28-year sentence for Minneapolis man who killed 2 after argument
A Minneapolis man received a 28-year sentence for fatally shooting his neighbor and her adult daughter after an apparent argument about loud music.
Richie L. Vessel, 49, was sentenced Monday in Hennepin County District Court on two counts of second-degree murder in connection with the February 2019 killings of 67-year-old Eileen Mark and 42-year-old Jennifer Angerhofer.
With credit for time in jail since his arrest, Vessel will serve the first 16¼ years in prison and the balance on supervised release.
Two weeks ago, Vessel entered what is known as a Norgaard plea, which defendants make when contending that intoxication or amnesia prevents them from recalling their alleged actions.
While the charges did not offer an explicit motive, they noted that a witness told police that he heard loud music, an argument and then the gunshots that killed the women inside Mark's apartment in the Holmes Park Village complex in the 300 block of SE. 2nd Avenue.
Vessel lived across the hall. Police said he had no other relationship to the victims.
Multiple witnesses reported hearing an argument and gunfire. When investigators questioned Vessel the night of the shooting, he denied hearing anything related to the incident.
Police found a trash bag in the apartment complex's dumpster that contained a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson gun that matched the caliber of shell casings found at the murder scene.
Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482
