A Brooklyn Center man was charged and arrested Tuesday with murdering his girlfriend in a Plymouth motel room they shared with their three children in February.
Alex Garfield Keaton, 39, faces two counts of second-degree murder and a warrant was executed for his arrest in connection with the homicide of Lisa K. Petersen, of Buffalo, Minn.Keaton was arrested Tuesday and remains jailed.
Petersen was found fatally beaten in a motel room at the Red Roof Inn on Feb. 7, when the eldest daughter, 16, called 911 in the early morning hours. Plymouth police talked to Keaton, who said he was in bed when he heard a loud thud and saw a 10-pound dumbbell next to Petersen on the floor.
He and the teenager told detectives that Petersen dropped the dumbbell on herself. But the autopsy determined her death was caused by "complex homicidal violence."
The Medical Examiner's Office discovered her left kidney was torn and there was significant blood in her chest cavity, indicating the injury occurred soon before her death, as well as bruises on her arms, chest, legs, face and neck.
"Dropping a 10lb weight on herself could not cause these injuries and a person could not self-inflict these injuries," the medical examiner stated in charging documents filed Tuesday.
According to the charges:
The other two children, ages 11 and 5, were interviewed but the youngest said she was "sleeping and didn't see anything." The 5-year-old also told detectives that she couldn't answer questions without a lawyer, per advice she got from Keaton's mother.
"The 16-year-old has a physical disability, making [Keaton] the only person able to deliver such damage to [Petersen] who was in the hotel room at the time she must have suffered her injuries."
A search warrant for Keaton's internet search history and Google account turned up websites he visited Feb. 17 and 18. Keaton allegedly researched Minnesota sentencing guidelines, defense attorneys and even murder for hire.
The maximum sentence for second-degree murder is 40 years.
