Taney County Prosecuting Attorney, Jeff Merrell, announced today that WINDY D. FRIEND, DOB: 4/06/1981, of Springfield, Missouri, was sentenced this morning, May 21, 2014, to two life sentences, in the Taney County Circuit Court. Circuit Court Judge Mark Orr sentenced Friend to life in prison – without the possibility of parole – on each count of first-degree murder.

Friend was found guilty by a Taney County jury of two (2) counts of murder in the first degree, following a six (6) day jury trial that ended on March 31, 2014.

Windy Friend was indicted on charges of murder in the first degree by a Taney County grand jury in December of 2012, for her role in the disappearance and deaths of Russell and Rebecca Porter, of Willard, Missouri, occurring April 18, 2011. Windy’s husband Tony Friend was sentenced in February of 2014 to life in prison without parole, after pleading guilty. Tony’s son, Phillip Friend, previously pled guilty to murder in the second degree and felonious restraint. The trials for Dusty Hicks and Robert Campbell are currently scheduled for later in 2014.