Murder charges: Attack on victim in south Minneapolis likely spanned 'a period of time'

A 55-year-old man was charged Wednesday with the beating and stabbing death of a friend in the victim's south Minneapolis apartment, where the body was discovered Sunday morning by firefighters thinking there was a blaze to extinguish.

Charles Brown, of Minneapolis, was charged in Hennepin County District Court with intentional and unintentional second-degree murder in connection with the death of a man in his 60s in an apartment in the 1700 block of S. 3rd Avenue.

Brown was jailed Sunday afternoon and remains held in lieu of $750,000 bail. He's due in court Thursday. Court records do not list an attorney for him.

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office has identified the victim but as of late Wednesday afternoon is declining to make his name public.

According to the criminal complaint:

Firefighters arrived at the apartment on a call and saw there was food burning on the stove. They also saw Brown asleep in a bedroom and a man's body on the living room floor.

Police came to the residence and saw dried blood on Brown and a small cut on his right pinky finger.

A stool was bent in such a way that "indicated it was used to strike [the man] with significant force," the charges read.

The totality of the scene "suggested an attack that occurred in phases over a period of time," read the complaint, which noted that the man was disabled and required the use of a walker.

Brown told investigators that he and the man had been friends for years. They met up at noon on Saturday and decided to go to the man's apartment to drink. He said the two of them drank heavily.

Brown suggested that an intruder must have killed his friend, explaining that he fell asleep and later awoke to see the door open and his friend dead.