Man who killed two women and brutally beat three others speaks for first time about his crimes

Alberto Palmer killed two women in Minnesota and brutally beat and raped three other women in Georgia, yet Monday in Hennepin County District Court was the first time he said he could express any emotion about his crimes.

Before he was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of 24-year-old Klaressa Cook in May 2013, Palmer apologized to the victims' families. Although Cook's family was not present, the weeping mother and other relatives of 18-year-old Brittany Clardy were.

Clardy's bloody, frozen body was found in a car at a Minneapolis impound lot three months before Cook's was found in a vehicle at a Columbia Heights lot. Both vehicles had been towed from Brooklyn Park.

"What if this would have happened to a member of my family?" Palmer told the court. "Since I've been in jail, I've been allowed to become a better person."

His attitude appeared decidedly different from the one he displayed during last month's plea hearing in Clardy's death, when he spoke without emotion while detailing the St. Paul native's gruesome death before an Anoka County judge.

Because of his tone that day, Lakeisha Lee, Clardy's sister, said she was stunned that he talked at all Monday. "I'm not sure his actions are sincere," she said. "But it's better to hear something and that he's taken responsibility."

Cook and Clardy were both involved in prostitution, authorities have said. Palmer, 25, contacted the women through backpages.com.

In court Monday, he told Judge Daniel Moreno how he tried to get his money back from Cook after they had sex in Brooklyn Park. Her head smacked into a wall during a struggle. Then "I hit her in the face until I got tired," Palmer said. "She wasn't breathing. I thought she was dead."

As he had done with Clardy, he took Cook's body, stuffed it into a car and abandoned it in a parking lot.

In a victim impact statement read by a court advocate, Tabytha Byrd, Cook's aunt, wrote that she was grateful police found her niece's body so they could spread her ashes in the Smoky Mountains.

"She grew into a strong person and grabbed life head on," Byrd wrote. "Her smile would warm the coldest heart. She was loved."

Byrd's statement also expressed compassion for Palmer and his family. She included in it a poem called "Broken Women," about abusive relationships.

"No matter how hard this is for our family, we pray for Alberto Palmer," she wrote. "I pray there is no bitterness in anybody's heart or minds."

Palmer's plea deal, which came together in August just two weeks before he was to go on trial in Anoka County, will have him first serving a 40-year sentence for Clardy's murder, which could be reduced by a third. Then, for Cook's death, he must serve at least 30 years of a life sentence with a chance for parole.

Palmer, who ran a chicken and waffle shop near Atlanta before moving to Minnesota, previously had said that he didn't kill Clardy. Two of his relatives said last month that they were shocked that he had agreed to a plea deal.

Shawn Webb, Palmer's attorney, said he may be able to talk about why his client agreed to the plea deal following sentencing in Anoka County in a couple of weeks.

Relatives have said Cook talked about becoming a veterinarian and was eager to start a family because she was good with children. They weren't sure why she came to Minnesota from Georgia.

Marquita Clardy, Brittany's mother, struggled to get through her short impact statement. While she said she hoped God would have mercy on Palmer's soul, she chastised him for treating her daughter like property.

"Our children are not property to be bought, sold, abused and killed," she said. "She didn't deserve to die at all."

Lee said Palmer's long sentence isn't what brought her closure. Instead, she said, it was last month's opening of Brittany's Place in St. Paul, a shelter for girls ages 10 to 17 involved in sex trafficking. Launched by 180 Degrees, a nonprofit group that provides services for at-risk youth and adults, it honors Brittany's life.

"She was trafficked," said Lee, who is studying criminal justice in college. "The shelter will last longer than my sister's life."

Lee said her sister was raised with good values and was not a bad person. She excelled in math and chemistry in school and wanted to be a pharmacist, Lee said.

"We went to concerts, did all kinds of things together," she said. "We just wanted to be young and happy."

David Chanen • 612-673-4465