St. Paul Man Charged With Beating His Wife To Death
ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) -- A St. Paul man is charged with murder in the beating death of his wife early Sunday morning in the city's North End neighborhood.
The Ramsey County Attorney's Office says 65-year-old Arvid Harry Johnson was charged Monday with one count of second-degree murder in the death of Linda M. Johnson, 66.
According to the criminal complaint, Arvid's daughter called 911 at about 3:35 a.m. to report that he had told her he killed Linda. Officers went to the home on the 1400 block of Dale Street, where they found Arvid sitting at the kitchen table, and Linda in a bedroom, wrapped in a comforter and "obviously deceased." A small baseball bat was found near her body, and a note written on a paper towel was found in the room that read "I didn't mean to hurt my wife. I love my wife."
Arvid told investigators that his grandson, who lives upstairs with his daughter and her husband, wanted to sleep with them for the night, but Linda shooed him away. After the boy left, Arvid says he started to argue with Linda, and then "something went off," and he began punching her in the face and head, and then got a baseball and struck her at least once more.
He waited about a day to tell his family, and in the meantime attempted to kill himself.
Arvid Johnson could face a prison sentence of up to 40 years if convicted. Linda Johnson's death marks the city's fifth homicide of 2022.
Local Domestic Violence Resources
Women's Advocates
www.wadvocates.org
Crisis Line: (651) 227-8284
Saint Paul & Ramsey County Domestic Abuse Intervention Project
https://www.stpaulintervention.org
Crisis Line: (651) 645-2824
Minnesota Day One
www.dayoneservices.org
Crisis Line: 1-866-223-1111
Esperanza United
esperanzaunited.org
Bilingual crisis line: (651) 772-1611.
For anonymous, confidential help, people can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or 1-800-787-3224.
