MINNEAPOLIS — An Isanti County man fatally shot a woman he flirted with at two bars in Isanti County, then buried her on his farm property just north of the Twin Cities, according to a murder charge filed Thursday.
Richard M. Peterson II, was charged in Isanti County District Court with second-degree intentional murder in connection with the killing early this month of 32-year-old Amanda Jo Vangrinsven, who worked at one of the bars where she and the suspect hung out together.
Peterson remains jailed in lieu of $1 million bail ahead of a Sept. 1 court appearance, according to court documents. Court records do not list an attorney for him.
According to the criminal complaint and other court filings:
On Aug. 5, Vangrinsven had been drinking with Peterson at the VFW in Isanti, where she worked and where he holds a leadership position. Other patrons and staff said the two were "touching each other very affectionately," the complaint read.
Peterson told others there he would drive Vangrinsven home because she had too much to drink. However, the two went to the Dugout Bar and Grill in Bethel later that night.
While authorities have yet to disclose a possible motive behind Vangrinsven's death, the complaint noted that "there appeared to be a change" in their affectionate behavior before they left the Dugout, and Vangrinsven never showed up at home and failed to report for work at the VFW bar the next day.
Peterson gave investigators conflicting accounts about his actions that day including a lie that he dropped Vangrinsven off at a park near the VFW after she failed to remember where she lived.
Investigators determined that Vangrinsven was last seen with Peterson and they went to his home in Athens Township to question him.
His wife told investigators that she saw Peterson operating a tractor with a front-end bucket and a rear excavating shovel at the south end of the property the morning after Vangrinsven disappeared.
On Aug. 10, investigators inspected ground out back recently turned over by a tractor and located Vangrinsven's body in the southwestern end of the property. She had been shot in the back of the head, according to a medical examiner's report.
