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Suspect arrested in brutal murder of grandmother by Minneapolis church

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Published  September 22, 2024 10:28pm CDT
Crime and Public Safety
FOX 9

Man charged in Minneapolis woman's beating death

A man has been charged after he brutally beat a woman to death in Minneapolis in July. FOX 9's Mike Manzoni has the story.

The Brief

    • Surveillance footage led police to identify Byron Bautista, 38, as the suspect in the brutal beating and murder of a 57-year-old grandmother outside a north Minneapolis church.
    • Bautista was seen with the victim, Felisha Smith, on several cameras before traffic cameras captured him carrying her near the crime scene.
    • Smith’s daughters, who don’t know Bautista, said their mother had a traumatic brain injury and may have been sexually assaulted, though court documents don’t confirm this.
    • Bautista is charged with second-degree murder and faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted.

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Surveillance cameras enabled police to stitch together the final hours of the grandmother found brutally beaten to death outside a north Minneapolis church in July, ultimately identifying her killer, according to court documents.

Byron Bautista, 38, faces second-degree murder charges, according to court filings. 

Bautista was spotted on surveillance video with Felisha Smith, 57, near Chicago Avenue and East Lake Street on July 13, police said. Surveillance cameras then captured the pair exiting a bus about five miles away in north Minneapolis, investigators said. Traffic cameras later recorded Bautista carrying Smith near Spirit of the Lord Church on Penn Avenue North, a block from the bus stop.

"This is traumatizing," said Bianca Harvey, Smith’s daughter. "I really can't believe that he would do that to my mom."

Smith’s daughters said they don’t recognize Bautista and have no idea how their mother connected with him.

Smith suffered a traumatic brain injury after a 2014 shooting, her daughters said. She disappeared after she signed herself out of The Estates at Chateau, a long-term care facility where she lived, they said.

Smith’s daughters said the medical examiner told them that their mother was also sexually assaulted. Court documents don’t mention a sexual assault, but said police found her body partially undressed.

It’s unclear why Smith boarded a bus to north Minneapolis.

If convicted, Bautista faces a 40-year prison sentence. But for Smith’s daughters, that isn’t enough.

"If Minnesota had the death penalty, I wish that he would get that," said Harvey.

Bautista will face a Hennepin County judge Monday afternoon. Smith’s children plan to attend.