Man sentenced for rape, immediately arrested on charge he fatally beat friend in Minneapolis alley

Immediately after being sentenced to probation Tuesday in a St. Paul courtroom for raping a woman, a 37-year-old man was arrested on charges that he fatally beat a friend in a downtown Minneapolis alley last month.

Ryan P. Lidberg of St. Paul was charged Monday in Hennepin County District Court with first-degree manslaughter in connection with the beating of 32-year-old Nicholas Towner-Upshur on Feb. 10 in the 1000 block of S. Washington Avenue.

Towner-Upshur died a few days later at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis from what an autopsy determined was damage to the artery that feeds blood to the brain, the criminal complaint read.

A warrant was issued for Lidberg's arrest. Minneapolis police were waiting for him at the Ramsey County District Courthouse and took him into custody late Tuesday morning, said John Arechigo, Lidberg's attorney in the sexual assault case. He pleaded guilty to the third-degree count and was given a 6½-year prison term that was set aside and instead was put on four years' probation and ordered to register as a predatory sex offender.

In a brief telephone interview earlier Tuesday with the Star Tribune, Lidberg described the deadly incident as "a tragic mistake. I really liked the guy. He was my best friend's best friend." He otherwise declined to comment further only to say he would take care of the warrant.

Towner-Upshur lived most of his life in the St. Cloud area and performed music under the stage name Profit/YYY, according to his online obituary. The father of two daughters "was outgoing, compassionate, intellectual, loving, kind, funny and strong-willed," the obituary noted.

Lidberg's criminal history in Minnesota includes convictions for first- and third-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with an assault in 2018 in his apartment of a woman he met on a dating app. However, a District Court judge vacated the jury's verdicts "due to ineffective counsel," the manslaughter complaint disclosed.

The Hennepin County complaint, based on witness interviews and surveillance video, alleges:

Police went to Abbott Northwestern on Feb. 13 on a report of a patient who was there "under suspicious circumstances," the complaint read. Towner-Upshur died there shortly afterward.

Towner-Upshur, Lidberg and other friends were together on Feb. 10 and attended a comedy show downtown. Lidberg and one of the friends told hospital staff and Towner-Upshur's family that Towner-Upshur slipped on ice and hit his head after a minor scuffle. Abbott staff told the family that the injuries were inconsistent with Lidberg's account.

Video surveillance obtained by police showed Lidberg chasing Towner-Upshur down an alley shortly before 9 p.m. and attacking him. Towner-Upshur fell, stood and was kicked back to the ground by Lidberg,

As Towner-Upshur tried to get away, a punch from Lidberg sent him to the ground again. Lidberg knelt over Towner-Upshur and "seemingly holding [Towner-Upshur] down ... delivers what appears to be a very forceful punch to [the] victim's head area." The video revealed no further movement from Towner-Upshur.

Lidberg and the friend with him stood around the still Towner-Upshur for a couple of minutes and at times inspected him. Lidberg called his girlfriend, who is a nurse, asking to have her take Towner-Upshur to a hospital.

The girlfriend arrived in the alley shortly before 9:30 p.m. Lidberg, his friend and his girlfriend took four minutes to load Towner-Upshur into the car and drive to Abbott Northwestern.

Lidberg took Towner-Upshur's "limp body out of the car," put him in a wheelchair and rolled him into the hospital. Lidberg grabbed his girlfriend and pulled her behind a column to hide from hospital staff. Lidberg, his girlfriend and the friend got back in the car and left.

"In total," the complaint read, Towner-Upshur "spent approximately 40 minutes unconscious without medical attention."

Investigators asked Lidberg where Towner-Upshur fell, and he replied, "He fell in Minneapolis." When pressed for a more specific location, Lidberg said he would answer no more questions without a lawyer.

No charges have been filed as of Tuesday against the girlfriend or the friend who allegedly helped bring Towner-Upshur to the hospital, according to public court records.