Murder in Minnesota

Who doesn’t love a good true crime story? I know I sure do. Well this week’s blog is a real life crime in my family history.

In my research I’ve found several people who have gotten in trouble with the law. Mostly a bunch of drunks, drug addicts, and drug dealers. But this was the first murder I’ve found (at least on my side, I did find one on my husband’s side but I haven’t proven how those people are related just yet so that’s a story for another day.)

Virginia Ann Young March 17, 1926 in Hennepin, Minnesota the youngest of three children born to Archibald and Electa (Larson) Young. In 1953 she married Charles Percy Sandtrock and in 1957 they had a son Michael Charles Sandtrock.

The family of three remained in Minnesota and Michael eventually joined the army where he was killed in an accident in 1985. He was 27 years old.

In June of 1986 Virginia and Charles moved to rural Sauk Center Minnesota where they rented a small house. Neighbors say the couple, especially Virginia mostly kept to themselves. Virginia worked as a nurse at the hospital and Charles, who was a construction worker, was out of work. The couple began to argue over financial problems.

On December 30th the Sandtrock’s landlords, a married couple named the Roepkes, came to the house looking for their overdue rent check. The couple had been calling for days but no one answered. Finally they went to the house to look for Charles and Virginia. “We decided to get up there to see what was going on. We were going to leave a note.” Mr Roepke told police. They entered the house with a key when no one answered and left a note on the kitchen counter. The couple was just about to leave when Mrs Roepke decided to use the bathroom. That’s when she noticed one of the two bedroom doors was shut. She pushed it open and found Virginia’s dead body in bed, covered in blankets and a garbage bag over her head. Charles was nowhere to be found.

The Roepkes went straight to the police department in total shock. Police searched the house and found multiple weapons, including a .22 caliber rifle they believed was the murder weapon. Virginia had been shot in the head 6 times. The police put out a search for Charles and finally apprehending him on January 3, 1987 in St Paul. Charles admitted to shooting his wife on December 16. He was placed in Todd County Jail til his eventual trial on Feb 6. There he pled guilty to second degree murder.

On December 15, 1986 the couple, who had both been drinking, began fighting again over their money troubles. Virginia eventually went to bed. Sometime the next morning Charles, who was still drinking, took out a .22 caliber rifle and shot his wife in the back of the head 6 times while she lay sleeping. He then took a garbage bag and wrapped it around her head to “try and stop the bleeding.” According to his testimony he then went on a drinking spree for the next several days, only returning home occasionally. Then he went to St Paul where he remained till the police found him.

On March 12 1987, at the age of 56, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison, the max sentence for second degree murder in the state of Minnesota. Charles died in January 2002.