Charges: Man Strangled Girlfriend To Death
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A 50-year-old New Hope man is accused of strangling his girlfriend to death after an argument between the two on Sunday, according to criminal charges filed Thursday in Hennepin County District Court.
Douglas Carl Manny was charged with second-degree murder and faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted.
According to a criminal complaint, New Hope Police were called to an apartment in the 6000 block of West Broadway on a report of an unconscious female. When officers arrived, they found a woman lying face down in the fetal position dead in the living room.
Officers learned that the victim's sister called Manny at about 11:04 a.m. that day saying the victim was unconscious and didn't know if she was dead or alive. She then called 911.
The criminal complaint states officers learned that police had been called to the residence the night before on a domestic call at about 7:30 p.m. The victim was intoxicated but not injured. Manny told police that she assaulted him but he didn't want to press charges.
Manny spent the night in a hotel, and records show he left the hotel at about 10 a.m. the following morning and took a cab to the victim's apartment.
Manny told police he and the victim had been in an eight year relationship, that they lived together for four years and that the relationship was volatile. He admitted they got into an argument the night before and that she attacked him. He told police he saw her alive the next morning and that she fell off a couch to the floor and was unconscious, according to the complaint.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner performed an autopsy on the victim and found bruises on her left cheek and ear, right cheek, both sides of her collarbone, right shoulder, right arm, right wrist, left side of her neck and jaw, back of her head and back of her neck.
The medical examiner also concluded that she suffered internal injuries on both sides of her neck as well as a fractured bone on the ride side of her neck. The medical examiner said the injuries were consistent with someone who had been strangled to death.
Authorities confronted Manny after getting the results, and he admitted to assaulting the victim. He said he grabbed the victim by the neck and squeezed so hard that she gasped for air.
Manny is currently in the Hennepin County Jail.
