Benefit funds set for ND slayings victims' families

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NEW TOWN — Two benefit funds have been established for the families of four victims shot to death in New Town on the Fort Berthold reservation.

Martha Johnson, 64, and three of her grandchildren — 13-year-old Benjamin Schuster, 10-year-old Julia Schuster and 6-year-old Luke Schuster — were found fatally shot in their home Sunday.

A fourth child, who is 12, witnessed the shootings. Police said he survived by playing dead, and then called 911. A fifth child was away from the home at the time sledding on a nearby hill. Johnson’s husband, Harley, was out hunting at the time of the shooting.

Police say Kalcie Eagle, 21, of New Town, is a “person of interest” in the case. Eagle killed himself in Parshall later Sunday.

The Schuster children grew up in the Warsaw area before moving to New Town earlier this year to live with their grandparents. The children’s parents are Kevin and Rebecca Schuster of Minto.

Calls by The Associated Press to a telephone listing for Kevin Schuster rang unanswered on Saturday.

The Fort Berthold reservation is home to the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara, known as the Three Affiliated Tribes. None of the shooting victims where tribal members, authorities said, but Eagle was.

The FBI is leading the investigation because New Town is on the Fort Berthold reservation. The FBI has not released any details on the shootings.

No information has been released about funeral services for Martha Johnson or the Schuster children.

The benefit funds are: Kevin J. Schuster Family Benefit, c/o KodaBank, P.O. Box 315, Minto, ND 58261; and Johnson Family Benefit Fund, c/o Bethel Lutheran Church, P.O. Box 237, New Town, ND 58763.

Tags: new town, martha johnson, news, slayings, shooting, schuster