Phelps County Man Sentenced After Guilty Plea In Murder Case

After pleading guilty last week to charges of murder in the second-degree and domestic assault, 37-year-old Michael Douglas Billingsley was sentenced Monday to a 15-year sentence on the second-degree murder charge and 5-years for the domestic assault. The charges resulted from a domestic disturbance that led to violence and death on August 22nd last year.

According to the Phelps County Sheriff’s Department, deputies responded to a home in Beulah in southern Phelps County shared by Billingsley and his girlfriend, identified in court documents only as V.B.

Upon arrival, they found the victim dead and determined that Billingsley had fled the scene. He was later found at a neighbor’s and placed under arrest.

Billingsley’s father, Douglas Billingsley of Exline Iowa, was charged with and pled guilty to one count of Tampering with Physical Evidence in Felony Prosecution and was sentenced in March to 5-year probation.