Star Tribune
30-year sentence for man who fatally shot girlfriend in her St. Paul home, then said it was suicide
A western Minnesota man received a 30-year term Wednesday for fatally shooting his girlfriend in her apartment in St. Paul’s Lowertown neighborhood, then telling police her death was a suicide.
Matthew P. Ecker, 45, was sentenced in Ramsey County District Court after jurors convicted him of second-degree intentional murder in connection with the death of Alexandra L. Pennig, 32, on Dec. 16, 2022.
With credit for time in jail since his arrest, Ecker is expected to serve nearly 20 years in prison and the balance on supervised release.
According to the criminal complaint:
Officers responded to the 200 block of E. 5th Street shortly before 3 a.m. after Ecker called saying Pennig had shot herself in the head four minutes earlier. He told police that he and Pennig had been in an open relationship for two years, and he later told investigators they met at a Fergus Falls clinic where they both worked.
Upon arrival at the apartment, officers found Pennig lying in the bathroom, not breathing, with a gunshot wound to her head. Her hand was on Ecker’s gun, which was on her chest. Officers noted she had little to no grip on the weapon.
Ecker initially told officers that Pennig grabbed his gun after the two got into an argument and that she secluded herself in the bathroom before he heard a gunshot.
The complaint stated that Ecker then changed his story — first telling police that Pennig pointed the gun at her head in front of him, then that she ran into the bathroom with the gun and closed the door on him.
Ecker was brought to police headquarters and agreed to speak to investigators, the complaint said. Ecker repeated to investigators that Pennig took his gun, held it to her head, then locked herself in the bathroom. He said he heard a “pop,” then forced the door open and found Pennig on on the floor with the gun beside her.
He said he placed the gun on Pennig’s chest, washed his hands and called 911 from Pennig’s phone.
A jury found a longtime farmhand in southern Minnesota guilty in the killing of his boss, a man whose death prosecutors argued would bring the debt-ridden worker a “significant financial benefit.”
Travis Joel Bauer, 48, of Winthrop, was found guilty of second-degree murder by a jury in Sibley County District Court on Friday. The jury, after deliberating until 9 p.m., also found him not guilty of first-degree murder with premeditation.
Bauer was arrested last year in connection with the 2022 shooting of his boss, Dennis D. Weitzenkamp, 79.
Winthrop police found Weitzenkamp in his machine shed, slumped over to the left side of his body, with a bloody gunshot wound in the back of his head and no weapon within reach, court filings said. Weitzenkamp appeared to have been about to shuck an ear of corn, police said.
Bauer had helped Weitzenkamp “farm his land for many years and was considered part of the family,” a complaint against him read. Weitzenkamp was an Army veteran who served during the Vietnam War and moved to the Winthrop area in 1998, his online obituary said. He was survived by his wife of 37 years, five stepchildren, and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and enjoyed “watching sports, playing cards, bowling, traveling with family, driving trucks and wintering in Florida,” the obituary added.
Bauer told police that he never saw Weitzenkamp at the farm property after they left for separate lunch breaks. But law enforcement analysis of Bauer’s and Weitzenkamp’s cellphones showed they were both at the farm at the time of the killing. The cap and pants Bauer had on that day had gunshot residue on them, police said.
Law enforcement’s argued Bauer’s finances “had significant debt and was behind on bills,” and that he received calls that he could lose his home if he didn’t pay his debts an hour before Weitzenkamp was found dead. Trust documents disclosed to investigators that Bauer “would receive significant financial benefit” from Weitzenkamp’s death, prosecutors said.
Sibley County Attorney, Don Lannoye, said prosecutors were pleased at the verdict.
Roseville has joined the ranks of Minnesota cities with ordinances aimed at reducing the amount of Styrofoam and single-use plastic takeout containers in the trash.
On Monday, Roseville’s City Council unanimously passed a “Green To Go” ordinance, which requires takeout containers to be compostable, recyclable or reusable. Diners will likely see some changes when they pick up dinner.
“Any takeout food that they bring home from a restaurant, either if they’re getting takeout or if they’re bringing home leftovers from dining in, should be in something that they can put in the recycling bin, or it’s compostable,” said Noelle Bakken, the city’s sustainability specialist.
The city joins neighbors, including Minneapolis, St. Paul, St. Louis Park and Edina in enacting ordinances designed to make takeout containers more environmentally friendly.
The ordinance affects restaurants and food trucks, gas stations and convenience stores, grocery stores and schools. It does not affect hospitals and nursing homes, businesses with no retail food or beverage sales or caterers.
The ordinance includes utensils, though single-use straws may be available in dispensers or given to customers on request.
To-go container materials allowed under the ordinance include recyclable plastics (#1, #2, #5), metal and compostable plastic, paper or fiber products. No longer allowed are black plastic (including #5), Styrofoam and other plastics, including #4 and #6. Prepackaged foods and plastic films are exempt.
Bakken said the vote on the ordinance followed outreach with residents and businesses. Some businesses have been early adopters, and the city will help connect others to more sustainable packaging resources.
Star Tribune
Bloomington offers hopeful model for reducing police clashes with people in mental distress
For more than a quarter-century, James Ayers met with some of the most vulnerable residents in Minneapolis. As the former director of Walk-In Counseling Center, a free and anonymous counseling center on Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis that is staffed by volunteers, he witnessed the value of accessible mental health services.
“The tendency is to take a policing approach, to correct it without getting into what the hell is going on,” he told me.
It’s also why he and other counselors have praised a Bloomington police pilot program that aims to help residents gain access to counseling services when they call 911 during an emergency. The department has been nationally recognized after hiring two marriage and family therapists to help people address life challenges that may demand a mental health professional rather than a police officer.
“The whole idea is that people generally don’t deal with mental health issues until there is blood on the floor,” Ayers said. “And you can get ahead of the game by providing services as soon as possible when people are asking for it. The whole rationale for a walk-in counseling center is that you’ve gotta make it easy for people to talk. And that’s done by privacy, professionalism, timeliness. What’s going on in Bloomington is a good start.”
When I was a child, a relative of mine endured a mental health crisis outside our church. I was too young to understand the totality of mental health then, but I remember the moment when police arrived. One by one, they surrounded him. I was afraid. He wasn’t harmed but the possibility seemed real.
Every police department — and many have partnered with mental health organizations in recent years — should employ resources to address individuals facing mental health crises, as those situations can quickly deteriorate. Counselors and therapists, Bloomington’s program has shown, may help residents find solutions and avoid those encounters with police. They may also help families and individuals process their collective challenges before they matriculate and lead to violence and damage in their homes and communities.
The complexities and problems in policing here and elsewhere are well-documented. The model in Bloomington is one that could work throughout the Twin Cities, but only if patients’ privacy is protected and not improperly used by police. There is value in independent counseling services, but those services are not always attainable for those who need them most.
In Bloomington, more than 4,000 people are uninsured, according to the department, and the service gives those people access to therapists whom they might not see otherwise because of that barrier. To many, 911 is the universal number to call when there is a serious situation they can’t resolve on their own. That’s a habit we’ve all developed over time. Yet, a call to that number should not always start with a police response. If anything, the presence of counselors allows for nuance and patience in these scenarios, says the Minnesota Counseling Association, the local chapter of the American Counseling Association.
