A Minneapolis woman was sentenced recently for her role in the death of Sarah Wierstad, a young mother who was shot after interrupting a burglary at her St. Paul home.
Michelle Lee Koester, 43, was sentenced April 13 in Ramsey County District Court to 11 years in prison on one count of aiding an offender in the Oct. 18, 2015, slaying, court records say.
When first questioned about the shooting, Koester initially misled police and obstructed their investigation. She later opened up and told police that the group of people suspected in the burglary and shooting had taken part in armed robberies in the past.
She told police that she knew a group of her acquaintances was heading to St. Paul to steal credit cards on the night Wierstad was killed. She also admitted that she had benefited from credit cards the group had stolen in the past.
Other charges previously filed against Koester in the Ramsey County case, including two additional counts of aiding an offender and second-degree unintentional murder, were dropped as a part of her plea deal.
Koester was one of several people charged following Wierstad’s death. Albert George McIntosh, 32, the man suspected of killing the young mother, was acquitted of the charge in September after prosecutors failed to prove he pulled the trigger.
Alvin Rudolph Bell, 26, was found guilty of aiding and abetting second-degree murder in the case and was sentenced in March. Another accomplice, Isiah Lee Harper, 26, pleaded guilty to first-degree burglary for his role in the shooting.
The men broke into Wierstad’s home around 8 p.m. Oct. 18, 2015. They were surprised when Wierstad returned to the residence in the middle of the burglary.
The 24-year-old mother of a then 5-year-old girl was shot twice from a distance and bled to death.
Her death was part of a nightlong crime spree by McIntosh, Koester and the other men.
McIntosh was convicted in Hennepin County earlier this month of aiding and abetting robbery, burglary and murder for the deadly string of robberies that resulted in the killing of Julio Mozo-Cuate, 43, in Minneapolis. Koester, McIntosh’s girlfriend, was convicted of the same crimes, as well as one count of aiding an offender after the fact for trying to sell or use the stolen items.
The other three people involved, including Bell, Harper, and Shannon Haiden, pleaded guilty to lesser charges related to the incidents.