Paul Walsh and Abby Simons, Star Tribune (Minneapolis) –
Family members say the man arrested in Iowa is suspected of fatally stabbing his mother and nephew in the family’s north Minneapolis home.
The 22-year-old Minneapolis man is under arrest more than 200 miles away in Iowa after crashing the car of the woman he allegedly killed, authorities said Tuesday. The suspect, who has yet to be charged in the killings, is in the Black Hawk County jail and appeared in court Tuesday. He is accused of car theft, leaving the scene of an accident, public intoxication, fleeing Waterloo police and other charges.
“We have two homicide sergeants [in Iowa] trying to find out information, but we are reasonably certain that this is the person” who killed Beatrice Wilson, 57, and her teenage grandson Peter Wilson, said Minneapolis Police Sgt. Stephen McCarty.
Philip Segbee, whose wife is Beatrice Wilson’s niece, confirmed Tuesday that the suspect is her son. Peter Wilson was the son of the suspect’s brother, who still lives in Liberia, Segbee said. Even to the family, a motive remains unclear.
“We don’t know why, he was not even living here,” Segbee said. “He was gone for awhile, and all of the sudden he just came back and did such a thing.”
Segbee said the suspect was last known to have lived in Portland, Ore., with a sister.
Waterloo police say they were led to the man when a vehicle rollover was reported early Monday evening, about 14 hours after the slayings. Witnesses told police said the driver fled on foot over a fence. Officers located him about 9 blocks from the crash scene and subdued him with a Taser, police added.
The car he was driving belonged to Wilson and was the subject of a multistate law-enforcement alert, McCarty said. Waterloo Police Lt. Michael McNamee said officers have recovered other evidence and turned it over to Minneapolis authorities.
Wilson came to the United States from Liberia more than 10 years ago and had three grandchildren living with her at the time. She worked as a nursing assistant at the nearby Minneapolis Veterans Home. Before arriving in Minnesota, she had spent time in Ivory Coast.
