Man Sentenced for Stabbing Girlfriend 36 Times During Police Pursuit
A Mankato man has been sentenced for stabbing his girlfriend three dozen times during a police pursuit and then slitting her throat while high on meth last year.
Officers were first called to a home on May 30, 2023 around 1:27 p.m. by a woman who said her brother, Dustin Lee Murilla, 35, had blocked the driveway and assaulted his girlfriend before speeding off in a white Lincoln Navigator.
According to court documents, she told dispatchers that Murilla and the victim had been using methamphetamine earlier in the day.
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Witnesses later reported the Navigator running stop signs, driving on sidewalks and swerving through traffic near Mound Avenue and Poplar Street. The victim called a relative from inside the vehicle, telling them Murilla was acting paranoid and refusing to stop. “He’s driving on sidewalks and through yards,” and that Murilla kept assaulting her.
Officers located the Navigator on Carney Avenue, but the chase escalated with Murilla reaching speeds of 80 mph. He weaved between lanes, passed vehicles on the shoulder and ignored a spike strip deployed by deputies.
The pursuit continued into residential neighborhoods, including the playground at Washington Elementary School, where children were outside playing. A Minnesota River Valley Drug Task Force agent wrote in charging documents that Murilla swerved through yards and parks, narrowly missing pedestrians and cyclists.
The chase came to a final end on Goodyear Avenue, a dead-end street. Officers rammed the vehicle, causing it to flip onto its roof. Murilla and the victim remained inside as officers surrounded the vehicle, with weapons drawn.
The victim emerged from the SUV, bleeding heavily, and collapsed. Asked if Murilla had slit her throat, the victim confirmed, “yes,” before losing consciousness. Officers carried her to a waiting ambulance and doctors later determined she had 36 stab wounds, including life-threatening injuries to her face, neck, chest and limbs.
Murilla was initially uncooperative but was eventually pulled from the wreckage and taken into custody. At the hospital, he admitted to assaulting the victim, telling staff, “I know I tried [to stab her], but she kicked me in the face,” and that “she just kept kicking me.”
Investigators recovered a bloody knife inside the vehicle and confirmed through forensic evidence that many of the victim’s injuries occurred after the crash. The victim required treatment in the ICU and Murilla was treated for a self-inflicted stab wound.
Murilla was sentenced Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, to 20 years in prison for the attempted first-degree premeditated murder charge. As part of a plea deal, four other charges he was initially facing—including second-degree murder, kidnapping and fleeing police—were dismissed. He received credit for 502 days already served. In addition to the prison sentence, Murilla must pay $1,980 in restitution.
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