Hennepin County files charges in two separate killings
Hennepin County authorities filed charges on Friday alleging that accomplices played big roles in two separate killings in the Twin Cities.
The office of the Hennepin County Attorney charged Minneapolis resident Walter Thompson III, 54, with killing Nerissa Shaw, 46. Thompson was convicted in 2012 of violating a restraining order Shaw took out against him.
Thompson's daughter Rachel Lee Thompson, 25, and his sister Senaca Ann Thompson, 53, were charged as accomplices after the fact in Shaw's killing.
Prosecutors allege that Thompson beat Shaw to death on Sept. 13. Thompson's daughter and sister were captured on a security camera two days later helping him carry a large plastic container from his apartment to a car, according to charges. Rachel Lee Thompson told investigators that she drove her father and the container to St. Louis Park, where he told her to stop the car and removed the container.
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Shaw's body was found wrapped in a sheet in St. Louis Park earlier this week.
In a separate case, 30-year-old Talisha Hunt of Duluth was charged as an accomplice after the fact in the death of Eddie Sole, 58, whose body was found stuffed into a freezer in Shorewood on Aug. 21.
Prosecutors charge that Hunt was present when Jetaun Wheeler, 29, allegedly beat and killed Sole with a wooden pole. Wheeler was charged with second degree murder on Aug. 26.
Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said Wheeler's children told police that Hunt had been staying at Wheeler's house at the time of the incident. Security cameras captured Hunt and Wheeler purchasing a freezer at a Sears store in Minnetonka, according to the charges.
Although Sole's wallet was found in north Minneapolis, prosecutors say police found Sole's debit card in Hunt's purse when they raided her house in Duluth on Sept. 19.
Hunt later admitted to seeing Wheeler hit Sole with a "stick" until he stopped moving, according to the charges. She told police that she'd helped Hunt clean blood off the carpet, buy a freezer at Sears and place Sole's body into the freezer.
Freeman said those charged as accomplices after the fact are eligible for half the sentence of the person who actually committed the crime. "That's a person who may not have participated in the direct crime, but participated in the cover-up or the attempt of the principal actor at the crime to flee," Freeman said.
Both Hunt and the Thompsons are expected to have their first appearance in court on Monday.