Brooklyn Park Man Gets 15 Years In Girlfriend's 2015 Strangling Death

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A 38-year-old Brooklyn Park man was sentenced Wednesday in the August 2015 strangling death of his girlfriend at her home.

Toby Nicholas Clarke was sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree unintentional murder in the death of 36-year-old Krista Ambers.

According to the criminal complaint, Clarke called 911 at about 3 a.m. on Aug. 5, 2015, to report an unconscious woman in the house. When police arrived on the scene, they found Clarke along with his girlfriend, who was unconscious with bruising on her arms and neck. She was pronounced dead a short time later, and the Hennepin County Medical Examiner determined she died as a result of strangulation.

Clarke initially told police that he and Ambers were only friends, but later admitted they'd been in a relationship for three years and that he choked her during rough sex, the complaint says.

Clarke, who has a history of domestic abuse and an order for protection filed against him, told the court and both families he was sorry for the pain he caused.