Authorities say it could take at least two to three weeks to determine whether drugs or alcohol played a role in a murder-suicide in Shoreview on Monday.
Paul W. Wolter, 22, who had been battling mental illness, fatally stabbed his mother, Susan M. Wolter, 53, in the family's Shoreview Estates condominium, before taking his own life.
Public records on Paul Wolter's life offered no hint of violence to come.
According to the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Wolter had no criminal convictions in Minnesota. Ramsey County District Court files say he had been accused of three misdemeanors, two of which resulted in no convictions. While it was unknown Wednesday how the third case was resolved, it involved driving with expired plates.
The Ramsey County Sheriff's Office, which provides police service to Shoreview, had no record of calls involving the Wolter home, Undersheriff George Altendorfer said Wednesday.
"This was not a problem residence," he said.
Whether Wolter had a juvenile record would not be public, Altendorfer added.
In the end, he said, the public may not know much more about the case -- at least from the sheriff's office's perspective -- than whether Paul Wolter had been under the influence of drugs or alcohol when the crime occurred. What led to Monday's events "is not really part of our investigation," Altendorfer said.
