On Monday night, March 31, 2014, a Taney County jury found Windy Dawn Friend (d/o/b 4-06-1981) guilty of two (2) counts of murder in the first degree, for her role in the murder-for-hire plot that resulted in the deaths of Russell and Rebecca Porter, of Willard, Missouri. The eight-woman, four-man jury deliberated for nearly four (4) hours before arriving at the unanimous guilty verdicts. Friend’s trial lasted six (6) days and saw nearly twenty (20) witnesses testify. Taney County Circuit Court Judge Mark Orr scheduled Friend’s sentencing hearing for June 12, 2014.

Murder in the first degree carries a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. The Taney County Prosecutor’s Office did not seek the death penalty for Windy Friend.