MINNEAPOLIS — Murder charges have been filed four years after a man was found beaten to death and set on fire in the basement of a Twin Cities commercial building.
Prosecutors detail the accusations against 42-year-old Richard Handsome Carter, Jr. of St. Paul, who was taken into custody Monday and is being held in the Hennepin County Jail. Carter is charged with one count of second-degree intentional murder and two counts of first-degree arson.
Minneapolis firefighters were dispatched to a commercial building on the 1800 block of Central Ave. NE early the morning of Feb. 28, 2020, on reports of a fire. Crews found the front door locked and firefighters had to force entry. Court documents say as they went down the stairs to put down the flames firefighters noticed blood spatter on the wall. Once downstairs they encountered a man lying face down and engulfed in flames. The victim was underneath pieces of plywood and other materials that had been used to fuel the fire.
Investigators found the victim's body was completely charred and there was blood pooled around him. A partially burned 5-gallon bucket was by the body and matched contusions on the man's body. They determined he had been beaten to death and then set on fire afterward.
Documents say homicide detectives interviewed the building's landlord, who told them the victim was a tenant who was in the process of being evicted. The landlord also explained that the victim had sublet a room in the basement being used as a recording studio by Richard Handsome Carter, Jr.
When interviewed by investigators, Carter said he had never stepped foot in the basement recording studio but reportedly did admit that the victim had cheated him out of nearly $3,000 that was supposed to go to the landlord. Carter denied killing the victim and told police he would have been at the home of one of his girlfriends.
The complaint sheds no light on the past four years but explains that a sample of Carter's DNA was compared to items found on the murder scene, including a purple lighter with a "very strong" statistical DNA match. His cell phone at the time was also traced to towers near the scene and did not ping locations near where any of his girlfriends lived.
Richard Handsome Carter Jr. is scheduled to make his first court appearance in the case Tuesday afternoon.
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