THIEF RIVER FALLS, Minn. (KFGO) – Prosecutors in Pennington County, Minnesota have filed formal charges against Jorge Benitez-Estremera in the beating death of an employee of Digi-Key Electronics on the company’s property in Thief River Falls on Tuesday night.
The statement of probable cause attached to the criminal complaint against 32-year-old Benitez-Estremera says he admitted in an interview with officers to assaulting a person he did not know but who he believed to be “contaminated and needed to be taken out of the system.”
The victim has been identified as Steven Opdahl of Oklee, Minn.
In court documents, Thief River Falls Police Chief Marissa Adam said the initial 911 came in from a Digi-Key employee just after 10:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The employee discovered Opdahl’s body when she went out for a smoke break. When a sheriff’s deputy arrived, he determined that Ohdahl was dead. There was a large amount of blood coming from Opdahl’s head and a sign-post with blood on it laying across his legs. Investigators found articles of clothing in a garbage can nearby with blood on them, and a blood trail going from Opdahl’s body to the parking lot and near Digi-Key’s public entrance.
Adam said a review of the company’s surveillance cameras shows Opdahl, who appeared to have exited the building for a smoke and coffee break, standing near Benitez-Estremera’s car for about ten seconds before Benitez-Estremera exits the car and approaches Opdahl, knocking the cigarette and a cup out of his hands, and punching him. When Opdahl tries to re-enter the building, the footage shows Benitez-Estremera grab him by the neck and slam him into the windshield of the car, then punch, kick, and stomp on him repeatedly for over two minutes. Opdahl is seen attempting to protect himself from the blows and trying to go back into the building numerous times during the attack but being prevented from doing so by Benitez-Estremera. In his final attempt to get away, Opdahl is seen running down a sidewalk on the building’s east side and Benitez-Estremera picking up a broken sign-post and using it to hit Opdahl even after Opdahl falls and becomes motionless. Benitez-Estremera then goes to his car and washes his hands with water from a jug in his trunk.
Benitez-Estremera’s girlfriend, who worked at Digi-Key, is seen exiting the building about ten minutes after the attack ends and getting into Benitez-Estremera’s car, which then leaves the property. Opdahl’s body was discovered by the employee about three minutes later.
Benitez-Estremera was located and arrested by police officers at an apartment just after midnight on Wednesday, where he was arrested. He claimed in a formal interview with a Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agent that he did not know Opdahl. Benitez-Estremera’s girlfriend told law enforcement that he told her he felt threatened by Opdahl and felt a “negative force” from him.
Pennington County Attorney Seamus Duffy filed three charges against Benitez-Estremera including two 2nd degree murder charges – one with intent and one without.
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