A Dakota County grand jury indicted a New Hope man on charges of first-degree murder in the July shooting death of a Mendota Heights office worker, the county attorney's office announced Friday.
Lucifer Nguyen, 44, was charged with second-degree murder in August as part of a violent crime spree in the Mendota Heights area as authorities tracked him across the east metro for three days.
Authorities allege that he fatally shot Beverly Cory, 48, of Maplewood, inside an office building on a commercial plaza near Hwy. 110 and Interstate 35E in Mendota Heights as he was fleeing police after an alleged home-invasion robbery.
The Dakota County attorney's office previously had charged Nguyen with second-degree murder with intent, first-degree burglary, two counts of first-degree aggravated robbery and kidnapping. The jury indicted him on two counts of first-degree murder-premeditated and while committing aggravated robbery, and two counts of second-degree murder-intentional and while committing aggravated robbery.
He'll make his first court appearance Monday. If convicted, Nguyen faces life in prison.
Karen Zamora • 612-673-4647 Twitter: @KarenAnelZamora
