A man who was killed in a Minneapolis apartment six weeks ago was strangled, said authorities, who released the victim's identity Sunday.
Kevin J. McKenzie, 45, died Dec. 1 in an apartment in the 1900 block of Park Avenue S., according to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office.
Nicholas Young, 28, was charged a few days later with second-degree murder and remains jailed in lieu of $500,000 bail.
Young, a neighbor, was arrested at the scene. Witnesses later told police that he had been acting erratically in the days leading up to the killing, possibly because he was high on methamphetamines, according to a search warrant affidavit.
Young had a bruised eye and was covered in blood when police arrived, and had reportedly told witnesses that he believed he had killed someone, the affidavit said.
Young later told detectives that the fight was over an unpaid debt from a laptop that Young had sold McKenzie eight months earlier.
Young said in the police interview that he had gone to the man's apartment to collect the money, but when he demanded the laptop back McKenzie punched him, sparking a fight. Young reported that he blacked out. When he came to, he said, the victim was lying motionless next to him.
Christina Woodman said Monday that she dated McKenzie until the end of last summer and was "in love and ready to marry him."
As for the man charged with murder, Woodman said, "He talked about this guy, Nick, as being his best friend."
