A 24-year-old suspect stands charged with murder in the Saturday stabbing death of a man in St. Paul's Frogtown neighborhood, while a motive remains unclear.
Juan Jose Jimenez-Alarcon was identified as the man who officers found dead in his home just after 10:30 p.m. Saturday. His death marked the 16th homicide in St. Paul this year. There were 18 at this point last year, according to a Star Tribune database.
Police searched the area and arrested a 24-year-old man that night on suspicion of the crime. On Monday the Ramsey County Attorney's Office charged the man, Alfredo Arturo Alvarez-Flores, with two counts of second-degree murder. According to those documents:
A friend picked up Alvarez-Flores and brought him to a home on the 1000 block of Charles Avenue to hang out. Alvarez-Flores sat on the couch to drink beer and watch TV with the victim, Jimenez-Alarcon. A witness in the home heard no conversation or arguments before a scream rang from the living room where Alvarez-Flores and Jimenez-Alarcon sat.
The witness walked into the living room to find Jimenez-Alarcon slumped over on the couch, asking for an ambulance. The witness said Alvarez-Flores stood at the front door and said, "Well, that's because he was threatening me" before running out of the house headed east.
St. Paul Fire medics who arrived later pronounced Jimenez-Alarcon dead at the scene. An autopsy by the Ramsey County Medical Examiner revealed that the 30-year-old was stabbed six times.
Roommates told police that a pair of white shoes in the front lawn belonged to Alvarez-Flores. Officers searched the area and found him, passed out with no shoes, in bushes behind a nearby residence. There was dried blood on his pants and right hand.
As he was being arrested, Alvarez-Flores asked an officer if the officer spoke Spanish. Alvarez-Flores then reportedly said, "I know I did wrong, and I truly confess that I poked the friend."
It's unclear when he will appear in court. Bail is set at $2 million.
