30-year-old Glacier Park murder case recalled

If a murder charge is successfully made in the July 7 death of Cody Johnson, it will not be the first murder case in Glacier National Park history.

The stabbing death of Frederick Pongrace 30 years ago was “one of the few murders” in Glacier Park history, the Hungry Horse News reported in 1984 after a hitchhiker was tracked down and convicted of the Pongrace’s murder.

The body of Pongrace, 33, of Shusan, N.Y., was found on July 14, 1983, below the Crystal Point turnout on the Going-to-the-Sun Road, about a mile past The Loop — where Johnson’s body was found this summer. According to initial reports, Pongrace had fallen about 85 feet and rolled 60 to 70 feet more.

Ranger Jerry Bell, who worked at Glacier Park from 1958 to 1988, was the lead investigator. Rain had fallen the night before, making recovery of the body and evidence difficult, but Bell noted four wounds in Pongrace’s abdomen that he didn’t think were caused by the fall. They turned out to be four stab wounds.

That same day, the Park issued a bulletin for Pongrace’s missing blue 1968 Volkswagen van with New York license plates. Pongrace, who had just retired from the Coast Guard, where he was a lieutenant and worked in the ocean engineering division, had been traveling alone from Washington, D.C., to Seattle. The bulletin also described a man wearing a sheepskin jacket who was seen with Pongrace on July 13 about 3 p.m.

The missing van was found six days later in an alley in Los Angeles. Two men with the van said they had recently bought it. Meanwhile, Bell had received a tip that Pongrace had been seen in Cut Bank with a hitchhiker who matched the missing man’s description. The man had a large black dog with him.

Then in May 1984, Bell received a call from the sheriff’s department in St. George, Utah. They had arrested a man with a big black dog who had been hitchhiking on the freeway and ran when officers approached. The man was Scott David Steel, 23, of Twin Falls, Idaho.

Steel was initially charged with murder and felony theft. Bail was set at $100,000, and Steel was brought to U.S. District Court in Missoula for trial. A third charge of interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle was added.

The jury convicted Steel of all three counts in August 1984. Prosecutor Robert Zimmerman presented 43 exhibits and called 27 witnesses, and the jury deliberated for four hours. Steel was sentenced a month later to life in prison. He was paroled after serving 16 years.