CRYSTAL, Minn. — A 37-year-old Minneapolis man has been charged with murder after police found a person dead inside a parked vehicle last week in Crystal.
Larondo Willis is charged with second-degree murder after police found a man slumped over inside a running vehicle just before 7:30 a.m. on Thursday, Mar. 21. According to court documents, Crystal police were called for reports of an unoccupied vehicle parked on the 3200 block of Hampshire Avenue North that had been running for hours.
When officers approached the vehicle, police say they found a man slumped backward into the backseat with an apparent stab wound. A report from the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office identified the victim as 40-year-old Eddie Winters, and said Winters had been stabbed to death.
Court documents say several surveillance video clips showed the vehicle parked in the same location sometime between 7:16 p.m. and 8:26 p.m. on Wednesday, and remained parked there until Thursday morning when officers found Winters.
Several witnesses recalled Willis and Winters being together that day, including Winters' 14-year-old son, who said Winters referred to Willis as "cousin." According to the criminal complaint, Winters was with his son at a Minneapolis barbershop when Willis walked in. At one point, Winters and Willis left the barbershop together.
Later that night, Winters' son said he called his dad because he couldn't get into the apartment. When Winters arrived, Willis was still with him, according to the criminal complaint.
Court documents say Willis was later arrested by Minneapolis Police on a separate assault. During MPD's assault investigation, police used phone pings to track his location. According to the complaint, the phone was pinged to the location near where Winters' body was found on the night of the deadly stabbing. During the arrest, MPD said Willis had a butterfly knife and say they found a "blood like substance" on the waistband of his shorts.
The complaint against Willis also states that multiple members of the victim's family told officers that Winters and the defendant had a cousin in common who was murdered in April of 2022. Winters was allegedly present when the murder occurred but fled the scene instead of helping his cousin. Family members shared with police that this incident upset several family members, including Willis.
Along with the charge of second-degree murder, Larondo Willis faces a charge for third-degree assault in an incident that occurred one day before the alleged fatal stabbing. In that case, Willis reportedly attacked a man at a shelter in Minneapolis, punching him in the head and causing the victim to fall to the ground.
Prosecutors say that man was rushed to the hospital where he remains intubated and in critical condition.
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