by Debbie Burke
Photo credit: Spa White SulphurSprings Motel
This story hits close to home.
Kyle Ann Morrow author photo
About seven years ago, a woman named Kyle Ann Morrow attended the Flathead River Writers Conference. She was from White Sulphur Springs, a small Montana town of about 1000 residents. Kyle wore a cowgirl hat, rodeo-style clothing, and matching boots. She was vivacious, outgoing, and wrote rodeo romances.
I only remember brief conversations with her at the conference. Two other attendees recall having longer chats with Kyle who described her books as “rodeo erotica.”
On July 12, 2026, Kyle Ann Morrow, 73, was arrested on suspicion of deliberate homicide in the fatal shooting of Gene Gudmunson at the Spa White Sulphur Springs Motel.
Kyle Ann Morrow booking photo, Meagher County
According to staff, Kyle entered the motel on the afternoon of July 12, spoke briefly with them, then went into an office. The employees heard a gunshot. Kyle then came out of the office and allegedly said, “I killed the [deleted]” and left the premises.
Surveillance video captured a woman who matched Kyle’s description entering the motel with a gun then later leaving the building and driving away in a white Nissan pickup.
Later that day, Morrow was arrested at her home by Meagher County sheriff deputies. With a search warrant, they found a bottle of Jameson in her truck, along with an apparent suicide note and written confession.
The Spa White Sulphur Springs Motel was owned by Gene Gudmunson. Kyle Morrow had previously been employed there.
A Facebook post from 2017 shows Morrow in a cowgirl costume at the motel with a scarecrow that won a funniest scarecrow contest.
Morrow has no previous arrest record in Meagher County.
According to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle:
A volunteer at the Meagher County Community Senior Center said Morrow was an enthusiastic volunteer who visited daily to help serve meals, often bringing in fruits and vegetables from her garden.
She patronized the local library almost daily and her own books were on the shelf there.
KBZK.com/news reported on August 11, 2026 that Morrow pleaded not guilty to deliberate homicide. As she was escorted into the courtroom, she smiled and waved at spectators. She did the same on her way out to return to jail where she is being held on $1,000,000 bond.
Morrow’s explicit novels featured what she called “Western justice.” In one book, the main character fantasizes about killing her abusive husband. The first chapter reads: “In the West, hunting season is good camouflage for anyone with murderous intentions.”
Gudmunson was a chiropractor who had bought the rundown motel in the late 1980s and built it into a successful operation. Artist Gary Larson has a studio across the street and painted a large mural on the wall beside the motel’s hot spring pool.
Shortly after the shooting, KTVH.com/news interviewed Larson who was Gudmunson’s friend in addition to being a neighbor:
Larson says the tight-knit community all knew Gudmundson for the person he was and the business he ran, helping bring in tourists from all over.
“I never met a person who didn’t like Gene,” Larson stated. “He’s a very kind gentleman, super kind. He’s generous in ways you can’t even imagine.”
As of this writing, a trial date has not been set.
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A homicide shakes the foundation of small towns because chances are high that residents either know or know of the victim and/or the perpetrator.
TKZers: do you have experience with a serious crime in a small town? Please share in comments.
This story confirms the saying that anyone can commit murder. Wow.
In my husband’s hometown of around 600 residents, a man entered a county magistrate’s home on the edge of town and killed the judge’s wife and daughter. The judge found them when he got home from work.
My husband was a deputy sheriff and knew the family well. The DCI was in charge of the investigation, but the local sheriff’s office remained involved. It was a long, drawn-out journey with several possible suspects but no proof. After months, they got a tip that a guy had bragged to a fellow prisoner in another state that he had blown away a judge’s family to get revenge. Officers flew there to interview the cellmate, who added the information that the guy said he bought the gun, then broke into an abandoned farmhouse to practice with it. When they found the house, and my husband went in, he said it was chilling to see that much hatred and anger displayed in a room destroyed by gunfire. Officers canvassed area gun dealers and found that a man who bought a gun and ammunition that matched what was used in the murders had signed his own name, and was the man who had been in jail and bragged. He was apprehended and went to prison.