Stabbed Rosemount teen wanted to talk about a girl

Upset that someone else liked his girlfriend, 17-year-old Cody Casey biked to his rival's home after school Thursday.

The rival wasn't there, but his 16-year-old brother was. Police said the two boys got into a fight, and the 16-year-old stabbed Casey several times in the yard.

The Rosemount High senior got back on his bike and rode about a block before collapsing on the sidewalk. Passersby found him and called police. He died later at Regions Hospital in St. Paul.

Police Chief Gary Kalstabakken said that the 16-year-old is being held in juvenile detention pending possible charges Monday and that an 18-year-old man was arrested Thursday on suspicion of aiding and abetting the suspect. Records show he lives at the house where the stabbing occurred, on the 14700 block of Dallara Avenue. Police found a knife hidden near the home.

The chief would not say whether Casey was armed or whether the suspect could have been acting in self-defense.

The killing -- believed to be the first in the Dakota County town -- "is going to have an impact because you are not used to having violent crimes in your community," Mayor William Droste said Friday. He offered his sympathy to "the two families who will be changed forever."

At Rosemount High School, mourners fashioned a heart and spelled out "RIP Cody" by sticking red plastic cups through the chain links of a fence next to an athletic field.

'The sweetest guy'

"He is the sweetest guy I ever met," Julia Plan, 16, said about Casey, whom she had dated for two years until January. "He cared about everybody. If something was wrong, he was always the one to ask, 'Are you OK?'"

She said Casey had a job maintaining computers and loved playing football, lifting weights and hanging out with friends. She said he had gotten serious about his schoolwork and was working to get all the credits he needed to graduate.

Plan said she knew the girl who had agreed to go with Casey to the senior prom in May.

But another guy also liked her, which annoyed Casey. When Casey went to his house Thursday afternoon to talk to him, he was gone, she said. That's when an argument began with the boy's 16-year-old brother, Plan and other classmates said.

"It was a horrible tragedy that it happened to him," she said. "It can happen anywhere. It doesn't just happen in Minneapolis."

Counselors, psychologists and area youth pastors were at Rosemount High School on Friday to talk to students and staff. Principal Greg Clausen said Friday morning that four or five students left school and that an additional 15 or 20 were talking to counselors.

Students also left flowers on the sidewalk near the intersection of Dodd Boulevard and Shannon Parkway, where Casey collapsed. They arrived alone and in pairs after school to pray. Students embraced one another tearfully and left gifts in a small pile: A single rose. A teddy pair. A bouquet of carnations.

"You can feel the sadness. It just feels heavy," said Kara DeNunzio, a Rosemount sophomore who said she was a friend of the girl Casey planned to bring to the prom.

Casey was "a quiet guy," said senior Louis Oberg, a friend. "He wasn't really the kind of guy that would start something." He said students began sending each other text messages of grief and support Thursday night, and some were planning to sell T-shirts honoring Casey to raise money for his family.

Friday morning, "I walked into the school trying to be brave," Oberg said. "But when they had the moment of silence, I just broke down. I couldn't be in class. I just left."

Less than 2 miles away, a faded American flag waved in the chilly breeze over Casey's home. The one-story white house was similar and about 10 blocks away from the Dallara Avenue house where he biked Thursday.

Several cars were parked outside the Casey home Friday afternoon, but a pastor at the house said the family was not ready to comment.

Members of the suspect's family did not return a phone message left at their home.

Staff writer Tim Harlow contributed to this report. slemagie@startribune.com • 952-882-9016 jadams@startribune.com • 612-673-7658