Hudson police ID Maplewood teen as shooting victim

A 19-year-old Maplewood resident who had just completed a year of study at Minnesota State University-Mankato was shot and killed inside a car near the front entrance of the St. Croix County Government Center, police said Monday.

Kelly Lynn Dahm, a 2007 graduate of Tartan High School in Oakdale, where she had played varsity softball, was shot several times, said Marty Jensen, police chief in Hudson, Wis., where the shooting occurred.

"We're just all shocked that something like this would happen to one of our students," principal John Bezek said Monday, who described Dahm as outgoing. "I would say she was independent and strong-willed in a good way." Dahm's on-again, off-again boyfriend, 29-year-old Christopher S. Ledesma, of Woodbury, was booked into the Washington County jail on charges of felony possession of a firearm by an ineligible person and terroristic threats-reckless disregard. Ledesma served four years in a Wisconsin prison for felony reckless injury in a 1996 St. Croix County case, Jensen said. Ledesma was on supervised release and the Wisconsin Department of Corrections has put a detainer on him, the chief said.

The chief said he expected felony murder charges would be filed against Ledesma this week.

"We're very confident that we have the weapon and we have the shooter," said Jensen, who added that it appears that someone related to Ledesma drove him away from the shooting.

Woodbury police arrested Ledesma on Saturday evening after family members at a house on Meadow Lane complained he was causing a disturbance, Jensen said. He was taken into custody at 8 p.m. without incident but a handgun was found near him, Woodbury Capt. Kris Mienert said. Further investigation led to Dahm's body in Hudson later that evening, she said.

Jensen said that Dahm was found in the passenger seat of a black sedan about 10:30 p.m. in the upper parking lot of the government center and that investigators believe she was killed there in the afternoon. The sedan was registered to Ledesma, he said.

The upper lot, on the government center's east side, is for courts and county offices. The lower lot, on the building's south side, houses the Sheriff's Office. On Monday, orange paint marked where the car with Dahm's body was found. The upper lot fronts Carmichael Road, a major Hudson thoroughfare, but no houses are nearby.

"It is kind of baffling why someone would come to Hudson and do this," Jensen said.

Police have no evidence that Dahm was abducted but the investigation continues, he said.

"Dahm and Ledesma had been seeing each other off and on for the past two years and at some point had been living together," the chief said. Ledesma is married, but his wife is considered a witness and not a suspect, Jensen said. Details on the relationships remain under investigation, he said.

The state crime lab in Wausau, Wis., will check the firearm against casings and slugs found at the murder scene, he said. "We have good indication that the crime did get committed at the Government Center," he said.

Ashley Blanchard, 20, who described herself as best of friends with Dahm in high school, said: "She was the kind of girl who got along with everyone, was friends with everyone," and was known for her loud laugh.

Dahm and Ledesma met when they worked at a Woodbury restaurant, Blanchard said, but she didn't know details.

Dozens of friends from high school and college, many of them expressing disbelief, posted comments on Dahm's Facebook page Monday.

Kevin Giles • 651-298-1554