Charges expected in case of missing Edina woman

Edina police anticipate that a man sitting in a jail 800 miles away will be charged as soon as Tuesday in connection with the recent disappearance of his 27-year-old girlfriend.

Authorities in Edina received a missing-person report on Jan. 5 about Cristina Prodan, said police spokeswoman Kaylin Eidsness.

Eidsness said several agencies are involved in the investigation and that police believe charges will be filed Tuesday, based on information from the Hennepin County attorney's office.

Prodan's former boyfriend, a 25-year-old, was arrested Wednesday in Jacksonville, Ark., and remains jailed on behalf of Edina police and the U.S. Marshals Service. The Star Tribune generally does not name suspects before they are charged.

He was booked into the Pulaski County jail, and his mug shot shows several apparent injuries to his face.

The man was sentenced in Hennepin County District Court for violating a domestic abuse no-contact order about a week before Prodan was reported missing.

He was sentenced on the misdemeanor count to 90 days in the workhouse but had 80 days stayed and got credit for the 10 days he was under arrest. His criminal convictions in Arkansas include second-degree battery, burglary and property damage.

He also was subject to a no-contact order involving another woman in 2014. Hennepin County District Judge Jacqueline Regis put the man on two years' probation and ordered him to undergo anger management treatment and to abide by the no-contact order.

Prodan's mother, Livia Prodan, told WCCO-TV late last week that her daughter and the man met through Facebook and that he moved into her Edina apartment last fall. She also said police informed her that they believe her daughter is dead. She said her daughter got back together with the man even after he was under court order to stay away from her.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482