After a three-day manhunt, Lucifer Nguyen, a suspect in a Mendota Heights homicide on Saturday, was captured late Monday night in Blaine, authorities said.
Nguyen, 44, was arrested after a car he was a passenger in was pulled over at about 11:30 p.m.
Nguyen will be held at the Dakota County Jail while the shooting investigation continues, the Dakota County sheriff’s office said early Tuesday in a news release.
“Sheriff (Tim) Leslie wants to thank the public and the entire law enforcement community for their assistance in the search for the suspect,” the news release read.
Police said Nguyen fatally shot Beverly Cory, 48, of Maplewood, while fleeing authorities following a robbery Saturday morning. An autopsy showed she died of a bullet to the head.
Nguyen then stole her 2005 Toyota Corolla, ditched it at the Washington County Fairgrounds later Saturday morning and remained on the lam.
He was last seen Saturday in the Stillwater area, authorities said.
“Thank you all so much for your hard work in helping us catch this guy,” said Mendota Heights Police Chief Kelly McCarthy, in a statement she sent out about 12:40 a.m. “Obviously, I would give anything to be able to turn back time and have Mrs. Cory be alive, but this is the next best thing.”
On Monday, Dakota County prosecutors charged Nguyen with second-degree murder, two counts of first-degree aggravated robbery and one count each of first-degree burglary and kidnapping in connection with the series of events Saturday morning in the usually serene suburb.
A nationwide arrest warrant for Nguyen was issued Monday afternoon.
Also Monday, authorities said Cory’s car was found abandoned Sunday at the Washington County Fairgrounds in Baytown Township.
The chain of events that led to the shooting began at about 9 a.m. Saturday, after a report of a home invasion by a man with a pistol in the 1600 block of Delaware Avenue.
According to the criminal charges against Nguyen:
A woman told police that she was in her home with her 2-year-old grandchild when a man knocked on the front door and asked if it was the “Miller” residence. She told him it was not and he got inside a white sedan and left.
A short time later, the woman was in her bedroom with the child when the man entered, pulled out a handgun and demanded money. He took her cash and wallet and left.
Officers responding to the home spotted the sedan and pulled it over. After stopping briefly, the suspect fled at a high rate of speed.
Officers pursued the car, which crashed in a pond. The suspect fled on foot. Items found in the car linked it to Nguyen, whom the woman later identified in a photo lineup as the man who robbed her.
At about 9:07 a.m., officers were called to White Pine Senior Living near Dodd Road and Minnesota 110 on a report that a man with a pistol had forced his way into the building. An employee told police a man with a gun, whom she later identified as Nguyen, forced her into a laundry room and took her work keys.
While residents were being evacuated from the senior care facility, officers received a report that blood was seeping underneath a door in a suite at a business center across the street.
Tactical officers entered Mendota Heights Business Center and found Cory on the floor. An autopsy determined she died of a single gunshot wound to the head.
A homeowner who lives across the street from the Washington County Fairgrounds — where Cory’s car was found Sunday — told investigators that he was approached about 11 a.m. Saturday by a man who matched the description of Nguyen and requested a ride to a nearby casino. The homeowner declined to give him a ride.
In Minnesota, Nguyen has prior convictions for misdemeanor theft and drunken driving.
He’s also been charged in Wisconsin. He’s due to appear in a Superior courtroom next month on felony battery and drug charges, and he recently pleaded no contest in a hit-and-run in Superior involving an unattended vehicle.