Zara Case Charged With Stabbing Death Of Boyfriend Joseph McRunnel

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story contains graphic details that some readers may find disturbing. 

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A Minneapolis woman was charged Wednesday in the stabbing death of her boyfriend.

According to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office, 35-year-old Zara Case was charged with one count of second-degree murder in the stabbing death of her 39-year-old boyfriend, Joseph McRunnel.

According to the criminal complaint, Minneapolis police responded Saturday at about 5:23 a.m. to the 900 block of 15th Avenue Southeast on a report of a neighbor dispute in an apartment.

Upon arrival, officers spoke with a male witness who stated that Case had broken his window from the outside and was trying to force her way into his home. The witness reported that he had to block the door using his refrigerator.

Officers say they found Case outside her boyfriend's apartment half-naked and extremely intoxicated.

After convincing Case to go back into the apartment, officers say they spoke to McRunnel who was also intoxicated, but cooperative. While officers were speaking with McRunnel, the male witness again called 911, stating that Case was trying to enter his apartment again. The complaint says that the boyfriend and the officers found Case and convinced her to return to the apartment.

Officers cleared the dispute at about 6:05 a.m. Approximately one minute later, officers received a call of a reported stabbing that occurred in the same location. When officers arrived on the scene, they found Case and McRunnel in the apartment and noticed the boyfriend had been stabbed in the chest and had bite marks and bruising on his right arm and shoulder.

When officers attempted to arrest Case, she resisted and appeared hysterical. She was screaming that her boyfriend stabbed himself. When officers asked the boyfriend who stabbed him, he did not say anyone specifically.

Officers later executed a search warrant at McRunnel's apartment and found a large, bloody kitchen knife on the floor of the bedroom. During an interview with officers, Case told them, "I stabbed him. That's all there is to it."

Case also said she had recently gotten out of rehab and was addicted to methamphetamine and alcohol for 15 years. Then she claimed she did not remember what happened.

McRunnel died from his injuries at Hennepin County Medical Center. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner determined the manner of death to be a homicide, and the cause of death to be a stab wound to the chest that was 10.5 centimeters deep.

Case is currently in custody at Hennepin County Jail and is expected to make her first court appearance Thursday. If convicted, she will serve a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison.