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KARE 11 Investigates: Capitol blunder delays deadly gap case reforms

A funding mix-up postponed programs meant to save lives and provide better mental health care to people like Joseph Sandoval, who's now accused of a double murder.

A.J. Lagoe, Brandon Stahl (KARE11), Steve Eckert

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Published: 11:18 AM CST February 9, 2023
Updated: 3:38 PM CST February 10, 2023

Warning: This story contains scenes of violence.

He always wore flannels, 15-year-old Madisyn Murphy said as she picked up a blue plaid teddy bear made from one of her dad’s favorite shirts.

“It gives me a lot of comfort.”

Her father, Jason, was a 40-year-old handyman, making repairs at a St. Paul sober house on Oct. 20 last year.

Credit: KARE 11
Madisyn Murphy keeps a bear made from her father's flannel shirt close by.

The dispatch calls describe the horrors that happened.

“Downstairs and there’s blood all over the place.” 

“Victim in basement unresponsive.”

“From the guy we have in custody, it sounds like there are two victims inside.” 

Police did find a second victim – 56-year-old Army veteran Jon Wentz – in a pool of blood in an upstairs bedroom. He had been living at the sober house for several months, finally clean and ready to restart his life.

Both men had been murdered with a knife and hammer.

Wentz’s daughter, Angela McGowan, thinks there were actually three victims that day: Her father, Murphy, and also the severely mentally ill man accused of killing them, Joseph Sandoval.

“(He) didn’t get the help he needed,” she said. “He’s lost any potential for the rest of his life as well.”

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