conviction be reduced to manslaughter from second-degree murder, saying that the jury got the verdict right. Krueger, 32, took the stand during his trial last month and said he followed his 29-year-old girlfriend, Ashlie Stapp, to the home of Henry Stange, 54, in May 2018. Stapp testified that she had sex with Stange in exchange for drugs. Krueger confronted Stange over allegedly sexually assaulting Stapp, and then beat him to death in Stange’s garage. Stapp helped Krueger clean up the crime scene and bury the body in Joshua Tree National Park, where Stange’s body was found about a week later. Ashlie Stapp pleaded guilty to helping Krueger evade arrest and was sentenced to 309 days in custody and three years probation.
