MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — The Hennepin County medical examiner’s office is identifying the woman found stabbed to death in a Richfield parking lot. She’s 22-year-old Tobista Beyena Mokonnen of Richfield.
Hennepin County prosecutors charged her 24-year-old brother, Guuci Beyena Mokonnen, with first-degree murder in her death on Tuesday. He remained in the county jail Wednesday, with bail set at $2 million.
Both the victim and the killer are natives of Ethiopia.
The medical examiner says Tobista was found about 9:30 p.m. Saturday in the parking lot of the Buena Vista apartments.
The criminal complaint filed in the case says she was holding an eight-month-old child, who wasn’t harmed in the attack.
Her brother allegedly confessed, telling investigators that he was angry his sister wouldn’t allow him to live with her, which led him to become homeless.
If convicted, Mokonnen faces life in prison.
Wanted to kill sister for 3 Years
A man who said he has been thinking about killing his sister for three years was charged with first-degree murder for her death.
Prosecutors charged Guuci Beyena Mokonnen, 24, with the stabbing death of his sister in a parking lot of the Buena Vista Apartments on East 78th Street in Richfield on May 2.
According to the criminal complaint, two people found the victim, lying in a parking lot, holding an 8-month-old child. The witnesses said they called police after they saw the woman’s eyes moving back and forth and heard her make gurgling noises. The child was crying.
When police arrived, the woman was surrounded by a pool of blood and was bleeding from the head and neck. Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene.
Officers took the child, who was not injured, to Hennepin County Medical Center. The child has since been released to family members.
A short time after the victim was found, police said Mokonnen phoned them from the Mall of America in Bloomington, saying he had killed his sister. When officers picked him up, they noticed what appeared to be dried blood on his hands, coat and pants.
Mokonnen told police he was angry with his sister because she wouldn’t let him live with her. He said that because of that, he became homeless and unemployed. He had been staying with his brother, and he took a knife from his brother’s apartment, the criminal complaint said.
Police found a knife that appeared to have blood on it in a storm sewer on East 77th Street. Mokonnen told police he walked to 77th Street and then to Portland and threw the knife down a storm drain.
17 thoughts on “Ethiopian murder victim in Minnesota identified”
It is sad story for the child, her husband and family; but it looks like this ruthless criminal achieved his goal of earning food and shelter in prison for life because he was homeless. Justice in America
It is sad to see two young lives wasted. From the look of it the monster had never been in a refuge camp or never seen a hardship. I don’t know, how many young people in the same situation. We need to develop a community wide awareness to stop this madness.
They should fry him. How can you kill your sister holding a child
Many Ethiopians have psychological problems which are the results of social problems related to many things like economics, politics and so on. My friend was attacked by his wife while holding their one year old son. She lied in court but he already had a picture taken by the cops so he kept his son and she never wanted to get back with him. Actually that was the best thing that happened to him. She was a psychiatric case. She was raped by her cousin as a child and she never made a big deal about it but when she started to pay attention about similar cases in the U.S. she stated to make a big deal out of her child hood experience and it really affected her and her marriage. SO please stop being judgemental. He is not normal. A NORMAL person doesnt do stuff like that. Pray for him and their family.
I don’t think he is ok. He must be sick. Sometimes you can’t fix a stupid.
He was crackhead, lier..MINNESOTA is a welfare state Zero homeless compaire to other states. he is simply mentally ill.stupid who deserve the worst
Min gud new yeminsemaw wogenoche, Ere ebakachihu ende ager beitu enkebaber, yih yawre sira new. He spoiled his life too, not only his sister’s.
extremely sad.how could anyboy kill his own flesh and blood?
What a beast!!!! May be he was a ruthless killer even before he left Ethiopia. Was he in the bushes with these miscreants who killed innocent people just because they are from a different ethnic group? A person with a clear and clean spirit all of a sudden does not change into a beast. He might have been brainwashed and well groomed in killing people just because he can and he wants to. Now he is going to live in comfort for life and call himself a ‘lion’. Get it?!!!! Burn in hell!!!!
He looks like an ex-agazi!!! He should have been put down like dog.
This is very sad sad news.
please, put him in side hot oil and fry him.
This is crazy, how come a normal person do this kind of things on his sister. He is definitely has mental issue. May God let her sole to keep in heaven and punish him.
ደግ አደረገ!! ይህችን ጭራቅ ልኩአን አሳያት!!
There is no word how sorry I am. I couldn’t belive this can happend for individual. Please you guys stop saying he is Ethiopian or Ertirayn! no matter what ever he is. This is not to identify race or identity. God will pay hem what he did on his life. Just pray for who lost his natural mam by this infantile age.
There is no word to explain how sorry i am. I couldn’t accept this could happen to individual. Please you guys stop saying he is Ethiopian or Ertirain! no matter what ever he is. This is not about to identify race or identity.Just pray for how lost his natural mam by this infantile age.
Why this guy became an evil on his own sister? How he could get the courage to end up his sister’s life and left endless grief behind on all their families…
What a sad story! It is a family tragedy at it`s worst. I am in shock because I knew the victim and her family in Ethiopia. My thoughts goes to the whole family members!!