A Sibley County judge has granted the divorce between Jenny and Vance Boelter, the 58-year-old charged in the shootings of two Minnesota lawmakers and their families in June, according to state court records.
Jenny Lynne Boelter, 51, of Green Isle, Minn., sought the dissolution of marriage with children on Aug. 29 in Sibley County District Court. State court records show Judge Amber Donley signed the divorce on Oct. 24, ending the couple’s 28-year marriage. In her order, Donley awarded Jenny Boelter the couple’s Green Isle home and sole custody of their only child who is still a minor.
Donley previously granted Jenny Boelter’s request that the divorce records be kept from public view, but the order granting the divorce and other court records were filed in court by her attorney on Wednesday. In a recently filed affidavit, Boelter said her request to keep the divorce private was because of death threats aimed at her and her family in the aftermath of the shootings allegedly carried out by her now ex-husband.
Vance Boelter, 58, faces murder and attempted murder charges in connection with the shootings that injured state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, and fatally wounded state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark.
Federal prosecutors allege Vance Boelter was disguised as a police officer and drove a police-style SUV as he visited the suburban homes of Hortman, Hoffman and other DFL lawmakers in the early hours of June 14. The state’s largest manhunt ensued following the spree of gunfire and ended two days later with his capture near his home in Green Isle. Vance Boelter‘s next hearing related to his federal case is scheduled for next Wednesday. The ongoing criminal investigation has led to more than $50,000 in legal fees for representation for the family, according to Donley’s order granting the divorce.
While the petition for the divorce remains sealed, Jenny Boelter’s affidavit discussing the threats and other court records were filed by Boelter’s lawyer this week. The filing was in response to a challenge brought by the Minnesota Star Tribune and other media outlets to unseal the divorce records. Her lawyer, Maury Beaulier, declined to comment further about the matter.
In the affidavit, filed as a response to the petition to make the records public, Jenny Boelter rebuked the media’s attempts to overturn the sealing. She said the divorce holds “absolutely no public relevance” and includes the names of their five children. She added that the only reason the public would seek such information “is for their own prurient interests without any legitimate purpose.”
“On behalf of my children and myself, I have already expressed our deepest sympathies during this unimaginably difficult time. We now seek privacy,” Jenny Boelter wrote, referring to a statement she released through her lawyer following the shootings, in which she called the gun violence a “betrayal.”
