NORTH ST PAUL, Minn. — A North St. Paul man was sentenced on Tuesday to life in prison without release for killing his girlfriend in 2022.
According to a court document, Melvin Bilbro was given "life without parole" for the first-degree murder of Shanna Daniels while committing domestic abuse with a past pattern of abuse.
A criminal complaint in the case details how North St. Paul fire crews were dispatched to an apartment fire on the 2200 block of South Avenue East around 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 28, 2022.
When firefighters arrived they entered the building and located Daniels' lifeless remains inside her apartment. A witness told investigators they saw Bilbro inside her apartment at the time of the fire.
A search warrant served on Bilbro's apartment yielded multiple items that had blood on them, a set of keys for Daniels' residence and Daniels' dog covered in soot, the documents said.
Officers eventually located Bilbro sleeping under a Highway 36 overpass on the Gateway State Trail in Washington County.
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