According to court documents, a Minnesota man entered a guilty plea on Thursday to second-degree murder charges related to the 2023 deaths of two missing women whose dismembered remains were found in storage facilities in the St. Paul region.
According to Minneapolis’s NBC station KARE, Joseph Jorgenson, 41, made an appearance in a Ramsey County courtroom and stayed silent when detailing the murder and dismemberment of Fanta Xayavong, 33, and Manijeh Mani Starren, 33.
According to petitions he submitted to the court, Jorgenson may be sentenced to a maximum of 40 years in jail for each of the murders. The petitions demonstrate that the sentences will be served consecutively.
The sentencing hearing for Jorgenson is set for February 28.
According to a police official, the horrifying murders are relatively uncommon, but they should serve as a reminder that “monsters can be real.”
According to court records, both victims battled drug addiction and had dated Jorgenson in the past.
Starren disappeared around the time that she was supposed to have gone to a drug treatment center, her father told authorities, according to a probable cause statement in the case.
The paper states that on May 1, 2023, Starren’s father reported her missing. On June 28, her dismembered remains were discovered inside a storage container in Woodbury, which is about nine miles east of St. Paul.
According to KARE, Jorgenson said in court that he strangled Starren before dismembering her and bringing her remains to the unit.
According to search warrants in the case, a tipster informed investigators that Xayavong was also missing after discovering that Jorgenson had been charged in Starren’s death.
According to the tipster, Xayavong, who also battled addiction, had not been seen for around two years, in July 2021.
On July 6, 2023, Xayavong’s bones were discovered at a storage facility in Coon Rapids, which is about 25 miles northwest of St. Paul.
Despite being charged with Starren’s murder in June 2023, Jorgenson was not charged with Xayavong’s murder until Thursday, according to a complaint in her case.
The paper, which uses the victim’s initials to identify her, claims that Jorgenson killed Xayavong at his house in the Twin Cities by hitting her skull with his knee. According to the lawsuit, he then attempted to dismember her body before putting her remains in the storage container.
Note: Every piece of content is rigorously reviewed by our team of experienced writers and editors to ensure its accuracy. Our writers use credible sources and adhere to strict fact-checking protocols to verify all claims and data before publication. If an error is identified, we promptly correct it and strive for transparency in all updates, feel free to reach out to us via email. We appreciate your trust and support!