Missoula woman charged with fatally stabbing neighbor

MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — A Missoula woman has been charged with stabbing her neighbor in the chest while he slept, killing him.

Nancy Leann Wright made an initial court appearance Thursday on a deliberate homicide charge in the Nov. 3 death of 42-year-old Phillip Benjamin at his Parkside Village apartment.

Wright, 47, did not enter a plea. She requested a public defender and her bail was set at $2 million.

Court records say Wright was arrested Tuesday by officers investigating a report that Wright had gone into someone else’s apartment, sat down and started smoking.

Officers asked her if she’d ever broken into Benjamin’s apartment and she volunteered: “I killed him” and “I was told to do it.”

Benjamin was receiving home health care because he had a traumatic brain injury and epilepsy. His caregiver found his body.