Blake Stangel pleads guilty in 2017 killing of 71-year-old Courtney Fenske
HIBBING, Minn. -- A Hibbing man pleaded guilty to the 2017 murder of a 71-year-old woman on Thursday, officials said.
Blake Stangel, 53, pleaded guilty to second-degree intentional murder and first-degree aggravated sale of a controlled substance, the St. Louis County Attorney's Office said.
Courtney Fenske was found dead in her home near Hibbing on Nov. 29, 2017. Her postal carrier alerted 911 after several days' worth of mail piled up, the sheriff's office said.
An autopsy determined she was strangled to death.
Stangel was a former renter of Fenske. A DNA sample tied him to Fenske's killing.
Stangel was also sentenced Thursday to 340 months on the murder conviction. He will be sentenced later for the substance charge, but will serve the sentences concurrently.
