$2M bail set for Woodbury man accused of fatally stabbing wife, leaving body in house full of children

Mary Divine, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.
·2 min read

Jul. 2—Bail has been set at $2 million for the Woodbury man charged with second-degree murder in the fatal stabbing his wife this past week.

Wearing a white, jail-issued t-shirt, McKinley Phillips appeared Thursday afternoon before Washington County District Judge Juanita Freeman via video from the Washington County Jail in Stillwater.

Phillips, 39, faces a charge of second-degree murder with a dangerous weapon for allegedly stabbing his wife, Shevon, 42, multiple times in the basement on June 25 while six children were watching TV upstairs. He then fled the state on a Greyhound bus.

According to the criminal complaint, officers from the Woodbury Public Safety Department were called to a house in the 7500 block of Steepleview Road around 3:40 p.m. June 25.

A woman who said she was Phillips' mother called 911 to report that her son had called her to confess he had killed his wife and that her body was in the basement of their home. She also said there were "six or seven children" in the house, ranging in ages from 5 to 15, according to the criminal complaint.

On Thursday, Freeman set the $2 million bail for release without conditions attached. She also set a $1 million bail option with several conditions, including that Phillips have no contact with any of the children who were in the house, submit to wearing a GPS-monitoring system, refrain from using alcohol and not leave the state of Minnesota.

Freeman also set a separate condition, not related to bail, that Phillips not be allowed to possess firearms.

Marc Berris, of the Washington County Attorney's office, said the $2 million bail was warranted because Phillips fled the state after the fatal stabbing. Phillips was located on an eastbound Greyhound bus traveling near Tomah, Wis., on June 26.

According to Phillips' pre-trial bail evaluation form, he has twice been convicted in Cook County, Ill. — once for a robbery in 2000 and once for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon in 2003.

Phillips told Freeman he would need a court-appointed attorney. He said he had been employed, but lost his job "due to the situation ... with what happened." He said he has made about $2,000 so far this year and does not own his own home.

The six children remain in the care of Washington County Child Protection Services; Phillips is the father of one of the children, the other five are his stepchildren, Berris said.

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