DULUTH, Minn. (WCCO) – A Cloquet man pleaded guilty Friday to second-degree murder, witness tampering and aiding and abetting arson in connection to a cold case from 2000.
According to the St. Louis County Attorney’s office, Joseph John Couture Jr. admitted to murdering Trina Louise Langenbrunner on Sept. 3, 2000.
Langenbrunner, who was 33 at the time, was found stabbed and beaten to death near a gravel pit in St. Louis County. Her murder was a cold case until last year.
His wife, Sandra Couture, pleaded guilty in March to first-degree witness tampering and first-degree aiding and abetting arson. She admitted to setting fire to the property of a witness, destroying a home, car and killing two dogs.
Couture Jr. was sentenced to 39.3 years in prison.
