Hibbing man pleads guilty to killing his former landlord in 2017

DULUTH — A Hibbing, Minn., man pleaded guilty Thursday to the murder of his former landlord, who was found dead in her home in 2017.

Blake Andrew Stangel, 53, entered the plea to second-degree intentional murder for the death of Courtney Fenske, 71, and faces more than 28 years in prison. He also separately pleaded guilty to first-degree aggravated sale of a controlled substance — methamphetamine he bought in California — and will face a to-be-determined concurrent sentence.

A postal worker called for a welfare check on Fenske, who hadn't picked up her mail in late November 2017. She was found with pants wrapped tightly around her head and her arms and legs tied. She died from asphyxiation due to strangulation and smothering, according to the criminal complaint.

DNA was collected at the scene, but authorities were unable to find a match until about three years later. Stangel, who had recently become a person of interest in the case, was brought into the Hibbing Police Department on outstanding warrants in May 2021. His DNA was a match to what taken at the crime scene.

While he was in custody, he made a phone call admitting he was at Fenske's house on the night of the murder to commit a burglary and that he had helped tie her up. He insisted he didn't kill her, according to court documents. No one else has been charged in the case.

"I didn't know and [expletive] tied her up and she ended up dying from it," he reportedly said.