Star Tribune
Man killed his mother in her Uptown condo, fled to Hawaii before his arrest in Kentucky
Murder charges against a man with a history of alleged violent outbursts against his mother were released Thursday that say he beat her in her Uptown condo more than two months ago and fled to Hawaii before his arrest in Kentucky.
Nicholas D. DeRousse, 30, was charged in Hennepin County District Court with second-degree intentional and unintentional murder in connection with the death of Stephanie DeRousse, 60, some time in mid-March in her home in the 3100 block of W. Lake Street.
A warrant was issued for the son’s arrest, and he was captured on May 18 by police 760 miles from Minneapolis in a park in Murray, Ky. He remains in the Calloway County jail as of midday Thursday awaiting extradition and his first court appearance in Hennepin County, which has yet to be scheduled.
An autopsy by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office revealed that Stephanie DeRousse had broken ribs, and bruising to her legs, neck, eyes and elsewhere on her head.
The cause of death, the charges read, was “blunt force trauma and strangulation with the possibility of suffocation due to [a] blanket over her head and her weakened condition from the beating.”
According to the criminal complaint, which was obtained Thursday by the Star Tribune from the County Attorney’s Office:
Acting on a request for a welfare check, officers entered the condo, detected a foul smell and located Stephanie DeRousse dead on a bedroom floor. The officers looked beneath a blanket wrapped around her head and saw numerous injuries.
Clayton DeRousse, who was at the condo with police, told officers that his older brother Nicholas DeRousse no longer lived with his mother and had recently moved back to Murray. He said he last spoke with his mother on March 11, when she was vacationing in Spain, but he failed to reach her upon her return.
Condo building video surveillance showed Stephanie DeRousse returning home about 8:50 p.m. on March 12 and again the next afternoon receiving a food delivery.
“This is the last time the victim is seen alive,” the complaint read.
Video also revealed Nicholas DeRousse at the condo four times between March 13 and March 15 before he took a flight to Denver, then a connecting flight to Los Angeles. Two days later, he was on a plane to Hawaii. The complaint did not address his return to the U.S. mainland.
First in June 2017 and again in April 2018, Stephanie DeRousse petitioned the court for orders for protection against Nicholas DeRousse, alleging outbursts directed at her that at times turned violent.
Both petitions said Stephanie DeRousse called police at least twice about her son’s behavior. Court records show no charges were filed in connection with the mother’s allegations, although he was arrested in April 2018, charged and convicted of a gross misdemeanor for resisting officers who came to the condo to enforce one of the protection orders.
In the first filing, Stephanie DeRousse said that on June 13, 2017, her son was “acting paranoid, agitated and seeing things.” She said he got angry over her feeding his son a grilled cheese sandwich. She said he called her vulgar names, injured her wrist while grabbing it and blocked her from leaving the condo they shared.
Two weeks earlier, the filing continued, she said her son “began violently waving [a] bat around. [He said] his father and brother are coming from St. Louis to take his son away.”
She withdrew the request for protection a few days later, explaining in the second petition, “I believed him that he was going to get help and become a better person.”
The second petition followed a string of incidents in 2018 that spanned nearly two weeks until April 10, when she alleged that her son soiled her bed, poured bleach on her clothes and she suspected him of stealing $20,000 in jewelry.
The Minnesota State Patrol has identified the motorist whose SUV hit a school bus taking kids to their Iron Range school.
The patrol said 19-year-old Svea Lynn Snickers, of Alborn, Minn., ran a stop sign at the intersection and hit the bus as it headed north on Hwy. 5. She was last reported to be in critical condition.
The collision occurred just east of Hibbing about 7:50 a.m. Thursday at the intersection of Hwy. 5 and Town Line Road, according to the State Patrol.
All 21 children heading to Cherry School suffered minor injuries when the bus flipped over about 7 miles southwest of its destination, the patrol said. The school serves about 600 students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, and students of all ages were on the bus, said St. Louis County Schools Superintendent Reggie Engebritson.
A witness told Hibbing police that students were able to crawl out of the bus on their own.
Snickers suffered critical injuries, was extricated from the wreckage by emergency responders and taken by air ambulance to Essentia Hospital in nearby Virginia, according to police.
The bus driver, 52-year-old Shawn Allen Lindula, of Iron, Minn., was expected to survive his injuries.
Star Tribune staff writer Jana Hollingsworth contributed to this report.
St. Louis Park will soon require landlords to give renters more notice before they file for evictions over late payments.
The city currently requires landlords to give tenants notice seven days before they file for eviction. Starting in November, landlords will have to give 30 days notice and use a form prepared by the city.
“This is a tough ordinance,” Council Member Lynette Dumalag, the only person to vote against the change, said during a meeting this week. “At least for me, personally, I felt that it pit those that care about affordable housing against one another.”
In public hearings and other forums, city leaders heard from renters who said the current requirements didn’t give them enough time to scrape together payments if they face a sudden hardship, such as losing a job. They also heard from at least one landlord who said he might have to increase deposits because he already struggles to make ends meet when renters fall behind on payments.
The change passed 4 to 1. Council Member Tim Brausen and Mayor Nadia Mohamed were absent.
PARK RAPIDS, Minn. — Ryan Leckner has resigned as Mayor of Park Rapids and the city council has officially declared a vacancy.
City Administrator Angel Weasner said councilmembers will hold a workshop on Sept. 24 to determine how to proceed. They can fill the vacancy by appointment or hold a special election, which Leckner said seems unlikely given that the November general election is just around the corner.
Until then, Leckner said “we’re thinking that we’ll just be able to get by with just one less council member.”
He added that Councilmember Liz Stone would likely serve as acting mayor until voters hit the polls.
Former Park Rapids Mayor Pat Mikesh is running uncontested for Leckner’s now-vacant seat.
In 2018, Mikesh stepped down a month before the election and Leckner successfully ran as a write-in candidate.
Leckner first joined the council in 2015 and is ending his third, two-year term as mayor early because his family built a home outside city limits. Construction of the home in Henrietta Township, and the sale of his existing home in Park Rapids, all happened faster than expected, he said.
“My term was up in November anyways,” he said, “so I was kind of planning on just not running.”
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