A 57-year-old man was found stabbed to death inside his Monticello home Thursday morning, and within minutes deputies had identified a person of interest and were racing to catch him before he could reach a second target more than 100 miles away. The Wright County Sheriff's Office says the man had an apparent stab wound when deputies arrived, and that the person of interest may have been driving toward a home in Cass County intending to harm someone there.
Deputies were called to a residence in the 800 block of 9127 State Highway 25 Northeast at The Meadows complex in Monticello just before 7:30 a.m. Thursday, according to the Wright County, MN government's account of the incident. As reported by KNSI, deputies used Flock Safety automated license plate readers to locate the suspect's vehicle, and investigators identified a person of interest within minutes of the initial call.
A Frantic Chase Across County Lines
Monticello sits roughly 100 to 140 miles south of Cass County, according to Rome2Rio, underscoring just how much ground deputies had to cover to head off a possible second attack. Per the sheriff's office, deputies took the person of interest into custody about 10 miles from the Cass County home, and the person believed to be the intended target there was found unharmed. The report notes the vehicle contained a shotgun in the front passenger seat.
The sheriff's office has not released the name of the man who died, nor the name of the person taken into custody, and no charges have yet been announced. The station's report describes the investigation as ongoing, with the article credited to author Jake Judd.
Rare Violence in a Quiet Community
Fatal violence of this kind is unusual in Monticello. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting data compiled by NeighborhoodScout puts the city's violent crime rate at roughly 1 per 1,000 residents, making Thursday's homicide a stark departure from the norm for the community.
The technology credited with the fast response has been at the center of local controversy. Just two weeks before the stabbing, the Wright County Board of Commissioners voted 4-1 to strip funding for the Flock Safety license-plate reader system from the sheriff's proposed 2027 budget amid privacy concerns, according to Action 4 Liberty. Sheriff Sean Deringer had kept the current camera network running through 2026 despite that opposition. The system includes three fixed cameras installed in Monticello this spring as part of an 11-camera countywide network built to track stolen vehicles and fleeing suspects, according to a Facebook post from the city.
Recent History of Armed Confrontations
This is not the first time this year Wright County deputies have dealt with an armed suspect crossing county lines. In August, a 49-year-old Watertown man threatened deputies with a rifle in Carver County shortly after an arrest in Monticello, Hoodline reported in its rifle-threat coverage of that case.
Under Minnesota law, any firearm — including a shotgun like the one found in the suspect's vehicle — is classified as a dangerous weapon capable of causing great bodily harm or death, per Minnesota Statute § 609.02, Subdivision 6. If the person of interest is ultimately charged with intentional second-degree murder under Minnesota Statute § 609.19, the offense carries a statutory maximum of up to 40 years in state prison; first-degree murder charges, which require proof of premeditation, would carry a mandatory life sentence. No charges have been filed as of Thursday, and the Wright County Sheriff's Office, based out of the Wright County Law Enforcement Center in Buffalo, continues to lead the investigation.
