MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A 39-year-old Eden Valley woman is accused of shooting her ex-boyfriend to death in his Brooklyn Center home back in February, according to charges filed Wednesday in Hennepin County Court.
Rochelle Lynn Inselman is charged with second-degree intentional murder in connection with the Feb. 12 shooting of Bret Struck.
According to a complaint, a concerned co-worker went to Struck’s home on Feb. 13 after concern that Struck hadn’t shown up for work, was not answering his phone and didn’t answer the door. A witness went inside the home and found Struck unresponsive on the kitchen floor.
When authorities got to the residence on the 5400 block of Girard Avenue, they discovered he had been shot several times and had been dead for some time, according to the complaint. Police talked to several neighbors in the area, who said they heard several banging sounds the night before. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner later determined Struck died from multiple gunshot wounds.
During the investigation, police learned that Struck’s ex-girlfriend, later identified as Inselman, had a history of threatening and harassing behavior towards Struck. Police determined she was obsessed with Struck since the relationship between the two ended in 2004, according to the complaint.
Police learned she had been hacking his Facebook account, sending defamatory emails to his family and friends and stole his identity to apply for four or five credit cards over the past year, according to the complaint.
Authorities met with Inselman on Feb. 16 at her home in Eden Valley. She denied being in the Twin Cities at any time after November of last year. She told police she was on her computer at the time of the murder and hadn’t seen Struck in several years, the complaint states.
Investigators learned that she had actually been in the area of Struck’s home four times in the week leading up to the murder. A witness also told police he sold a 9 millimeter handgun to a woman named “Rochelle” on Jan. 28 and she told him she needed the gun because of an ex-boyfriend, according to the complaint.
Authorities found accessories from that gun in a public trash can near Clearwater, Minn., and they were able to match it to the gun used in the Brooklyn Park murder.
Inselman was taken into custody and is currently in the Hennepin County Jail. If convicted, she faces up to 40 years in prison.
