Murder on Montana’s Hi-Line

Clarence C. Pellett

It was the spring of 1951 when a blistering spring blizzard hit the Hi-Line of Montana. This was a usual occurrence for this time of year, but this time it blew in a hitchhiker. Clarence C. Pellett, 59 years of age, knew how debilitating the intense spring blizzards could be, so he stopped to offer the teen traveler a ride. The teen shot Pellett in the back seven times, blood staining the prairie of north central Montana.

The shooter, Frank Dryman, was captured the following day, April 5th, in Canada. The arrest ignited a four-year firestorm of heated debate over capital punishment after the killer was sentenced to death by hanging. Twice sentenced to hang, the confessed killer escaped the noose, when a sympathetic Montana Supreme Court stayed each execution. Frank Dryman was eventually sent to the state penitentiary to serve a life sentence by reason of insanity. After serving just thirteen years of the life sentence, the killer was paroled into the custody of his brother in California. Eighteen months later he absconded. Warrants for his arrest were issued by Montana and the FBI. Still, he vanished into thin air. Impotent against the politically connected, this blue-collar Hi Line family was forced to swallow whole the injustice that the killer had “beat the rap”. Losing its’ patriarch caused a permanent rift in the family. For forty years, the murderer invented a whole new life. He used a series of aliases to hide in plain sight.

Frank Dryman

Spring of 2010 the winds changed. While recovering from cancer surgery, Clem C. Pellett (Clarence’s grandson) stumbled upon a 60 year old newspaper clipping chronicling the heinous crime. Looking to unearth the family secret, Clem tracked down his grandfather’s murderer. After years of work, Dryman was sent back to the Montana State Prison. The story of the capture of the longest absconding fugitive in Montana history was picked up by the media from coast to coast, and even internationally. The coverage even encouraged Pellett’s family to reach out in an effort to reconnect. As of today, the Pellett family is whole again!

Clem’s book, Murder on Montana’s Hi-Line, recounts the enthralling twists and turns of this true Montana murder saga. Follow the fascinating account of a citizen detective tracking down the murderer of Clarance C. Pellett after 40 years. Buy the book for all the details!