Son charged in Big Lake City Council member's murder
Authorities identified Rose Johnson, who was a Big Lake city council member, as the woman allegedly killed by her son. (City of Big Lake)
BIG LAKE, Minn. (FOX 9) - The son of a Big Lake, Minnesota city councilwoman was charged with her murder Monday.
Eric Jordahl, 20, is charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the death of his mother, 62-year-old Rosalie Ellen Johnson, on Thursday, July 23. Johnson had served on the Big Lake City Council since 2019.
According to the charges, Jordahl’s father called police after he returned home from work on Thursday and was met by his son in the garage, who told him he had just killed his mother.
Officers responded to the family’s house on the 1800 block of Gulf Street, where they found Jordahl covered in blood. Inside the house, they found a butcher knife on the kitchen table “as well as what appeared to be human tissue.” They located the body of Jordahl’s mother, 62-year-old Rosalie Ellen Johnson, in the basement. She had “obvious facial trauma,” the charges say.
In a statement to police, Jordahl admitted to stabbing his mother. He said he went into Johnson’s bedroom during the night and she told him to go back to sleep. He punched her repeatedly, then left the room to get a knife.
He said he returned to his mother’s room where he stabbed her multiple times and bit her. He also told police he “removed part of the body and put it in the kitchen,” the charges say.
The Midwest Medical Examiner ruled Johnson’s death a homicide and said she suffered both sharp and blunt force trauma to her head and body.