Woman slain; friends cite domestic violence

Police are investigating a woman’s death in a St. Paul residence as a homicide and said her 2-year-old child was there, but not injured.

Officers responded to a request to check a person’s well-being in Frogtown about 5:15 a.m. Friday. A caller reported a woman might have been injured and that a toddler might have been left alone, said Sgt. Toy Vixayvong, a St. Paul police spokesman.

Police got no answer when they knocked on the door on Edmund Avenue between Virginia and Farrington streets, and they went inside. They took the 2-year-old out of the house for safety, continued to checked the rest of the residence and found a woman who was deceased. Investigators have a “person of interest” — that person and the victim know each other — and police are “actively” looking for the person, Vixayvong said Friday afternoon.

Friends of the 33-year-old victim said it was a situation of domestic violence. Officers were called to the address twice in 2023 on reports of assaults, police records show.

The woman’s friends described her as a great mother and friend who had her own catering business.

Police did not release information Friday about how the woman was killed. Her homicide is the third of the year in St. Paul. There were eight at this time last year.

Help for domestic violence in Minnesota is available 24/7 through the Day One hotline by calling 866-223-1111 or texting 612-399-9995.

— Mara H. Gottfried

Slain firefighter being honored in Washington

Burnsville Firefighter-Paramedic Adam Finseth, who was killed in the line of duty last year, is being memorialized at the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial this weekend.

Members of the Burnsville Fire Department and families left Friday to go to the memorial in Emmitsburg, Md. Finseth’s name will be unveiled, along with 69 other firefighters who died in 2024 and another 70 in previous years.

Finseth and Burnsville Police Officers Paul Emstrand and Matt Ruge were ambushed and shot during a standoff in Burnsville on Feb. 18, 2024. Finseth, 40, was a SWAT medic, a husband and a father of two.

“Adam served his community with great pride and professionalism,” said Burnsville Fire Chief BJ Jungmann in a Friday statement. “He cared about his fellow first responders and was selfless, dedicated, and an incredible member of our department. We will never forget him, and we will hold his family in our hearts forever.”

Jungmann is leading a contingent of more than 60 firefighters and family members that will take part in a candlelight vigil starting 6:30 p.m. CST Saturday, and a memorial service that starts 9 a.m. CST Sunday. They will be livestreamed at firehero.org.

The travel was made possible “thanks to the generosity of hundreds of individual donors,” the city said in a Friday press release.

Burnsville’s fire stations will be aglow in red lights over the weekend in tribute to Finseth.

— Mara H. Gottfried