Dustin Tinklenberg (Kanabec County (Minn.) Sheriff’s Office)
A Minnesota man was sentenced to 26 years in prison for the murder of his 93-year-old grandmother, whom he killed with a tomahawk-type hatchet, thinking she had “altered” his bacon.
Dustin Gene Tinklenberg, 43, was sentenced for second-degree murder in the slaying of Stella Anderson, online court records show. He pleaded guilty in August to one count of second-degree murder.
As Law&Crime previously reported, deputies responded on Sept. 13, 2022, to a request for a welfare check on a single-family residence in the 1300 block of Highway 23 in Ogilvie, some 70 miles north of Minneapolis. Once there, first responders entered the home and found Anderson “deceased of obvious homicidal violence.”
According to a copy of the criminal complaint, Anderson’s body was discovered by her daughter and at least one other family member, who then placed the 911 call.
Two of Anderson’s great-grandchildren told investigators they went to Anderson’s home to pick up something from someone camping on the property. While outside the home, one great-grandchild said she heard shouting from inside. Minutes later, she was getting back into her car when she reportedly saw Tinklenberg on the deck just outside the house.
The great-grandchild said that Tinklenberg “seemed to be upset,” noting that “his fists were closed/clenched” and he “was looking over the deck yelling at something,” the affidavit said.
Police found Tinklenberg at a home nearby, where he was taken into custody.
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She died from “horrific sharp force injuries” that included “seven cuts to her head from a tomahawk type hatchet,” court documents said.
Investigators learned Tinklenberg was regularly observed with a hatchet. Witnesses told police Tinklenberg got into a dispute with an employee at Fat Jack’s bar in Bock and slammed the small ax into the wood bar in 2021. Two homeowners also told police that Tinklenberg visited their home on the Monday before the killing and showed a sheathed double-edge hatchet.
In an interview with police, Tinklenberg said he was homeless but stayed with his grandmother on occasion. He claimed that he was “emotional.” He accused his grandmother of sexually abusing him when he was a boy, further alleging that she continued to harass him as an adult.
Tinklenberg then continued to make a series of increasingly bizarre allegations, telling investigators he was constantly being followed by drones and subjected to multiple surgeries he did not even remember happening.
“Tinklenberg then proceeded to lift up his shirt to show them the scars – no scarring was observed,” the complaint said.
When confronted with the news that his grandmother had been killed, he told police that she had “somehow manipulated/altered the bacon he was eating,” adding, “so I lost it,” the complaint said.
Law&Crime’s Jerry Lambe contributed to this report.
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