John Jefferson
Top inset: Isaac Arndt (Moorhead Police Department). Bottom inset: Jaelyn Walker (Korsmo Funeral Home). Background: Scene of Jaelyn’s murder. (KVLY/YouTube)
A man allegedly stabbed his 14-year-old girlfriend multiple times at a Minnesota park before slitting her throat, giving her a hug and knifing her one more time in the back.
Isaac Arthur Arndt, 18, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Jaelyn Walker in Moorhead, which is on the border with North Dakota near Fargo. According to a probable cause statement, Arndt walked into to the Clay County Law Enforcement Center around 11 p.m. Aug. 19 to report an assault. He had two cuts on his fingers. Arndt claimed he and Jaelyn were at Gooseberry Park when an “unknown white male” started following them. He said as he ran away, the man attacked him with a knife, per the affidavit.
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About 90 minutes after Arndt’s statement, Jaelyn’s mother called the Moorhead Police Department to report her missing. A locator on her phone through Snapchat led cops near a bicycle trail on Elm Street and 6th Avenue South. Several officers searched the area where they found Jaelyn’s body in the Red River near a wooded area along the trail. She was suffering from multiple stab wounds. Cops also found a knife and lots of blood.
Moorhead detectives spoke with Arndt at the hospital. Post Miranda, he initially gave them the same story he told the other police officer earlier in the night, but his statements were inconsistent, detectives noted. Arndt eventually admitted that he and Jaelyn had been in a “romantic relationship” for several months but it had recently ended, according to the affidavit. He claimed the two were at the park when Jaelyn wanted to know about his new girlfriend and attacked him when he refused to tell her.
“Defendant stated he started to ‘slash’ at the victim and that he stabbed the victim about 13 times. Defendant stated he fled the scene on his scooter and along the way he discarded his phone, his back pack, and the scooter,” detectives wrote.
Arndt spoke with detectives and prosecutors in a second interview. He allegedly said after he stabbed her several times he saw her “laying there suffering.”
“Defendant stated that he then cut her throat, gave her a hug and stabbed her one more time in the back,” the affidavit said.
He allegedly dragged her body to the river and left her there. She was dead, he reportedly admitted.
Detectives searched his home in Fargo where they allegedly found bloody socks and a towel hidden in the kitchen cupboard. There was also bloodstained toilet paper in the bathroom, the affidavit said.
Cops also say they uncovered security footage from the park that showed Arndt coming out of the wooded area where they found the body and leaving on a scooter. Text messages on Jaelyn’s phone reportedly showed they had agreed to meet at the park around 7:30 p.m. the night of the murder. Witnesses also told cops they saw two people matching the descriptions of Arndt and Jaelyn around the same time, the affidavit said.
Arndt was arrested and taken to the jail in Fargo. He was extradited back to Minnesota on Friday. A judge on Monday gave him a $1 million bond. His next court date is scheduled for Sept. 19.
Jaelyn’s family described her in her obituary as “our beautiful, blue eyed, fearless, and feisty girl who loved singing and, although she kept it to herself, she had a beautiful voice.”
“Her quiet time was spent in her room after making herself her macaroni and tomato juice, which was her favorite. If you had the privilege of being her friend, she would let you join too as she loved her closest friends fiercely,” her family wrote. “You’d never find Jae in anything but sweatpants and a sweatshirt, wrapped in one of her favorite blankets with a power fan blowing in her face. If it wasn’t comfy, she wasn’t having it.”
She also loved animals, particularly her cats, and her family.
“Her favorite family time was lake time, filled with the whole family, all 40 something of us, especially her cousins,” the obituary said. “Her love of Anime gave her aspirations to travel and see the world. Jae was so proud of the choice to be baptized at Prairie Heights on May 22nd, 2022. She is now in the loving arms of Jesus.”
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