Charges: Man beat woman to death outside Minneapolis church

A man who allegedly told police he had no memory of the act was charged in the beating death of a woman outside a Minneapolis church in July.

Byron Vinicio Vargas Bautista, 38, of Minneapolis, was charged with second-degree murder with intent last week in Hennepin County District Court in the death of 57-year-old Felisha Smith.

Members of Smith’s family spoke with Fox 9 last month and said she had been living at a long-term care facility in Minneapolis because she survived a shooting in 2014 that left her with a traumatic brain injury. She disappeared after she signed herself out of the facility.

According to court documents:

On July 14, Minneapolis police were called to a church near the intersection of Oak Park Avenue N. and Penn Avenue N. where they found Smith’s body outside the church. She had been beaten to death.

Witnesses said they saw Smith with a “Latino man” the night before. Police used surveillance videos to trace Smith and Bautista’s movements that night. They were together near the corner of Lake Street and Chicago Avenue and then took Metro Transit buses throughout the city before exiting near the scene of the crime. Traffic cameras appeared to show Bautista carrying Smith part of the way toward the church. Later he is seen going back and forth to the scene of the crime before eventually leaving.

Two months later, Minneapolis police on patrol in south Minneapolis saw Bautista and recognized him as the unknown man from the surveillance video.

Bautista was read his rights, and he told investigators that he did not know Smith or have any memory of what he did on the night of July 14. When he was shown photos of the suspect in the crime, he told police it was him.

Bautista is being held in Hennepin County jail on $1 million bail. His next court date is set for Oct. 23.