Carver County authorities have put 33-year-old Leah Victoria Peterson on their fugitive list with a fresh "Wanted Wednesday" alert, saying she is wanted on felony counts that include failure to appear, aiding and abetting third-degree murder and alleged sale or distribution of Schedule I and II drugs. She was last seen in Minneapolis, according to the notice.
Officials are stressing one key point: do not try to detain her yourself. Residents are told to call 9-1-1 in an emergency and leave any arrest attempts to law enforcement.
What the sheriff's office posted
In a Facebook post, the Carver County Sheriff's Office shared a digital wanted poster that lists Peterson as 33 years old, 5'09" tall and 160 pounds, with brown hair and hazel eyes.
The post says she is wanted on counts of failure to appear, aiding and abetting murder in the third degree and selling or distributing Schedule I and II controlled substances. Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff's confidential tip line or submit details using the warrant tip form on carvercountymn.gov.
Background on the charges
Peterson's name has surfaced before in local court coverage. In 2017, the Star Tribune reported that a Leah Victoria Peterson was charged with third-degree murder after the January 2017 death of a man investigators linked to carfentanyl.
That earlier reporting helps explain why a homicide-related aiding-and-abet count is now part of the current wanted notice, alongside the drug and failure-to-appear allegations listed by the sheriff's office.
How to report tips and stay safe
Carver County's "Wanted Wednesday" initiative publishes digital posters roughly once a month and frames them as a public safety tool, not an invitation to play amateur bounty hunter. The county lists a confidential tip line at (952) 361-1224, a non-emergency dispatch number at (952) 361-1231 and directs all emergencies to 9-1-1.
The program also routes people to an online warrant-tips form hosted at carvercountymn.gov, where the county explains how tips are received and passed along.
Legal context
Under Minnesota law, a person can be held criminally responsible for someone else's crime if they "intentionally aid" or otherwise procure it under Minn. Stat. § 609.05 (revisor.mn.gov). Murder in the third degree is defined in Minn. Stat. § 609.195 and can carry a prison sentence of up to 25 years, according to revisor.mn.gov. Those statutes line up with the aiding-and-abetting murder reference on the Carver County wanted poster.
The sheriff's office says it will accept tips and forward them to investigators, and it repeats that members of the public should not attempt to make an arrest. Any updates, including a possible arrest, are expected to appear on the department's social media feeds and official county pages as the case continues.
