Less than four hours after his birthday, a St. Cloud man lured his mother to his apartment and stabbed her to death, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday.

Dean A. Friese, 52, of St. Cloud, was charged in Stearns County District Court with second-degree intentional murder in the death early Saturday of Lois A. Omeara, 72. She was found dead in his third-floor apartment at 401 33rd Av. N. She was the building's manager and lived two floors below.

Friese has had multiple commitments for mental illness and a history of violence, according to Minnesota court records. He remains jailed in lieu of $3 million bail.

According to the complaint:

Police were called shortly before 4 a.m. to the apartment building and met Friese there. Omeara's body was discovered in his apartment. She was stabbed eight times, with most of those in her chest.

Friese said he lured his mother to his apartment by pulling a medical alarm, knowing she would respond. She came in, and he stabbed her with a kitchen knife.

The defendant told police he had been thinking about killing his mother, but the complaint did not offer a motive.

Friese recently finished serving a three-year prison sentence for second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon after terrorizing an adult acquaintance with a gun in Benton County. In 1997, the suspect was placed on probation for domestic assault in a different case, records show.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482