Police are investigating a burglary at the boarded-up home of a slain Minnesota lawmaker just days after she and her husband were shot to death there.
A suspect in the shooting, Vance Luther Boelter, 57, is jailed awaiting further court action. He is accused of killing the Hortmans after allegedly shooting another state lawmaker, Sen. John Hoffman, and his wife, Yvette, who both survived multiple wounds. No motive has been released, but the two lawmakers were both Democrats, and authorities have said they found evidence that Boelter was targeting others also. He allegedly visited two other unnamed lawmakers’ homes between the shootings at the Hoffmans’ and the Hortmans’ houses.
Crime-scene investigators had already finished gathering evidence in the aftermath of the Hortmans’ June 14 slayings, and “all evidence related to the homicides had been collected,” according to police.
A day after the fatal shootings, the home was boarded up, police said, adding that a police trailer camera was placed at the front of the home and that the house was released to the family. The couple’s relatives “removed items of value from the home on Tuesday,” police said.
But on Wednesday morning, someone discovered that “plywood covering the rear window of the home had been pried off and the window broken to gain entry,” the statement said, adding that “the home appeared to have been searched by an unknown individual.”
However, the Hortman family told police “they don’t believe anything is missing,” police said.
Officers collected evidence at the scene. They are urging neighbors to check footage from their security cameras for any images that might aid investigators. They asked anyone with possible evidence or information to call (763) 493-8222.
