DULUTH — An Iron Range man has pleaded guilty to killing a married couple in their late 70s in their Babbitt home, before driving their SUV to Duluth and confessing to a local police officer that he had done “really bad things” and wanted to go to jail.
Babbitt man pleads guilty to killing married couple in their 70s
He drove to Duluth and asked police to jail him for killing the couple, his roommates of a month.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
May 8, 2024 at 10:32PM
Roger A. Beldo, 54, admitted in St. Louis County District Court to two counts of intentional second-degree murder in the October 2023 deaths of Clifford Johnson, 78, and Christine Johnson, 79, his roommates for the month before their deaths. He told law enforcement officials that the Johnsons wanted his low-income housing voucher and were stealing his food stamps.
“I killed them, nothing I can say,” he told officers while in custody.
His sentencing is Aug. 5.
According to the criminal complaint, after killing the Johnsons — Christine in her bed and Clifford in the garage — Beldo took their red Nissan Rogue to Essentia Health in Duluth. He made several 911 calls from the health care center before approaching an officer from the Duluth Police Department and confessing that he had murdered his roommates.
Members of the Babbitt Police Department and St. Louis County Sheriff’s Department went to the Johnsons’ home for a welfare check and confirmed the killings.
Clifford Johnson was born in Michigan, served in the Army and was described in a shared obituary as a “good brother.” Christine was a native of nearby Biwabik and worked for years as a hairdresser.
They were married 55 years.
Carlton County, just southwest of Duluth, hadn’t voted for a Republican presidential candidate since Herbert Hoover in 1928. Trump snapped that nearly centurylong streak earlier this month.
