DULUTH, Minn. — Two of the five people arrested in connection with the shooting death of a University of Minnesota-Duluth student last month were formally charged Monday.
Tara Rai Baker, 22, of Duluth is charged with second-degree murder and first-degree aggravated robbery, and Xavier Alfred Haywood, 26, of Duluth is charged with a felony count of aiding an offender to avoid arrest.
They’re accused of playing a role in the Feb. 14 shooting death of 22-year-old William Grahek at his residence on East 11th Street in Duluth’s East Hillside neighborhood.
Grahek was the son of a St. Paul police sergeant.
The other three defendants — Deandre Demetrius Davenport, 21, Noah Duane Baker, 19, Noah Anthony Charles King, 18 — are being held on preliminary charges of second-degree intentional homicide and are expected to be arraigned Tuesday.
According to the two criminal complaints filed Monday in St. Louis County District Court in Duluth:
Haywood told King, Davenport and Noah Baker that Grahek “had large amounts of cash and controlled substances” in a safe in his house, and directed the three to rob Grahek.
King, Davenport and Baker went to Grahek’s home dressed in dark clothing and armed with a 9mm Glock handgun; they made contact with Grahek and “demanded he turn over his ‘stuff.'” Grahek refused, and Davenport shot him twice, the complaint alleges.
The three men fled in a Jeep Cherokee owned and driven by Tara Baker. Tara Baker and Noah Baker are siblings, and Tara Baker is in a relationship with Davenport, the complaint states. She allegedly told investigators that she drove because no one else had a valid license.
Tara Baker’s Jeep is shown on camera near King’s house on 10th Street about 30 minutes before the shooting. About a minute before the initial 911 call that was placed at 2 p.m. Feb. 14, the Jeep is again seen on camera driving at a high rate of speed on Ninth Street — just a few blocks from the crime scene.
At 2:26 p.m., a camera shows the Jeep pull into a gas station near King’s house; King exits the vehicle. Tara Baker, Davenport and one other figure can be seen in the vehicle, the complaint against Tara Baker alleges.
“While fleeing the scene of the homicide, a phone call was made between (Haywood) and (Davenport),” the complaint against Haywood states. “(Haywood) advised that they needed to lay low and that he would make arrangements to get them a hotel room in Superior.”
Haywood made arrangements for the hotel room and, with another woman, picked up Davenport and took him to the hotel, the complaint alleges.
The complaint against Tara Baker states that she drove her brother and her children to the hotel, where they met Davenport.
If convicted on the murder charge, Tara Baker faces a maximum of 40 years in prison. If convicted on the aiding an offender charge, Haywood faces up to three years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
Grahek, who grew up in Centerville and graduated from Centennial High School, was the son of St. Paul police Sgt. Jon Grahek. He was studying computer science and criminology at UMD, where he was a junior.