A woman was found dead in an apartment complex dumpster Monday morning in Bloomington, and police arrested a suspect after he fled several miles in a vehicle with a child, authorities said.
Witnesses who called police reported seeing the man putting the 23-year-old woman's body in the trash bin outside an apartment complex near the 8900 block of Wentworth Avenue, according to police.
He was "dragging her toward the dumpster," according to emergency dispatch audio.
An officer arrived, made the discovery and was alerted to a vehicle leaving the parking lot, police said.
The 24-year-old suspect drove off and was soon apprehended in Minneapolis at Nicollet Avenue and 46th Street, police said. The 1-year-old with him was not physically harmed, but the man was taken to HCMC for medical attention, according to police. He has since been jailed pending charges, police said.
Authorities are withholding how the woman was killed, but an officer on the scene said she appeared to have been stabbed, according to the dispatch audio.
"Obviously, there was a crime scene there in an apartment" where she lived, Police Chief Mike Hartley said at an afternoon news conference.
The chief said the man and the woman were in "a domestic relationship."
"We reiterate the importance of reaching out for anyone but specifically in this case," Hartley said. "Any woman who is being battered and being abused in a domestic relationship or any relationship ... there are resources out there, and you can call any police department, social services in Hennepin County and get those numbers. ... Unfortunately, we responded on the tail end of a violent act that led to the loss of life today."
Hartley declined to release the identities of the man or the woman, and he would not say how the child was related to either of them. The woman recently moved to Minnesota.
The chief thanked neighbors who called in quickly, "allowing our officers who were in the area to get there on scene" and spot the suspect as he left the complex.
For domestic abuse resources, contact Violence Free Minnesota at vfmn.org/get-help.
Alex Chhith • 612-673-4759
Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482
