MINNIAPOLIS – A Minnesota woman assaulted by her boyfriend died from her injuries after she refused to go to the hospital.
Timothy Heller was charged with second-degree murder in the death of his girlfriend. Heller assaulted her in a Brooklyn Park home and she died in St. Paul, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office announced Friday.
Heller, 42, who has no permanent address, is expected to make his first appearance Monday in the death of 36-year-old Lacy Jo Krube. Prosecutors are asking for bail of $2 million.
According to the criminal complaint, the owners of a house in the 7500 block of Brunswick Avenue in Brooklyn Park knew Heller was homeless and when the brutal cold snap occurred earlier this month, they allowed him to stay at their house. After a week, he asked if his girlfriend could stay with him and they agreed.
On Feb. 20, the owners told Heller and Krube that they needed to leave the house by the next day. Later that same day, the homeowners saw them walking towards the house and they noticed Krube had visible bruises and other injuries to her face, the complaint states.
Krube told the owners that Heller caused the injuries. One of the owners began fighting with Heller, who eventually fled, according to the complaint.
They then tried to convince the woman to go to the hospital for treatment but she refused. Instead, she asked them to drive her to a home in the 1500 block of Jackson Street in St. Paul.
They owners drove her to get something to eat and then dropped her off at the home in St. Paul. Krube’s friends there asked her what happened and she said Heller beat her. The friends tried to convince her to go to the hospital, but again she refused. At some point, Krube complained of stomach pain, the complaint states. When she lost consciousness, paramedics were called to the home, she never regained consciousness and was soon pronounced dead.
The Ramsey County Medical Examiner found numerous injuries from the beating and gave the cause of death as a ruptured stomach which resulted in acute peritonitis, according to the complaint. An examination of the bedroom where Heller and Krube were staying found blood and a dent in the drywall.
Prosecutors said they will seek a higher sentence than recommended by the state’s sentencing guidelines because of the cruelty of the beating and because Heller is a career criminal with 10 convictions, mainly for domestic abuse-related charges.
