Second suspect charged in Lino Lakes homicide

A second suspect has been charged in connection with the shooting death of a 22-year-old man in his Lino Lakes home last month.

Melissa Madelyne Zielinski, 47, of Sandstone, Minn., was charged Friday in Anoka County District Court with second-degree intentional murder in the death of Karl M. Henderson.

Her brother, Nicholas W. Zielinski, 43, of Hermantown, Minn., was charged with second-degree murder earlier this month.

Officers were called to the 6900 block of W. Shadow Lake Drive shortly after 2:30 p.m. on Aug. 27 after Timothy Henderson, the victim's father, returned home from shopping and saw an unfamiliar SUV in the driveway.

Timothy Henderson encountered the Zielinskis in the kitchen, the charges say. He followed them outside, asking who they were and why they were in his house.

Nicholas Zielinski "stated words to the effect of 'your son stole on me' and 'I'll take you out, too' " before they drove off, the charges say.

Henderson went downstairs and found his son face down in a pool of blood in his bedroom. He was declared dead from a gunshot wound to the abdomen.

A number of people independently reported that the woman involved in the shooting probably was Zielinski's sister, the charges say.

Cellphone tracking information obtained from the Zielinski siblings' phones indicated that Nicholas traveled from his home in Duluth to Melissa's home in Sandstone before heading to the immediate area of the shooting. Nicholas' phone left the area at the time consistent with Henderson's account.

Text messages from Melissa's phone on the day of the shooting further implicate the siblings.

"We are going to collect some money that's owed to me hopefully," she said in a text.

An incoming reply read, "So you and Nick are going to go muscle some money."

Zoë Jackson covers young and new voters at the Star Tribune through the Report For America program, supported by the Minneapolis Foundation. 612-673-7112 • Twitter; @zoemjack