2 Montana women sentenced to prison for Billings carjacking homicide

BILLINGS - Two women who helped carjack a pickup truck that ended with the driver's death in a South Side Billings neighborhood were sentenced to prison last week, Acting U.S. Attorney Mark Steger Smith said.

Violet Jean Littlelight, 23, from Hardin, who pleaded guilty in March 2026 to one count carjacking that resulted in death, was sentenced Wednesday to 24 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release.

Shyanna Jo Whitewolf, 21, from Billings, who pleaded guilty in March 2026 to one count carjacking that resulted in death, was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release.

U.S. District Judge Susan P. Watters presided.

The government alleged in court documents that Littlelight, along with Whitewolf and a third conspirator, Brian Contreraz, 31, lured an acquaintance of Littlelight's to South Park in Billings to rob him and steal his pickup truck.

Littlelight was spending time with Whitewolf and Contreraz in Billings on May 16, 2025, and had been texting that evening with Keith Breckenridge, 51, asking if he would come pick her up. When Littlelight told Whitewolf and Contreraz she'd asked Breckenridge for a ride, the three made plans to steal his truck and take it to a drug dealer they knew in Hardin to exchange for drugs or money.

Littlelight told Breckenridge to meet her at South Park; Whitewolf and Contreraz came along under the pretense of needing a ride. When Breckinridge arrived and saw the two additional people, he grew suspicious and kept the doors on his pickup locked, asking to know who Whitewolf and Contreraz were. Littlelight vouched for them and told Breckenridge they just wanted a ride. With Littlelight's assurances, Breckenridge opened the doors and the three climbed into his truck.

Contreraz told Breckenridge to drive to the alleyway behind Adams Street on Billings's South Side while Whitewolf chatted with Breckenridge to keep him calm. Once there, Breckenridge stopped the truck and Contreraz leaned over and stabbed him approximately 20 times in the neck, chest, and stomach. Littlelight, Whitewolf, and Contreraz then pulled Breckenridge from the truck, placed him on the ground and drove away. Breckenridge died in the alley from his stab wounds.

The three drove the pickup to a house in Hardin where they changed their blood-stained clothes and placed them in the truck. From there they drove to a house on the Crow Reservation, where Littlelight and Contreraz decided they would clean the interior of the pickup and burn their bloody clothes along with other evidence from the truck. As they were cleaning the pickup, BIA officers pulled up. Littlelight and Contreraz ran off; Whitewolf stayed and told officers she had nothing to do with the truck. By the end of the month, law enforcement had all three in custody.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Colin Rubich prosecuted the case. The Billings Police Department conducted the investigation. The FBI adopted the case to assist with expedition of laboratory testing and for federal prosecution purposes.