Man found guilty of strangling woman after ‘God told him’ to kill

ST. CLOUD – A Stearns County jury on Wednesday found a 45-year-old St. Cloud man guilty of strangling a woman seven years ago — an act he said he committed because God told him to kill someone.

Daniel W. Kenning was charged with second-degree murder in October 2018 and later indicted on an additional felony count of first-degree premeditated murder for the death of 45-year-old Jennifer Lee Moy of Blaine.

According to the complaint, Kenning went to the St. Cloud Police Department just after 8 a.m. on Sept. 29, 2018, and told them he had strangled someone at his house in the 1100 block of 10th Avenue N. in St. Cloud.

Officers found Moy dead in the basement with marks on her body consistent with being restrained and strangled, the complaint states.

Kenning told police he drove Moy — who he had previously met at a wedding — to his house on Sept. 28 and then after midnight restrained her, the complaint states.

He said he then “intentionally strangled [her] with one hand until she died” because “God had told him he needed to kill someone and that he would be able to resurrect them,” the complaint states.

The case was delayed several times while Kenning underwent competency reviews and was committed to treatment centers. In court, his lawyers presented two defenses: He was not guilty because he didn’t commit the charged acts, and that even if he did commit them, he is not responsible because he was “suffering from a mental illness at the time,” court documents state. The two defenses were tried separately.