Cuando la policía respondió el lunes a una casa de St. Paul, encontraron a una niña de 16 años que había sobrevivido a un asalto físico y sexual brutal. La policía también encontró un pariente muerto en el hogar y está investigando el caso como un homicidio.
Los oficiales arrestaron a un hombre conocido tanto por el adolescente como por la mujer de 39 años que murió.
El adolescente “también fue asfixiado, fingió estar muerto, mantenido como rehén durante cinco horas” y fue violada durante ese tiempo, según la madre de la niña. Ella dijo que ella y su familia quieren justicia.
Los agentes arrestaron a Ivan Dan Walker, de 33 años, bajo sospecha de secuestro y conducta sexual criminal. Él es una persona de interés en la investigación de homicidios, dijo la policía.
El caso es “una de las escenas más perturbadoras y desgarradoras que hemos visto en mucho tiempo”, dijo Steve Linders, un portavoz de la policía de St. Paul.
Police were called to the 1500 block of East Jessamine Lane between Hazelwood Street and Ames Avenue just before 7 a.m. Monday on a report of a death. Paramedics pronounced the woman who lived in the residence dead.
Police have not released the name of the woman who died.
The teen who was sexually assaulted was taken to the hospital for an examination, an interview and care, according to police. She has been released from the hospital, said her mother, whom the Pioneer Press is not naming to avoid identifying her daughter.
The death of the woman is being investigated as a homicide, but police said the Ramsey County medical examiner’s office has not determined the exact cause and manner of death.
“We won’t know for sure whether or not it is a homicide until more tests have been conducted and that could take up to 10 or 12 days,” Linders said.
The woman was a mother of three who grew up in New Orleans and moved to Minnesota about 20 years ago, according to her sister. She said she was still notifying relatives and didn’t want to release her sister’s name.
She worked overnights as a certified nursing assistant at a senior living facility and was previously president of the tenant’s association where she lived.
“She’s very loving, she has a big heart, extremely giving,” said the woman’s sister, who asked that her name not be used until her sister is identified. “… (You) couldn’t mess with her. She stood her ground on things. She was very determined about stuff and strong willed.”
There were other people in the home when officers arrived, Linders said. Investigators interviewed potential witnesses and processed the scene for evidence.
At about noon, Walker was found in downtown St. Paul and arrested.
As the family mourned on Monday, Linders said members of the police department were also impacted by the case.
“I can tell you that the investigators and our officers on scene were personally affected by this, so there was a sigh of relief when they found him.”
Walker was booked into the Ramsey County jail. Police said he was a resident of East St. Louis, Ill., but a jail log showed he lived at a Stillwater address.