A man and woman from Cloquet, Minn., admitted that their robbery plot evolved into the fatal shooting of a couple, according to charges filed Thursday.
Rachel C. Defoe, 25, and David Annette, 28, were charged with second-degree murder and held in the Carlton County jail in lieu of $1 million bail. Annette is accused of pulling the trigger of a .22-caliber rifle in both slayings.
Killed at their home on Jan. 8 near Cromwell were Kim Schmitz and her boyfriend, Thomas Holm, both 53.
Holm's pickup truck was found the next day abandoned and torched in a ditch about 35 miles north of the victims' home, according to the criminal complaint.
Both had been shot in the back of the head, Holm twice and Schmitz once, according to autopsy results. Annette entered Holm's house and shot him first, then gunned down Schmitz when she came home from work, according to the complaint.
Defoe and Annette, who live together, became suspects thanks to tips given to authorities, according to the charges.
Authorities made a DNA match between Annette and a cigarette butt in an ashtray in Holm's kitchen, the same room where his body was found, the charges said.
Defoe and Annette were arrested Wednesday in Hennepin County and eventually admitted to the killings, according to the complaint.
