WHITE SHIELD, ND ( KXNET ) — A man is being charged with a woman’s death on the Fort Berthold Reservation.

Derick Wilkinson appeared in U.S. District Court this week on two charges, including Assault of an Intimate Partner by Strangulation and Second Degree Murder in Indian Country.

He was arrested after investigators found a woman dead in a home in White Shield.

It happened as a McLean County Sheriff’s deputy noticed black smoke coming from a home along Bloody Knife Street the morning of August 9. The deputy said Wilkinson and another man came out of the home and helped the deputy get inside.

Wilkinson said he lived in the home with his girlfriend and her two kids. Investigators carried two children from the home, one of them needed CPR. But inside, they found a woman dead.

Investigators interviewed the children who told them Wilkinson had previously attacked the woman.

An autopsy on the woman showed she had a broken neck bone which is likely caused by strangulation. Investigators also say the woman had surveillance cameras set up, which they were able to view and see some of the violence on video.

Wilkinson is currently being held in the Ward County jail.

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