A northern Minnesota man lied to police and unwittingly led them to several suspects implicated in the shooting death of a teenage mother in Wright County last week, according to prosecutors.
Thomas F. Nicholson, 26, of International Falls, appeared Tuesday in Koochiching County District Court on a felony count of aiding an offender, said County Attorney Jeffrey Naglosky. Nicholson remains jailed ahead of a court hearing on June 20.
Five other defendants in the death of 19-year-old Cheyenne Clough were moved Monday from Koochiching and Todd counties to the jail in Wright County, where prosecutors are "reviewing the case for potential charges," said Wright County Sheriff Joe Hagerty.
The county attorney's office "anticipates bringing the defendants to court Wednesday," the sheriff added, suggesting that charges against them are imminent.
Clough, of Buffalo, the mother of a 3-year-old son, died Saturday at North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale from multiple gunshot wounds, the Hennepin County medical examiner's office said. She was found last Wednesday barely alive at the entrance to Crow Springs Park in Franklin Township.
Authorities have not revealed a motive in the killing but did say Clough knew two of the defendants before the deadly encounter: Justin M. Jensen, 28, of Maple Lake, and Natasha L. Brandenburger, 33, of Buffalo.
The complaint against Nicholson laid out how police caught up with four of the suspects, all from Wright County, near the Canadian border:
Shortly after 10 p.m. Saturday, Nicholson was questioned by police at his home about two of the suspects in Clough's death. After initially saying he had "no idea" what the officer was talking about, he said the two had been at his residence but left for Kelliher in north-central Minnesota. Another person with Nicholson said the suspects were heading to a home west of International Falls, where "they felt safer."
