Mo. man charged in Minneapolis-area triple slaying

By AMY FORLITI

BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. (AP) — A Missouri man was charged Monday in the murders of a Minnesota daycare provider and her elderly parents in what authorities believe was a botched effort to find a teenager who accused him of rape.

Eddie Matthew Mosley, 34, of St. Louis was being held on three counts of intentional second-degree murder for the April 9 shooting deaths of DeLois Brown, 59, and her parents, James Bolden, 82, and Clover Bolden, 81.

Police allege that Mosley believed the teenager stayed with Brown before she went to school and went there to kill her. But the girl was no longer going to Brown's home and wasn't there at the time of the shootings, according to a criminal complaint.

Mosley's defense attorney in the rape case didn't immediately return a message Monday seeking comment.

All three victims were shot multiple times, police said. The Boldens were lying on the bed when they were shot, and Brown was found leaning over the bed, clutching her father, according to a criminal complaint. A toddler who Brown was watching wasn't injured.

"It was an extremely violent crime," said Hennepin County Sheriff's Maj. Kip Carver. "We do not and will not tolerate such brutality."

Their bodies were discovered by a woman who had dropped off her toddler at Brown's home. The woman saw a suspicious man in the area and called Brown, with whom she briefly spoke before the phone went dead.

Then the woman returned to the home. She told police she saw a man leave the house, put something inside his jacket, and then ride off on a bicycle, according to the complaint. The woman followed the man until he went out of sight, then returned to the house to find the victims.

___

Follow Amy Forliti on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/amyforliti.

2012-05-14 22:45:49 GMT