Public safety briefs: Man found dead in Anoka County cul-de-sac

Police said Tuesday they are treating the death of a 50-year-old man found next to his car in northeastern Anoka County as a homicide.

Deputies discovered the body Monday night in a remote cul-de-sac on Camp 3 Road, west of Zodiac Street NE., in Columbus, according to Cmdr. Paul Sommer of the Sheriff's Office.

There have been no arrests and investigators continue to search for a motive. Authorities have not released the man's identity but said his last known address was in St. Paul.

David Chanen

Apple Valley police have seized the biggest heroin stash ever recovered in Dakota County, worth about $140,000.

Warren Earl Comeaux, 48, of Brooklyn Park was charged Monday with first-degree drug possession and sale. Comeaux has served a federal prison term for drug possession and use of a firearm during a drug crime, according to the complaint.

Police discovered the heroin after they arrived at the apartment complex in the 7400 block of W. 128th Street on a domestic disturbance call and saw Comeaux get out of a vehicle and begin digging through it. Comeaux tried to run as the officers were patting him down, but he was caught.

Susan Feyder

A 42-year-old woman arrested over the weekend in the methadone overdose death of a Newport man has been released from Washington County jail as the investigation continues.

Denis K. Parmuat, 32, died at Regions Hospital in St. Paul on Saturday after he overdosed on the prescription drug, which is similar to morphine and used both to assist those withdrawing from addiction to narcotics and as a pain reliever.

Newport police officers responded to an apartment complex about 1:40 a.m. in the 1600 block of 10th Avenue on a report that a man had overdosed on methadone. The woman, who lived in the apartment, was arrested, but by state law could only be held for 36 hours if charges were not filed.

More information, including toxicology reports on the exact cause of Parmuat's death, needs to be gathered, said Assistant Washington County Attorney Fred Fink, head of the criminal division.

Jim Anderson

A 39-year-old man has been sentenced to a long prison term for luring police to a Minneapolis park with a bogus 911 call saying he had been robbed of $300 and then stabbing two officers.

Marsenior P. Johnson was sentenced Friday in Hennepin County District Court to 17 1/2 years in prison for wounding Park Police officers James Huber and Katherine Hammes on Aug. 21 near Minnehaha Creek and Bryant Avenue S.

Huber shot Johnson as he stood over Hammes and was poised to stab her again with the 4- to 5-inch blade. Jurors in February convicted Johnson of attempted murder.

In a presentencing statement to the court, Park Police commanding officer Jason Ohotto said Johnson planned out his attack "with fatal intent."

A reward of $25,000 is being offered for information leading to the location of Danielle Jelinek, the Oakdale woman who vanished under suspicious circumstances near Chisago City on Dec. 9.

Money for bolstering the reward fund was raised last month at a community gathering at a Maplewood bar that drew hundreds of people. The reward is in addition to $1,000 being offered by the Chisago County Sheriff's Office in partnership with Minnesota Crime Stoppers and another $500 added recently by the Cottage Grove Crime Prevention Board. Jelinek graduated from Park High School in Cottage Grove.

Jelinek, who lived in Oakdale with her sister and nephew, was last seen by her family on Dec. 8, when she said she was meeting a girlfriend. Instead, police say she went to meet Aaron Schnagl, described by family members as an infrequent friend who had been physically abusive with her.

Authorities searched his home in Chisago Lake Township and found personal items but no sign of Jelinek. Schnagl has since been convicted of a probation violation in Anoka County stemming from drugs found in the search and is in the state prison in St. Cloud. He has not been charged in her disappearance and adamantly maintained he had nothing to do with it.

Anyone with information about Jelinek's disappearance can call the Sheriff's Office at 651-257-4100.