The remains of two women were found in separate storage units in the St. Paul area. Joseph Jorgenson was charged in one case and is a person of interest in the other.
A tipster who reported a Minnesota woman missing before her body was found in a storage unit last week said he tried to get her help for a drug addiction but was threatened by a man who authorities have identified as a person of interest in her case, law enforcement documents show.
That person of interest, Joseph Jorgenson, 40, was charged with second-degree murder in the killing of a second missing woman whose dismembered remains were discovered in a different storage unit on June 28.
The tipster called the Minnesota Human Trafficking Investigators Task Force and said that a friend, Fanta Xayavong, 33, was missing and possibly a victim of sex trafficking, according to applications for search warrants filed earlier this month that were obtained by NBC affiliate KARE of Minneapolis.
He told authorities that before Xayavong disappeared roughly two years ago, she’d struggled with drug addiction and he tried to get her into rehab, according to the documents.
“JORGENSON threatened to kill him,” the documents say, adding that the tipster provided text messages showing the threats.
The tipster, who did not respond to a request for comment, described Jorgenson as “very abusing” toward Xayavong, according to the documents.
He contacted authorities after learning that the remains of another woman linked to Jorgenson, Manijeh “Mani” Starren, had been found in a storage unit, St. Paul Police spokesman Mike Ernster told reporters last week.
Authorities confirmed with her family that Xayavong had last been seen in July 2021, according to the documents. She was reported missing on May 25, Ernster said.
Both women had been in relationships with Jorgenson, Ernster said.
The applications, filed in Ramsey County District Court, sought access to the property surrounding Jorgenson’s suburban apartment along with his email, Facebook and Uber accounts.
Xayavong’s body was found July 6 inside a storage unit in Coon Rapids, roughly 25 miles northwest of St. Paul, the department said in a statement last week.
Ernster said her manner of death was homicide. He did not provide additional details about a cause of death.
According to a statement of probable cause in Starren’s case, her dismembered remains were found in a storage unit in Woodbury, about 9 miles southeast of St. Paul.
Starren’s father reported her missing on May 1 and told authorities she’d struggled with drug addiction and mental health issues, and was supposed to have gone to a drug treatment center when she disappeared, according to the document.
During the father’s last call with her on April 18, she seemed paranoid and afraid, and he believed she was afraid of her boyfriend, the document says.
Authorities later found surveillance video showing Jorgenson pushing her into her St. Paul apartment on April 21, according to the statement.
Starren was never seen leaving the home again, though Jorgenson was later recorded on video leaving her apartment with two duffle bags and a suitcase, and during a search of her apartment, authorities found large amounts of blood around the apartment that someone appeared to have cleaned up, the document says.
Jorgenson was arrested June 26 after allegedly starting a fire in his apartment when authorities tried taking him into custody, the St. Paul Police Department said in a statement. Authorities said he fought with officers and tried to disarm them.