The sister of a woman murdered at a Kalispell bowling alley 33 years ago is looking for help in an effort to keep the killer behind bars.

Karen (Kienas) Forsyth was 31 when she was shot in the head and killed by her husband, Jerry Forsyth, in 1979 at their business, the Skyline Bowling Alley.

The murder, planned by Forsyth and a friend, was staged to look like a burglary.

Karen’s sister, Susan Snell of Kalispell, is trying to make sure Forsyth remains locked up in the Montana State Prison.

At the end of this month, the now 66-year-old Forsyth will have his third hearing in front of the Montana Board of Pardons and Parole since being sentenced in June 1986 to 110 years in prison. The hearing was originally scheduled in September.

It is now scheduled for Nov. 29 or 30, with final date and time to be set next week.

Forsyth previously was denied parole following hearings in 2002 and 2007. Snell, who said Forsyth should be in prison until at least May 27, 2039, also fought his parole requests at those hearings.

“It’s horrible, it really is horrible,” Snell said. “You just realize that as time goes on, you’re worried even more every time that they will let him out because not many people will write. And a lot of my family has passed away. I feel like I’m battling this on my own now, and I don’t want my family looking over their shoulders for the rest of their lives.”

Not only does Snell believe Forsyth should remain in prison, but her sentiments also go a step further.

“I believe in the death penalty,” she said. “I wish he wasn’t even here.”

She encourages anyone who knows about or learns about the case to write to the parole board and oppose his release.

The address is: Montana State Board of Pardons and Parole, 1002 Hollenbeck Road, Deer Lodge, MT 59722.

When officers arrived at the bowling alley in the early morning hours of Dec. 12, 1979, they met Douglas Richards, who worked for the Forsyths, and found Jerry Forsyth semi-unconscious on the floor. His wife was dead with a single gunshot wound in her head and an unfired handgun at her feet.

Forsyth and Richards laid out the story that the trio were closing the bowling alley for the night when someone came through the door and knocked Forsyth out. Richards said he was in the basement at the time and claimed to have heard a popping sound before finding Forsyth unconscious and his wife dead.

Later, after being arrested on a charge of sexual intercourse with a girl under age 16 and being offered immunity in the murder case, Richards recanted his original statement.

He told police Forsyth said he no longer loved his wife, was having an affair and wanted to kill his wife so he would retain her share in the bowling alley business.

Richards said he offered to kill Forsyth’s wife for between $40,000 and $50,000. He then acquired Seconal and phenobarbital, both central nervous system depressants, and attempted to drug her to death at the request of Forsyth, but she survived.

Richards then suggested staging a robbery and told police Forsyth shot his wife in the head with a .22-caliber gun, then put her fingerprints on a 9 mm pistol he left at her side. Richards hid the murder weapon and money from the counter in a basement locker to further the robbery lie.

Forsyth originally went to trial in 1980 and was convicted that April, but the verdict was overturned by the Montana Supreme Court because Flathead District Judge Robert Sykes did not define homicide for the jury.

The Supreme Court ruling did not overturn the charges, noting sufficient evidence had been presented at trial.

A second trial ended in a hung jury in December 1982. Jurors in that trial, held in Polson due to publicity issues, complained that the bailiff made several prejudicial comments.

Forsyth was convicted at his third trial in December 1985, and that result was not overturned. He was finally sentenced on June 6, 1986 — 6 1/2 years after the murder.

At Forsyth’s first parole hearing, District Judge Ted Lympus — who was Flathead County attorney at the time of the murder — wrote to the board to argue against Forsyth’s release.

“The chillingly premeditated nature of this murder, coupled with an absolutely total absence of remorse, convinces me and others ... that Forsyth is totally without conscience and remains every bit a threat today as he did then,” Lympus wrote.

A decade since that hearing and 33 years since he went to the murder scene alongside police, Lympus’ opinion has not changed.

“I’m very much opposed to him being released,” Lympus said recently. “The effect of what he did to Karen’s family is continuing. I just think that one of the principal goals of incarceration is to protect the community, and I think that’s still important here because they have a sincere fear of him being released.”

Lympus also said the nature of the crime clearly justifies opposition to Forsyth being paroled.

Current Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan did not mince words when sharing his opinion of Forsyth.

“He’s an unrepentant, recalcitrant bastard,” Corrigan said.

Corrigan plans to attend the parole hearing, and Lympus will attend in his place if he cannot, although Lympus also said he may attend the hearing regardless.

Lympus also appeared at the parole hearing for double murderer Ronald Smith, whom he also prosecuted during his days as the Flathead County attorney.

Reporter Jesse Davis may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at jdavis@dailyinterlake.com.