A woman whose obsession with her ex-boyfriend led her to shoot him eight times in his Brooklyn Center home earlier this year pleaded guilty to murder on Friday. Rochelle Lynn Inselman, 39, of Eden Valley, will be sentenced next week to 40 years in prison, according to the Hennepin County attorney's office.

Inselman admitted to killing Bret Struck, 41, in his home a couple of days before Valentine's Day. She had gone to his house with a handgun because she said she wanted to "discuss things with him." Once they started to argue, Inselman shot him.

She dumped the gun and the box that it came in in a trash can at a highway rest stop. A maintenance worker found the box and turned it over to police, a move that prosecutors said was crucial to linking Inselman to the murder.

"Every case requires good investigation and help from citizens," said Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman. "This case needed even more of both because initially police had no strong suspects. But a citizen in this case went beyond the usual assistance when he found a gun box he thought was unusual."

According to the criminal complaint, Inselman had been obsessed with Struck since they broke up in 2004. She had hacked into his Facebook account, sent defamatory e-mails to his friends and family and also stole his identity to open credit card accounts.

Nicole Norfleet • 612-673-4495 Twitter: @stribnorfleet