A man said he bludgeoned an elderly Iron Range couple with a crowbar and a hammer because they wanted his government welfare benefits for housing him, according to murder charges filed Wednesday.
Charges: Man admits killing Babbitt couple he was living with, says they wanted his welfare benefits
"I killed them," the criminal complaint quoted him saying under questioning. "Nothing I can say."
November 1, 2023 at 7:47PM
Roger A. Beldo, 54, was charged in St. Louis County District Court with two counts of second-degree intentional murder in connection with the deaths over the weekend of Clifford Johnson, 78, and his wife, Christine Johnson, 79, at their home in Babbitt.
Beldo remains jailed in lieu of $1 million bail ahead of a court hearing Monday. Court records do not yet list an attorney for him.
According to the criminal complaint:
Beldo, who had been living with the Johnsons for at least a month, called police in Duluth and said he was at a hospital there and had done some "really bad things," and wanted to go to jail, the charges quoted him as saying.
An officer met Beldo at the hospital, where he admitted to killing his roommates at their home on Fir Circle in Babbitt and then drove his victims' SUV to Duluth. The officer saw what appeared to be blood on his shoes, jacket and other clothing.
In Babbitt, a police officer and a sheriff's deputy went to the Johnsons' home and located the bloodied bodies of Clifford Johnson on the floor in the garage and Christine Johnson on a bed.
Beldo said he used a tire iron and a hammer to kill the Johnsons. A law enforcement search of the home turned up a crowbar in a storage room and a hammer on a porch.
Beldo told a sheriff's sergeant and an agent with the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) that the Johnsons wanted his government subsidies for housing and food.
"I killed them," the complaint quoted him saying under questioning. "Nothing I can say."
Court records in Minnesota show that Beldo has been in trouble with the law for nearly three decades. In that time, he has been convicted 12 times for disorderly conduct, three times for domestic assault and once each for drunken driving, indecent exposure, fleeing police, property damage and making obscene or harassing phone calls.
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