Southern Minnesota man pleads guilty to second-degree murder in housemate murder
A southern Minnesota man has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the 2022 killing of his housemate.
According to a criminal complaint, Cody Kolstad, 35, of Morristown, called 911 around 12:30 a.m. on May 31 and told dispatchers a man was dead and to "come look."
He urged the dispatcher to send deputies and to "please put the cuffs on me."
Responding officers found Kolstad outside his home on the 100 block of Second Street Southeast, lying face-down in the grass with a phone in his hand. "I shot him in the head," officers heard him say, adding: "I'm going to jail."
Inside the home, deputies found 41-year-old Brian Daniel Stoeckel's body on a bed, the complaint states. Stoeckel was not breathing and there was a wound on his neck consistent with a shell of a shotgun slug.
Kolstad was charged with second-degree murder in June 2022. A charge of first-degree murder was added the following month.
If Kolstad's plea is accepted, he will be sentenced to 25 years in prison and the first-degree murder charge will be dropped.
Sentencing is set for May 2.
