Woman Gets Life For Drug-Related Murder In Mpls.
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – One of three people indicted on first-degree premeditated murder in a drug-related murder in Minneapolis was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday afternoon.
According to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office, 29-year-old Maureen Ndidiamaka Onyelobi, of Minneapolis, was convicted of aiding and abetting first-degree premeditated murder.
According to the criminal complaint, on the evening of March 8 police responded to a report of gunshots near 28th Street and Longfellow Avenue.
Upon arrival they found Anthony Fairbanks, 23, on a snowbank with a gunshot wound to his head.
According to the Hennepin County Attorney's office, testimony during the trial claimed Banks was at his mother's house and had been heard talking on his cell phone just before 10 p.m., saying he would be coming alone.
Witnesses said they heard multiple gunshots at 9:58 p.m. and saw a dark-colored van with a white stripe and cargo top drive away.
According to the criminal complaint, phone records showed the caller Fairbanks had been speaking with as "Black," who Fairbanks' friends said had provided him with heroin.
Police traced the number for "Black" back to Onyelobi. She was then arrested three days later on a separate drug charge.
Officials said while awaiting her police interview, she was seen trying to hide a small key in an electrical outlet. Police seized the key and traced it to a locker in Plymouth that held a weapon that was determined to be the murder weapon.
Video surveillance shows Onyelobi arriving to the storage locker at 9:03 p.m. on March 8, taking the gun out of the locker and then returning it the next morning.
According to the criminal complaint, police found that Onyelobi also owned a van that matched the description of the one fleeing the crime scene.
During the investigation, police learned that Fairbanks had recently been indicated in a federal drug case alongside Onyelobi's boyfriend, Maurice Wilson.
According to the criminal complaint, police listened to calls between Wilson and Onyelobi on March 8 and heard Wilson express concern about Fairbanks, saying how he wanted him "taken care of."
The Hennepin county Grand Jury indicted Wilson, Onyleboi and a third man, David Johnson, in June.
Johnson's trial is scheduled for Jan. 26 and Wilson is currently being held in federal custody on drug charges.
Onyleobi will be sentenced Friday morning to life in prison without parole.