Updated 11 a.m. Oct. 6

Nathen Colby Thomas, 33, has been charged with a felony count of deliberate homicide and four felony counts of assault with a weapon in the Oct. 2 stabbing incident that left his one-week-old infant dead and four others injured.

No one is yet in custody in the unrelated Oct. 2 stabbing after the Great Falls High School homecoming game. The student who was stabbed while attempting to break up an altercation is being released from the hospital on Oct. 5, according to GFPD.

Around 11:25 p.m. Oct. 2, Great Falls Police officers responded to a disturbance report at 3805 7th St. N.E., No. 228 in Countryside Village Mobile Home Park.

GFPD investigating two, unrelated, stabbing incidents overnight

The caller had indicated a male had just stabbed two people, including the infant, and that he had taken the baby and was trying to leave the mobile home park, according to court documents.

Officers arrived in the area and found Thomas near the park’s entrance, where he was detained and transported to GFPD.

Other officers continued to the unit and found five people who had multiple stab wounds and lacerations, according to court documents:

• Jessica Brasda, 32
• Samantha Brasda, 36
• Cindy Fulbright, 73
• Gerald Walraven, 38
• A. T., one week old

In an interview with officers, Amanda Edinger, said she was lying in bed with her fiancé, Walraven, when they heard yelling coming from the front room. Walraven went to investigate; Edinger got dressed and went to the living room and saw Walraven, and the Brasdas “covered in blood and obviously injured,” according to court documents.

Goss’ bond increased to $1 million in downtown stabbing death

Edinger told officers that she saw Thomas leaving the residence with the infant in his arms and when she went outside, she saw that Samantha Brasda had gotten the baby back from Thomas.

In an interview, Thomas told investigators that he’d intended to kill his infant child by stabbing her in the head because he “did not want his child to be raised by Samantha and her family and was saving her,” according to court documents.

He stabbed the child in the head, according to court documents.

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Thomas told investigators that he stabbed anyone who tried to intervene before he left the residence. He also told investigators he had been using marijuana and kratom prior to the incident, according to court documents.

Cascade County Sheriff Jesse Slaughter released the cause and manner of death for Aurora Thomas, the infant.

In a media release, he wrote that Aurora was seven days old and her cause of death was “sharp force injury to the brain.”

The manner of death was homicide, Slaughter wrote.

Aurora died at the Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she’d been flown for medical intervention, Slaughter wrote. Her autopsy was also conducted in Salt Lake City.

The other victims suffered injuries, but as of Oct. 5, none were life-threatening, Cascade County Attorney Josh Racki told The Electric.

Thomas was booked into the Cascade County Adult Detention Center at 5:40 a.m. Oct. 3 on a $500,000 bond.

Thomas made an initial court appearance at 1 p.m. Oct. 5.

Racki told Judge John Parker that the state was requesting the $1 million bond due to the “egregiousness of conduct” and Thomas’ past criminal charges.

Couple charged in stabbing, arson

In court documents, prosecutors wrote that they were seeking the $1 million bond since Thomas admitted that he’d intended to kill his child and ultimately succeeded and also stabbed or slashed anyone who attempted to stop him from fleeing the scene.

“These statements indicate that he is an extreme risk to the safety of persons and a flight risk,” prosecutors wrote in their charging documents.

During the hearing, Mike Kuntz, a defense attorney handling initial appearances on Oct. 5, said the “allegations are obviously terribly serious,” and he’d advised Thomas to reserve the right to argue bail once a public defender has been assigned to his case. Kuntz said he advised Thomas not to speak about the allegations with anyone until an attorney has been appointed.

Ahenakew sentenced in 2023 stabbing, transferred to state prison [2025]

Parker said that the charge, though not yet proven, is the “most serious charge under the law of Montana” and that the state’s requested bail was “entirely commensurate” with the nature of the alleged offenses and similar to similarly charged defendants over the last few decades.

Racki told The Electric that under Montana law, unless it’s a capital case, defendants are entitled to bail.

The law states that bail must be reasonable and:

• sufficient to ensure the presence of the defendant in a pending criminal proceeding
• sufficient to ensure compliance with any conditions
• sufficient to protect any person from bodily injury
• not oppressive
• commensurate with the nature of the offense charged
• considerate of the financial ability of the accused
• considerate of the defendant’s prior record
• considerate of the defendant’s prior history of abscondence and fugitivity, including costs incurred by a government entity to transport the defendant to this state
• considerate of the length of time the defendant has resided in the community and of the defendant’s ties to the community
• considerate of the defendant’s family relationships and ties
• considerate of the defendant’s mental health status and of the defendant’s participation in a mental health treatment program
• considerate of the defendant’s employment status; and
• sufficient to include the charge imposed in 46-18-236

Capital cases, meaning the prosecution is seeking the death penalty, have specific aggravating circumstances under state law, but the age of the victim is not included.

Under a $1 million bond, a defendant would have to find a bondsman willing to take on the risk and also pay 10 percent. Racki said bondsmen also typically require collateral for the remaining bail amount, which would be $900,000.

In recent deliberate and attempted deliberate homicide cases, the state has requested, and been granted $1 million bonds, including Leslie Goss and Charlotte Andrade. Lane Gibson and Christopher Jenkins have been held on $750,000 bonds. Jeremiah Gideon has been held since October 2024 on a $500,000 bond and is awaiting sentencing.

Montana last executed a person in 2006. Two people remain on death row, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

The state has executed three people since 1976 and 71 prior to that date.

Thomas has been previously charged with 11 felonies and 21 misdemeanors.

His criminal history includes, according to court documents:

• sentenced on misdemeanor offenses in 2012
• deferred imposition of sentence on a burglary charge in Cascade County in 2013, which was subsequently dismissed;
• felony theft in 2016 in Yellowstone County, which resulted in a three-year Montana Department of Corrections sentence;
• criminal possession of dangerous drugs offense in Missoula County in 2018, which resulted in a three-year DOC sentence;
• misdemeanor criminal trespass to property in Choteau County Justice Court in 2021;
• partner or family member assault charge with no disposition in 2024; in that case, he was convicted of a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge involving the Brasdas