Montana News

Man implicated in Florence hair salon murders back in custody

Posted: Mar 15, 2013 10:49 PM by Dennis Bragg - MTN News

A man once tied to the murder of three women at a Florence hair salon is back in jail, with federal authorities saying he violated his probation.
Brian Walter Weber was once considered a suspect in the 2001 murders of three woman at the Florence business. Federal prosecutors accused him and Lincoln Benavides of killing Brenda Patch, Cynthia Paulus and Dorothy Harris in a brutal attack.
The case dragged on for several years until it was dismissed by federal prosecutors three years ago, with investigators saying they no longer had sufficient evidence to take the murder charges to trial.
However, Weber was still ordered to serve time on a 2005 drug conviction. He finished that sentence and was released on supervised provision last year.
An arrest warrant was issued this week accusing Weber of violation the terms of his probation by associating with someone engaged in criminal activity.
In a warrant signed by Judge Donald Molloy, FBI agents said they had cell phone records showing Weber had been in contact with a Lake County woman who was a convicted felon. Investigators say they learned Weber was "facilitating prostitution" by helping Savonnah Ryan use his computer to post an ad for female escorts.
Weber was arrested and appeared Thursday in U.S. District Court in Great Falls where he was ordered held until a detention hearing set for next Tuesday morning.