A Twentynine Palms Marine who was arrested in August, accused of murdering a Murrieta man, and who was subsequently released when the Riverside County District Attorney’s refused to proceed with prosecution, was arrested again last week. Murrieta police say Curtis Krueger, 30, murdered Henry Stange, 54, at his home in Murrieta. On June 2, a ranger discovered Stange’s body partially buried in a shallow grave just off Bighorn Pass Road in Joshua Tree National Park. Murrieta police arrested Krueger and his girlfriend, Ashlie Stapp, 27, August 29, but they were released from jail after the Riverside County District Attorney’s office failed to file formal charges against them within 48 hours of their arrest. Murrieta police continued to work the case with the assistance of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and on December 7, investigators recovered additional evidence that corroborated other evidence. The district attorney’s office then proceeded to file a murder charge against Krueger. On Thursday, December 13, Curtis Krueger was arrested at the brig at Camp Pendleton (where he had been held since he was released in September) on suspicion of murder, booked into a Riverside county jail, with his bail set at $1 million. Curtis Krueger enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2005 and was a first lieutenant and communications officer with Combat Logistics Battalion-7 in Twentynine Palms at the time of his arrest in August.
