Charges: Suspect held Maplewood woman, fatally stabbed man who tried to free her

A Brainerd man was arrested and charged with murder after allegedly assaulting a woman for days before fatally stabbing a man who tried to help her.

Ramsey County prosecutors charged 52-year-old Lloyd Matthew McKenzie with assault and two counts of murder Friday. McKenzie’s first court appearance is Monday morning.

Charging documents suggest that McKenzie broke into a woman’s home and assaulted her for days.

Police learned of McKenzie on Thursday when responding to a reported stabbing at an apartment on the 1900 block of County Road D East in Maplewood. Officers arrived just before 6 p.m. to find a man, referred to as JJJ, lying in the fetal position across from an apartment with three stab wounds to his chest and abdomen.

Medics took the man to Regions Hospital in St. Paul for treatment. He died in surgery Friday morning.

Officers broke into the apartment and arrested McKenzie, finding a bloodied serrated kitchen knife under a bedroom mattress.

JJJ’s girlfriend, referred to as TW in documents, told police that her mother was being held in apartment 219 by her father, McKenzie. The daughter went to her mother’s apartment with her boyfriend and cousin after not hearing from her mother for days.

“CM was allowed to leave and go to the mall and grocery store, but McKenzie otherwise took her car keys and cell phones,” the charging documents read. “McKenzie punched CM’s head at various times while she was being held, and he threatened her with a screwdriver.”

CM added that McKenzie stabbed JJJ two to three times with a kitchen knife before closing the door and telling her that he would tell police he defended himself because JJJ had a gun.

McKenzie told officers that he was smoking marijuana and crack with CM when her daughter, boyfriend and cousin knocked. They demanded that CM leave with them but McKenzie would not let her leave.

He said JJJ brought out a gun, pointed it at McKenzie and pulled the trigger. McKenzie added that the gun did not fire and that he defended himself, explaining that JJJ was injured in the scuffle. When asked if he stabbed the man, McKenzie refused to answer without a lawyer.

JJJ’s girlfriend denied having a firearm, and her cousin said McKenzie attempted to stab them, too, according to court records.