UPDATED: Three arrested in death of Mankato woman
Apr. 4—By Brian Arola
MANKATO — Three local residents are facing murder charges in connection with a 21-year-old Mankato woman's death in December.
Minnesota River Valley Drug Task Force agents arrested Haley Marie Ross, 23, of North Mankato, Kueth Pamier Ruae, 25, of Mankato, and Conner Lee Hoeft, 21, of North Mankato, on Monday. All three were charged with murder in the third degree Tuesday in Blue Earth County District Court.
Agents allege they were able to determine through an investigation that they aided in selling or providing the controlled substance that caused the death of Eva Letourneau, who had been found unresponsive in her apartment Dec. 1, according to a task force press release.
An autopsy indicated Letourneau's cause of death was fentanyl toxicity.
The complaint says Ross called police Dec. 1 to report her roommate, Letourneau, and roommate's boyfriend, Hoeft, had overdosed in a rear bedroom of a Mankato apartment. A Mankato police sergeant arrived and reported Letourneau was cold to the touch and Hoeft was asleep and unresponsive.
The sergeant attempted to administer Narcan on Hoeft, leading him to wake up in a disoriented state. Paramedics transported him to the hospital.
An officer spoke with Ross, who reportedly said Letourneau and Hoeft had been known to use narcotics and their drug of choice was cocaine. She said she got up that morning and went to Letourneau's room because her cat had damaged a tapestry; she received no response to her knocks on the door, so she jimmied the lock open and heard choking noises inside, leading her to call 911.
A drug task force agent responded to the residence and observed tinfoil and other paraphernalia consistent with ingestion of fentanyl pills known as "percs," "blues" or "30s." A white substance in the room tested positive for cocaine.
Another agent arrived for a follow-up interview with Ross. The agent reported her saying she contacted Ruae on Snapchat to buy marijuana, and Ruae delivered it and left, followed by Hoeft arriving at the apartment between 9-10 p.m.
She also reportedly said an alarm in Letourneau's room woke her up,, leading to her going into the bedroom and finding Letourneau unresponsive and Hoeft nearly unresponsive.
The agent said Ross said she heard Letourneau asking about "blues" recently. Ross denied knowing what blues were, but suspected they were pills laced with fentanyl, which Hoeft could've gotten from someone identified as "Witness 1" in the complaint.
Weeks later, on Dec. 21, Ross contacted police saying she remembered more information. The agent reported she indicated Ruae claimed he lost the marijuana he was supposed to bring that night and instead asked if she wanted to try "percs."
Ross reportedly said she and Letourneau said OK and tried smoking the pills. When Hoeft found out, she said, he got jealous and wanted some, so she gave him her phone to contact "Witness 1" before Ruae stopped by around 9 p.m.
Police say she claimed Hoeft sent her $30 via Venmo that night for drinks, and transaction records indicate he did transfer money to her multiple times on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1. When an agent asked Ross if she had Venmo usernames for Letourneau and Hoeft, she said she lost her password and couldn't log in. When asked if her email had Venmo transaction receipts, Ross pulled up her email then "quickly turned off the screen and then claimed she had deleted Venmo."
During an interview with Hoeft on Dec. 29, he reportedly told law enforcement that Letourneau sent him money on Venmo on Nov. 30 so they could combine their money and send it to Ross to purchase six Percocet pills, two for each of them. He said he believed they were buying "percs" from a drug dealer that Ross knew.
Once Ross made the purchase, Hoeft said the three smoked the pills in Letourneau's room, then the next thing he remembered was being at the hospital.
Cellphone records reportedly show Ross made five calls to "Witness 1" the night of Nov. 30 and early Dec. 1, along with multiple texts confirming when he'd arrive. The records showed she deleted her Snapchat and Venmo apps and almost all of her text messages from those dates, according to the complaint.
Witness 1's cellphone location data indicated he was in the immediate area of Letourneau and Ross' apartment between 1:34-1:51 a.m.
Investigators say Hoeft's Snapchat account showed a conversation between him and Ross in which they discuss drug purchases and usage that night. Venmo accounts for Ross, Hoeft and Letourneau recorded a $90 transfer from Hoeft to Ross on Nov. 30 with the description "blue."
Messages between Ross and Hoeft on Dec. 31 reportedly show her asking him if he was "wanting to do anymore?" She indicated she'd do one more hit before being done.
The complaint states he responded asking if he could buy one of her percs. After agreeing to a price, she added "be careful please."
Follow Brian Arola @BrianArola
Follow Brian Arola @BrianArola
