An accused teen murderer has been ordered to be held behind bars on a $1 million bond after allegedly killing his girlfriend at a park earlier this month.
According to a criminal complaint obtained by the Star Tribune, Isaac Arthur Arndt, 18, stabbed his 14-year-old girlfriend, Jaelyn Nichole Walker, more than a dozen times in Moorhead, Minnesota, and dumped her body in the Red River.
On August 19, Arndt went to the Clay County Law Enforcement Center to report an assault, where police noticed he had cuts on his fingers. Arndt claimed he and Jaelyn were at Gooseberry Park when an “unknown white male” began following them. He stated that as he fled, the man attacked him with a knife, according to the affidavit.
A little over an hour later, Jaelyn’s mother reported her missing to Moorhead police. A phone locator on Snapchat directed police to a bicycle trail near Elm Street and 6th Avenue South.
Law&Crime reports that responding officers searched the area and discovered Jaelyn’s body in the Red River with numerous stab wounds.
Moorhead detectives then interviewed Arndt at the hospital. After he repeated the same story he had given earlier, authorities noted inconsistencies.
Arndt subsequently admitted he and Jaelyn had been in a “romantic relationship” that had ended after several months. He then claimed Jaelyn questioned him about a new girlfriend and attacked him when he refused to answer, according to the affidavit.
The defendant ended up admitting that he stabbed Jacelyn numerous times, and then pulled her body to the river. He stabbed her more after seeing her “laying there suffering,” according to what he told investigators.
“Defendant stated that he then cut her throat, gave her a hug and stabbed her one more time in the back,” the affidavit read.
Police arrested Arndt and took him to jail in Fargo. On Friday, he was taken back to Minnesota, where the judge set his bond at $1 million on Monday.
His next court date is set for September 19. Check back for updates.
