28-year-old man charged with fatally stabbing Mankato gas station employee
A 28-year-old man faces charges in connection to the stabbing death of a Mankato gas station employee early Tuesday morning.
Michael Miller is accused of second-degree murder in Blue Earth County, according to charges filed Wednesday.
Documents say that a man called 911 to report that Miller was inside a Kwik Trip on Madison Avenue, breaking things. Officers responded to the disturbance just after 3 a.m., according to police.
Charges go on to say that officers found an employee behind a counter, surrounded by a large pool of blood. He was taken to the hospital, where he was declared dead. His cause of death was determined to be multiple sharp force injuries and his manner of death was a homicide.
Surveillance video shows Miller, with a large knife in his hand, opening gas station food. The man who called 911 spoke to Miller and told him he needed to pay for the items, charges say. The video then shows Miller walking behind the counter and confronting the employee, throwing him to the ground and stabbing him multiple times, according to documents. Miller then left the gas station.
He was taken into custody at his home on Tuesday. According to court documents, Miller was under guardianship and living in a group home about a block away from the gas station. A November 2024 well-being report filed by his guardian noted that he "tends to make rash decisions that negatively affect him and could cause harm to others." Court records also say he had been under guardianship since he was 18 years old due to PTSD and permanent brain damage.
In a post-Miranda interview, Miller said he heard voices telling him to destroy and burn everything down.
"I wasn't gonna knife the guy at first. I was just gonna set it on fire, the place on fire," Miller told police, documents say.
Miller said he threw the knife in a dumpster. Officials recovered it, covered in blood.
Second-degree murder carries a maximum sentence of 40 years. The case is under investigation.
WCCO spoke with Kelsey Ogren, who dated the victim — Dennis Vosika — for 10 years. She said Miller was "clearly a danger" and should've been in confinement.
"I'm an advocate for people who struggle with mental health, it's not something that you choose, but I do not believe that this individual should not have been accessible to the public," Ogren said.
She says her boyfriend was one of a kind and will never be replaced.
"He's not a headline on the news, he's not just a victim. He was a beautiful person with a big life," Ogren said. "It feels like a nightmare we can't wake up from."
Ogren said Vosika was an avid card collector and sports fan who loved and cared for everyone around him.
"Honestly, I think Dennis was an angel sent to Earth from God," she said.
She said Vosika had also been battling kidney failure for 15 years.
"Despite the odds against him, just the brightest personality. Resilient, strong, just an amazing guy," she said.
If you or someone you know is in emotional distress, get help from the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. Trained crisis counselors are available 24 hours a day to talk about anything.
In addition, help is available from the National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI. Call the NAMI Helpline at 800-950-6264 or text "HelpLine" to 62640. There are more than 600 local NAMI organizations and affiliates across the country, many of which offer free support and education programs.
