38-year-old Charged in Death of Minneapolis Nursing Home Resident
Photo via Hennepin County Jail
A 38-year-old Minneapolis man has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of a woman whose body was discovered outside a church this summer.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Hennepin County, Byron Vinicio Vargas Bautista faces one count of second-degree murder in the July 2024 death of a 57-year-old woman who was a resident at a skilled nursing facility in north Minneapolis.
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Minneapolis police say they responded to a report of a deceased woman near Oak Park Avenue North and Penn Avenue North on July 14, 2024. Officers found the victim partially unclothed, with visible injuries to her face and upper body. An autopsy later determined that she had suffered blunt force trauma, leading to her death. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide, noting that the victim had hemorrhaging around her brain, neck, and clavicle, and her hyoid bone was fractured.
Investigators learned that the victim was last seen at her nursing facility on July 13, 2024, the day before her body was found. Witnesses later told police that the victim had been in the company of a Latino man on the evening of July 13. Surveillance footage from Metro Transit buses and nearby cameras showed the victim and the suspect, later identified as Vargas Bautista, traveling together before exiting a bus near Penn Avenue North and Oliver Avenue North.
Cameras captured the two walking toward the northeast corner of the church, and traffic cameras recorded Vargas Bautista carrying the victim part of the way. Additional footage showed Vargas Bautista returning to the scene alone multiple times before ultimately leaving the area.
On Sept. 19, 2024, investigators spotted a man they recognized as the suspect in south Minneapolis. He was arrested and identified as Vargas Bautista. During a subsequent interview, police say Vargas Bautista admitted he was the person in the surveillance videos but claimed not to know the victim and said he could not remember the events of July 13.
Vargas Bautista remains in custody. If convicted, he faces up to 40 years in prison.
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