Michael “Mikey” Burkett

The call to the Park County Sheriff’s Office came from a bar bathroom on an August night in 2023. The Montana woman on the phone reported that her boyfriend had threatened to kill her and was effectively holding her captive.

The woman’s earlier attempt to get help at a convenience store in Fishtail, Montana, had failed, court records say, but her covert call from the Edelweiss in Clark brought her ordeal to an end.

A responding sheriff’s deputy arrested the woman’s boyfriend, Michael “Mikey” Burkett, at the Edelweiss and a series of felony charges followed. The case came to an end last month, when Burkett received a 15-year prison sentence in Stillwater County, Montana, for assault with a weapon, strangulation of a partner and bail jumping. Another five years of prison time were suspended.

Burkett, who’s originally from New Hampshire, never explicitly admitted his guilt, pleading “no contest” to a pair of felonies. And ahead of sentencing, Burkett’s attorney submitted letters that defended him and cast doubt on the version of events put forward by the victim. 

However, District Court Judge Matthew Wald found that Burkett had taken the woman to a secluded area, put a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her. Burkett, 38, also bruised and cut the woman and took away her phone, clothes and car keys, keeping her “naked and helpless” until she agreed to travel to Wyoming with him, Wald wrote in an order.

“The sentence imposed takes into account the impact to the victim, who had to experience hours of terror, fear of death, strangulation, and physical injury,” the judge wrote.

The assault in Montana came weeks after Burkett had reportedly assaulted the woman in New Hampshire; at the time of his arrest in Clark, Burkett was barred from having contact with the woman.

Wald appeared to allude to the earlier incidents in his sentencing order, writing that “there are prior misdemeanor convictions indicative of violation of court orders and controlling behavior.”

‘Is this where you want to die?’

According to charging documents, Burkett and the woman had lived together in New Hampshire, but she moved back to Nye, Montana, in June 2023, after the initial assault. She told authorities it was an attempt to get away from Burkett, but after he was released from jail in New Hampshire, he traveled to Nye as well. According to the woman’s account, Burkett then began stalking her — even showing up at one of her medical appointments.

That August, the woman agreed to meet up with Burkett and they stayed at an Absarokee area campground that night, charging documents say. However, she said he took the keys to her vehicle and told her she couldn’t leave. The next day, on Aug. 25, 2023, Burkett reportedly hit her, held her down, ripped off her clothes, choked her to the point where she came close to passing out and took her to a secluded, wooded area.

“Several times while driving, the defendant asked [the victim], ‘Is this where you want to die?’” says a summary of the woman’s account composed by Stillwater County Sheriff’s Cpl. Cole Warner.

The woman told authorities that Burkett eventually parked and told her to run. He then tackled her and put a knife to her throat.

“He [Burkett] said he would kill her and himself because he was not willing to go back to jail,” the summary says. 

Only after she agreed to go with Burkett to Wyoming — he was set to work as a ranch hand in Pinedale — did he allow her to get dressed, she told authorities.

When the couple stopped at a general store in Fishtail, Montana, around 8 p.m., on Aug. 25, the woman approached a clerk and said she’d been choked and beaten by Burkett. Barefoot and “visibly scared,” she urged the man to discretely call 911, court records say. The clerk did so, but by the time Stillwater County authorities arrived, the couple had left.

A little over an hour later, however, a bartender at the Edeweiss helped the woman secretly call Park County authorities from the bathroom. When Sheriff’s Deputy Jed Ehlers arrived, he placed Burkett under arrest for violating the still-active protection order from New Hampshire.

Stillwater County authorities met with the woman a couple days later and noted “there was no area on her body that did not have either a bruise, laceration or abrasion,” Warner wrote.

Rearrested in Oregon

Burkett was transported back to Montana in late August to face the pending charges and then released on a $100,000 surety bond.

He later contacted the Powell Tribune and suggested legal action if the paper didn’t remove its story about his arrest. Burkett indicated to the Tribune that his charges in Stillwater County would be dismissed, but he instead drew another felony after failing to appear at an April 25, 2024 hearing in Columbus.

Although his bond conditions didn’t allow him to travel to Oregon, authorities later learned Burkett had been working at a Mt. Hood ski resort for months.

When police found him in Hood River on April 26, 2024, Burkett reportedly hid in a van and was “held at gunpoint until his girlfriend was able to coax him from the vehicle,” Deputy Stillwater County Attorney Scott Pederson wrote in a filing.

Burkett fought his return to Montana, but a governor’s warrant brought him back in early June 2024.

Burkett remained in custody until January, when he entered his no contest pleas. He was then re-released on another $100,000 surety bond — with a new location-tracking device — until last month’s sentencing.

Pleading their cases

Burkett’s pleas came as part of a deal with the Stillwater County Attorney’s Office in which the most serious charge of aggravated kidnapping was dismissed. Under the “open plea,” the parties were free to ask Judge Wald for whatever sentence they deemed appropriate.

At the April 17 hearing, the defense argued for probation. That included submitting letters vouching for Burkett’s character and, in one case, attacking the victim’s credibility. An employer in New Hampshire said Burkett was “a gentleman, respectful of others, especially women,” while a former girlfriend wrote that she could “confidently say that he is not capable of the actions he is being accused of.”

Prosecutors, however, sought prison time for the violent offenses, and Judge Wald agreed.

Following the sentencing, a victim advocate with the Stillwater County Attorney’s Office praised the actions of Park County authorities and the bartender at the Edelweiss.

“The Park County Sheriff’s Office was instrumental in thwarting Mr. Burkett’s plans,” she said in an email, adding that the bartender was “the real hero in this whole story.”

Burkett is currently incarcerated at the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge.