Jury Finds Gillette Woman Not Guilty In Plot To Have Brother Stabbed

A Gillette, Wyoming, woman who was accused of helping orchestrate a cross-state plot to kill her own brother walked out of court a free woman Friday after a Washington state jury found her not guilty on all charges. After a weeklong trial in Asotin County, the jury acquitted Phyllis Krogman of attempted first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit attempted first-degree murder in connection to the July 2025 stabbing of her brother at a Motel 6 in Clarkston, Washington.

Her husband, Thomas Krogman, was not so fortunate. Earlier this year, a jury convicted him of attempted first-degree murder and conspiracy for stabbing Daniel Henry—his wife’s brother—multiple times in the face and chest while Henry worked at the Motel 6. Prosecutors said Thomas Krogman drove roughly 13 hours from Wyoming to Washington to carry out the attack. He was sentenced to 39 years in prison on March 16.

According to court documents, investigators claimed Phyllis Krogman helped set the attack in motion through a phone call with her brother roughly a day and a half before the stabbing. During that call, authorities said she asked Henry where he was living and working. Henry reportedly told her he was staying and working at the Motel 6 in Clarkston. Investigators said the conversation turned accusatory when Krogman confronted her brother over claims that he had sexually abused family members years earlier. Henry denied those allegations.

About 36 hours later, prosecutors said Thomas Krogman arrived at the motel and stabbed Henry repeatedly. Henry survived.

Investigators later pointed to a recorded jail phone call between Phyllis Krogman and her husband after he was arrested. In that conversation, Phyllis Krogman allegedly spoke angrily about her brother and referenced alleged victims “from Colorado, Wyoming, to Washington and Idaho.” “I want to know when my brother pays the price for the victims in his past,” she said. Prosecutors used the call as evidence they believed tied her to the attack, but jurors ultimately were not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt.

Even with the acquittal, the case leaves unresolved and deeply personal questions. The allegations at the center of the investigation involve claims of abuse that apparently stretch back years and across multiple states. Those accusations were repeatedly referenced in court filings, though no criminal charges connected to those claims were publicly identified in the case records. Henry survived an attack prosecutors described as a deliberate attempt to kill him. Attempts to contact Henry for comment were unsuccessful.