Court documents say deputies found 5-year-old Reign Tyler Blair with a plastic bag over his head.

BOULDER, Mont. — A Whitehall-area woman has been charged with deliberate homicide after deputies found her 5-year-old son dead in his bedroom during an April 24 welfare response, according to court records and local law enforcement accounts.

Kathryn Garaas is accused in the death of Reign Tyler Blair, whose body was found at a home north of Whitehall after his father asked authorities to check on him. The case moved into Jefferson County District Court on May 6, when prosecutors filed the homicide charge. Garaas remained jailed as the case headed toward a June 10 arraignment. The charge places the investigation into a formal court track while leaving several questions unresolved, including what led to the child’s death and what evidence prosecutors plan to present beyond the initial affidavit.

The chain of events began before deputies reached the home at 34 Tatanka Trail, a rural address just north of Whitehall. According to the probable cause affidavit described in local reports, Reign’s father requested a welfare check after receiving a troubling text message from Garaas. Deputies were sent to the home on the afternoon of April 24 for a medical emergency involving a child. When Garaas answered the door, she gave deputies a short answer about where the boy was. “He’s in his room,” she said, according to court documents. The statement led deputies upstairs or into the child’s bedroom, where they found Reign unresponsive with a plastic bag over his head.

Deputies tried to revive the child after finding him, court documents say, but their efforts did not save him. The affidavit says the boy was already dead when authorities made the discovery. Investigators later described the case as a deliberate act and accused Garaas of using the plastic bag to smother her son that morning. The records made public through local news accounts do not spell out the full contents of the text message that prompted the welfare check. They also do not say whether anyone else was inside the home when deputies arrived. Officials have not released a full autopsy report in the public accounts of the case, and the exact medical findings remain part of the developing court record.

The affidavit also includes what investigators describe as Garaas’ explanation after deputies questioned her. When asked why she did it, court documents say, Garaas responded that it was “to save him because things would have only gotten so much worse.” Authorities have not publicly explained what Garaas meant by that statement. The phrase has become a central part of early reporting because it is one of the few direct statements attributed to her in the public record. Prosecutors will have to connect that alleged statement with physical evidence, witness accounts and any expert findings as the case moves forward. Garaas has not been convicted, and the charge remains an allegation unless proven in court.

The home sits near Whitehall, a town in Jefferson County about 60 miles northwest of Bozeman. The case has drawn attention across Montana in part because of the age of the child and the account of how deputies found him. Whitehall is a small community, and court proceedings in Boulder, the county seat, are likely to be watched closely by local residents. The case also reaches beyond the crime scene because Reign’s father was identified in family statements as the person who had raised the boy and later sought help after the message from Garaas. That welfare check request became the key step that brought deputies to the home.

Family friend Colleen Much, who started a fundraiser on behalf of Reign’s family, said Garaas had been separated from the family before but had been staying with Reign and his father for several weeks before the killing. Much said there had been no clear warning in that period. “I cannot and will absolutely not pretend to claim we have even a remote understanding of the reasoning behind this, or what occurred,” Much wrote in the family statement. She added that the family was praying for answers even though “no healing will come of it.” The statement described Reign as a bright and beloved child whose life had centered around his father’s care.

The family statement also focused on Reign’s father and the life he had built with his son before the killing. Much wrote that Reign was his father’s purpose, love and life from the moment the boy was born. She described the household in terms of ordinary childhood joy, saying the child’s life had been filled with love, laughter and precious moments. Those remarks gave the public record a second track beside the court filing: one about the boy’s identity and the grief left behind. While the affidavit outlines what deputies say happened inside the home, the family account frames the loss as the sudden end of a young life known most closely to relatives, friends and neighbors.

The next step in the case is Garaas’ arraignment on the deliberate homicide charge. Local court reporting says the hearing is scheduled for June 10 at 9:30 a.m. in Jefferson County District Court. Garaas was reported held at the Jefferson County Jail on a $5 million bond, though some early accounts also described her as held without bond. At arraignment, the court is expected to take a plea, review custody status and set the path for later hearings. Prosecutors may then turn over evidence through discovery, while the defense may raise motions tied to statements, mental state, bond or the handling of evidence at the home.

The public record rests on a narrow set of facts: a father’s request for a welfare check, deputies sent to a child medical emergency, a mother’s statement that the boy was in his room and the discovery of Reign dead with a plastic bag over his head. The broader case will depend on medical findings, investigative records and court rulings that have not yet been fully aired. Garaas remained in custody as of June 2, and her next known court milestone was the June 10 arraignment in Boulder.

Author note: Last updated June 2, 2026.