BISMARCK — Werner Rümmer has served more than 30 years for a murder he has repeatedly denied committing. Now he must wait longer to learn if he will be granted parole.

The North Dakota Parole Board decided on Tuesday, Nov. 4, to deny Rummer’s parole application and to meet again to consider his case after a judge rules on his motion for a new trial.

“This is a very brutal murder,” board member Jennifer Thompson said before voting to deny Rummer’s parole. Although Rummer is now 65 years old, is disabled from neck and back injuries and walks with a cane, “That wouldn’t keep him from pulling a trigger on a gun.”

Rümmer was convicted in 1995 of the 1986 murder of Gilbert Fassett, a Devils Lake man whose body, mutilated and riddled with stab wounds, was found on the Spirit Lake Reservation.

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