Woodbury teen accused of 'bizarre' murder plot

As his community cheered his newly successful heart transplant , 14-year-old Andrew Busskohl of Woodbury told a reporter in 2004 that he had aced his favorite school subject - health - and shared his career aspirations.

"I plan on becoming a surgeon," a grinning, bespectacled Busskohl said, later showing off the scar on his chest while flexing his muscles for the camera.

Fast forward four years: Busskohl, now 18, faces charges that prosecutors say stem from a plan for the gruesome killing of a neighboring stranger. His chilling plan called for cutting out the heart or eyelids of his potential victim, according to a criminal complaint filed this week in Washington County.

Busskohl has been charged with first-degree burglary with a dangerous weapon and aggravated harassment with a dangerous weapon, both felonies.

He was booked into the Washington County Jail and released on $100,000 bail on the condition that he undergo a psychiatric evaluation at an area hospital. Upon his release, he is required to go before a judge to determine how the case moves forward, Washington County Attorney Doug Johnson said.

"When we think there is a question of mental illness, we're going to look at two different tracks: one being criminal prosecution and the other being mental illness and whether hospitalization is necessary," Johnson said.

A window shattered

Busskohl's arrest followed a turn of events that began Aug. 6 when James Fratto called Woodbury police shortly after 1 a.m. to report that someone had shattered his patio window.

According to the complaint against Busskohl:

• The next morning, Busskohl's friend Eric Eischens came forward to report that Busskohl told him he had "come up with a plan on how to murder someone."

• The meticulously detailed plan included finding a man who lived by himself and within walking distance of his Woodbury home. Busskohl detailed to Eischens how he would break a window at the man's house at night, a day or two before the slaying, giving him access to the house the night of the killing.

• Then, dressed in dark clothes, a swim cap, latex gloves covered with cotton gloves and shoe coverings, he planned to enter his victim's bedroom and stab him in the chest or slash his throat. Then, he would "either cut off the eyelids of the victim or cut out his heart."

• Busskohl said he would then walk home before burning the evidence with acetone.

The next day, Busskohl was arrested, saying in interviews with police: "I'm not even sure if I would have gone through with it."

He told police that he owns knives and started having thoughts of harming others months ago, and that "if at all possible, it would only be a complete stranger."

He said he broke the window of Fratto's home. When investigators asked if he did so to enter the home, Busskohl replied: "Not that night." When investigators asked if he planned to break in later, he responded: "Maybe."

Police secured a warrant and searched his home and vehicle, where they found a backpack with a swimming cap, heavy latex gloves, scrubs, gauze and Fratto's address along with a map to his house. Also in the backpack: shoe covers, a small pry bar, black mask, two bags, a knife and flashlights, as well as tweezers, scissors and a scalpel.

In additional interviews, Busskohl admitted the items would have been used in his plot, and said he didn't know whether killing the man would make him feel bad, or whether he "would have liked" it and been encouraged to kill again. Busskohl said he stood outside Fratto's window for a long time before breaking it that morning, and said he believed he would not have come back to finish the act.

Tough to charge

Johnson said charging such a bizarre case was a challenge to Washington County prosecutors, who hadn't seen anything like it.

"This case is very disturbing to us," he said. "We see behavior that is very scary, and yet we're limited by the law as to how we can respond to it.

"We don't have preventative detention in this country, where we think somebody's going to commit a crime, and so then we're able to lock them up," Johnson said. "He's in a facility being examined by a very, very good psychologist to determine what his mental state is."

Johnson said prosecutors scoured Minnesota appellate court decisions, and that an act of serious violence or other substantial steps toward murder would be necessary to justify an attempted murder charge.

A 2002 article in a University of Minnesota Academic Health Center newsletter featured a 12-year-old Busskohl, nicknamed "Fuzz," for whom his classmates at Bailey Elementary School raised $6,000 for heart research in his honor.

According to a Minneapolis Star Tribune article from 2004, Busskohl, who had a failed heart valve, received a transplant in 2003. According to his facebook.com profile, Busskohl graduated from Woodbury Senior High School this year and attends Century College.

Messages left with Busskohl's parents were not returned. An older brother and friend of Busskohl's declined to comment.

A KSTP-TV segment that aired in June featured Busskohl during his high school graduation. The Duluth-area parents of the 11-year-old boy who donated Busskohl's heart were there.

"A lot of people didn't think I'd make it," Busskohl said. "They thought I'd die in a few weeks, at 7, 13. Here I am 18 now."

Abby Simons • 612-673-4921