Town file
Belle Fourche, South Dakota
Belle Fourche, South Dakota (Butte County, South Dakota) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 596, "Messy Methy Murder Conspiracy" (10 May 2025). In July 2004 Troy Jason Klug, 26, was living in the Belle Fourche area of South Dakota with his girlfriend, Dwana Beebe.
- Town
- Belle Fourche
- County
- Butte County
- State
- South Dakota
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 596
- Approximate location
- 44.664, -103.859
Episode 596 / 10 May 2025 / 73 min / express
Messy Methy Murder Conspiracy
"We are going to Belfouche, South Dakota, in Butte County" about 0:02:56
The case: Murder of Troy Klug (July 2004). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2025
- Population
- 5,561 people
- Median household income
- $46,151
- Median home value
- $263,100
History, in brief
- Belle Fourche is French for beautiful fork; French explorers named it for the confluence of what is now the Belle Fourche and Red Water rivers and Hay Creek. about 0:04:55
- Beaver trappers worked the rivers in the area. about 0:05:12
- During the gold rush of 1876 farmers and ranchers settled in the valleys and grew food and meat for the miners. about 0:05:28
- Seth Bullock founded Belle Fourche as a place to load cattle onto freight cars for shipment to packing plants in the Midwest. about 0:06:09
- Seth Bullock arrived in Deadwood on August 2nd, 1876 to sell supplies to the miners, the day Wild Bill Hickok was killed. about 0:06:28
The reviews read out
5 stars
"One of the greatest small towns in the United States, full of loving people, with a nostalgia in every season; an amazing rodeo town."about 0:07:02
3 stars
"Mostly a very safe area of small towns where people help each other, but the police can be single-minded, always think they are right and would rather argue than listen."about 0:07:25
3 stars
"The seasons are very different from one another, with very hot summers and very cold winters."about 0:07:46
2 stars
"Very limited eating choices in town; better food and entertainment are 30 miles away in the gambling city of Deadwood."about 0:08:17
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Spearfish, South Dakota12 miles
- Whitewood, South Dakota18 miles
- Hill City, South Dakota53 miles
- Lemmon, South Dakota121 miles
- Sheridan, Wyoming153 miles
- Dickinson, North Dakota162 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.