By Anthony Bettin, Chloe Rosen, Jason Rantala
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JORDAN, Minnesota (WCCO) — Authorities believe they have found the man responsible for fatally shooting a woman and leaving her body at an abandoned property south of the Twin Cities in January.
Court records show the 41-year-old man was charged on Friday with second-degree murder. He was initially taken into custody in Le Sueur County on unrelated charges and was expected to be moved to the Scott County Jail.
The woman, whom police identified as 46-year-old Tabitha Renee Justice, was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head at 230 Quaker Ave. in Jordan, Minnesota, on Jan. 28. She had been reported missing earlier that day.
According to the charging documents, friends of Justice said she was in a relationship with a man identified as “Nico” and that she had been living with him before he kicked her out. Friends also say that he was controlling and physically aggressive, according to the charges.
The documents claim that “Nico” — later identified as the defendant — kicked out Justice but would find and follow her.
In February, the suspect was interviewed by investigators and said he and Justice were “friends with benefits,” and the last time he saw Justice was two or three days before Christmas. Court documents say he took a Greyhound bus to Hovland, Minnesota, to visit his family, days after he last claimed to see Justice. A witness told investigators that the man moved back to his parents’ home “until **** cools down,” according to the charges.
The charges say that he would not want to talk about Justice’s death, “”except to joke, showing no emotion about the death, and trying to blame the neighbor.”
Investigators searched a residence in Hovland in April, where he was arrested for probation violation. At the time of the man’s arrest, he grabbed and hugged a backpack that was with him. Inside the backpack was a Smith & Wesson 9mm handgun, according to the charging documents. Shell casings were found in his luggage that matched the ones found at the murder scene. Prints on found on tape on the grip of the gun also matched the suspect.
The property on which Justice was found belongs to Bobby & Steve’s Auto Shop, Scott County court records show. A spokesperson for the company said it was being rented out.
Ashlei Lambert, a friend of Justice for at least 10 years, said friends had been looking for Justice since before Christmas. Justice was beautiful, funny and moved from Florida to Minnesota to be with her children and her grandchildren, Lambert said.
“I just know that here in Florida, all of our friends are praying for justice for Tabitha, because hearing that she was shot in the head is absolutely disturbing,” Lambert said. “To know that she was left behind like a piece of garbage is absurd.”
Jordan is about 35 miles southwest of Minneapolis.
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