Man admits to killing mother, who twice sought court protection from him, in her Uptown condo

A man with a history of alleged violent outbursts against his mother admitted in court that he beat her to death in her Uptown condo and fled to Hawaii.

Nicholas D. DeRousse, 33, pleaded guilty in Hennepin County District Court last week to second-degree murder in connection with the March 2023 death of Stephanie DeRousse, 60, in her home in the 3100 block of W. Lake Street.

The plea agreement between the prosecution and the defense calls for DeRousse to receive a 21¾-year term. Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 25.

With credit for time he is spending in custody since his arrest, DeRousse is expected to serve about 13 years in prison and the balance on supervised release.

DeRousse has also been found in civil court proceedings to be mentally ill and dangerous, meaning he could be committed to a secure state-run treatment facility at some point.

Law enforcement captured DeRousse on May 18, 2023, about 760 miles from Minneapolis in a park in Murray, Ky.

An autopsy by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office revealed that Stephanie DeRousse had broken ribs and bruising throughout her body.

According to the criminal complaint:

Acting on a request for a welfare check, officers entered the condo, detected a foul smell and located Stephanie DeRousse dead on a bedroom floor. The officers looked beneath a blanket wrapped around her head and saw numerous injuries.

Clayton DeRousse, who was at the condo with police, told officers that older brother Nicholas DeRousse no longer lived with his mother and had recently moved back to Murray. He said he last spoke with his mother a few days earlier, when she was vacationing in Spain, but he failed to reach her upon her return.

Building surveillance video showed Stephanie DeRousse returning home about 8:50 p.m. on March 12, 2023, and again the next afternoon receiving a food delivery. “This is the last time the victim is seen alive,” the complaint read.

Video also revealed that Nicholas DeRousse was at the condo four times in the next few days before he took a flight to Denver and then a connecting flight to Los Angeles. Two days later, he was on a plane to Hawaii. The complaint did not detail his return to the U.S. mainland.

Both petitions said Stephanie DeRousse called police at least twice about her son’s behavior. Court records show no charges were filed following the mother’s allegations, although he was arrested in April 2018, charged and convicted of a gross misdemeanor for resisting officers who came to the condo to enforce one of the protection orders.

In the first filing, Stephanie DeRousse said that on June 13, 2017, her son was “acting paranoid, agitated and seeing things.” She said he got angry over her feeding him a grilled cheese sandwich. She said he injured her wrist while grabbing it and blocked her from leaving the condo.

She withdrew the request for protection a few days later, explaining in the second petition, “I believed him that he was going to get help and become a better person.”