MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) canceled a search for a fugitive murder convict on Saturday.
The BCA initially reported that the body of 58-year-old Ralph Apmann was found on Friday, Feb. 24 in Minneapolis' Boom Island Park. On Tuesday, Feb. 28, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board said Apmann was actually found near Nicollet Island but was on city property, not parkland.
Officials took Apmann's body to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office to determine the cause and manner of death.
On Feb. 14, prosecutors convicted Apmann in absentia for a second-degree unintentional murder charge after Juan Morales Rivera was found dead outside the Phat Pheasant Pub in Windom, Minnesota, on Aug. 26, 2021.
Apmann posted bail after being charged in August of 2021 but failed to appear in court for the trial on Feb. 13, 2023.
When investigators questioned Apmann about Rivera's death, he said that Rivera was "causing problems with patrons in the bar so he took him to the back room to play a couple of games of pool."
After the two were done playing, Apmann told police he went out to the back door to have a cigarette and Rivera then punched him. The two wrestled, and Apmann said "he put Rivera in a choke hold until he stopped struggling."
When Apmann left Phat Pheasant Pub, he insisted that Rivera was taking "deep loud breaths." Court documents say Apmann and his daughter left the bar without telling anyone about the fight.
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