Emmett Nelson Charged With Murdering Woman Found Dead In North Mpls. Alley
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A Minneapolis man faces charges after two witnesses told investigators he admitted to shooting a woman and dumping her body in an alley on the city's north side.
Emmett Nelson, 47, is charged with second-degree murder and possessing ammo or any firearm after being convicted of a crime of violence, according to court documents filed in Hennepin County Monday.
A criminal complaint states two sanitation workers discovered a woman's body in an alley on the 3600 block of Knox Avenue North the morning of Aug. 11. She had been shot twice in the head.
Neighbors told police they heard a car and a gunshot in the alley between 3 and 4 a.m. Officers found a spent bullet and discharged cartridge casing nearby.
A witness who went to Hennepin Healthcare for a sexual assault examination after Nelson allegedly assaulted her told police she was in Nelson's home and saw "brown spots" that he had tried to clean up, which another witness said were blood stains.
The other witness told police Nelson encountered the victim on the street, and when she said something to him, "he blacked out and shot her," according to the complaint. The witness also said Nelson admitted to shooting the victim a second time "to make sure she was dead."
Surveillance footage taken from the alley shows a vehicle the witnesses said belonged to Nelson near the alley between 2 and 3 a.m. Aug. 11 with the victim "chasing after" him, the complaint states. The video also shows the driver entering the alley, turning off the lights and stopping for some time. The driver left the alley around 4:20 a.m.
Police obtained a search warrant for Nelson's home and took samples of the stains for DNA testing.
In an interview with police, Nelson admitted he had driven the car seen on surveillance footage, but said he was home when the murder occurred and his girlfriend may have had the car at the time.
According to the complaint, Nelson is in custody and on parole for a criminal sexual conduct conviction in 2006.
