Police identify 14-year-old girl killed in Moorhead; the suspect admits in the warrant that he stabbed her

MOORHEAD – A warrant filed in Clay County Seventh District Court for the suspect in the death of a 14-year-old Moorhead girl earlier this week showed the two were arguing about a recently ended romantic relationship before he stabbed her multiple times.

Isaac Arndt, 18, of Fargo, initially went to police just after 11 p.m. Monday, Aug. 19, to report an assault by an unknown white male who he claimed was following him and victim, Jaelyn Walker, in Gooseberry Park, according to reports. the mandate. He said Walker fled the area when the attack began and Arndt was taken to a local hospital for treatment of a cut on his hand.

Contribution / Cass County Jail

About 90 minutes later, Walker’s mother filed a missing person report with Moorhead police and directed officers to search for her daughter in a wooded area near a bike path at Elm Street and Sixth Avenue using Snapchat location services.

Officers found Walker’s body at that location. There were “substantial blunt force injuries to the back, torso and neck,” the warrant states.

At that time, the officers went to the hospital where Arndt was being treated and he agreed to go with them to the Fargo Police Department. There, he initially repeated the story about the unknown assailant, but later admitted that he and Walker had been “in a romantic relationship for several months, but that recently ended.”

Investigators analyzed Walker’s phone and found the two had agreed to meet Monday at 7:30 p.m. at Gooseberry Park.

Arndt told detectives that when he didn’t tell Walker the identity of his new girlfriend, she began punching and kicking him, at which point he pulled out a knife and stabbed her.

“The defendant stated that he began to ‘cut’ the victim and that he stabbed the victim approximately 13 times. The defendant stated that he fled the scene on his scooter and threw away his phone, backpack and scooter along the way,” warrants state.

David Samson/The Forum

Arndt told detectives he returned to his Fargo apartment to clean. A search warrant for the residence revealed red stained socks and a towel were found hidden in a kitchen cabinet and “toilet paper and used toilet paper rolls with red stains on them were found in the bathroom.”

Law enforcement officials reviewed security video from a home overlooking the wooded area where Walker’s body was found. In it, Arndt was seen leaving on foot at first and later on a motorized scooter heading toward the pedestrian bridge to Fargo, appearing to throw things in an area where Walker’s phone was found.

Arndt told investigators that Walker was dead when he left the scene and that he dragged her body to the river before fleeing.

Preliminary autopsy results from the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office indicated Walker’s manner of death was homicide by multiple blunt force injuries. Final autopsy results, including toxicology, are still pending.

The complaint said Arndt is charged with second-degree murder with intent — not premeditated — a felony that carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison.

Moorhead Police are asking for the public’s help in locating a Samsung Galaxy cell phone with an orange case in connection with the case. Information from the department said the phone may be located somewhere between II and 10th avenues and 15th and 23rd streets South. Anyone with information is asked to call the Red River Regional Dispatch Center at 701-451-7660.