Minneapolis man spared prison for injecting another man with meth, leaving him to die

A Minneapolis man was spared prison and sentenced instead to a year in the Hennepin County workhouse after he pleaded guilty to injecting a sex partner with two doses of methamphetamine and leaving him tied up while he died.

Delwayne W. Center, 40, of Minneapolis was sentenced in Hennepin County District Court after pleading guilty to third-degree murder in connection with the death on May 12, 2023, of 47-year-old Daniel J. Aldridge in an apartment overlooking Loring Park.

Judge Tamara Garcia’s sentence sets aside a term topping seven years — with nearly two-thirds of that time spent in prison — in favor of the workhouse and five years’ supervised probation upon release.

According to the criminal complaint:

A 911 call from Center sent police to his residence in the 214 Place Apartments, where they found Aldridge, of Minneapolis, dead on a bedroom floor. Center told officers he connected with Aldridge on a dating app, and they agreed to meet at the apartment. Aldridge arrived about 1 p.m. on May 11, and “the two engaged in sexual activities including bondage,” the complaint read.

Center said he had Aldridge tied up and injected him with meth as “part of the roleplay,” the complaint continued.

Aldridge started thrashing, but Center kept him bound and injected him with more meth. Center said he was mad because Aldridge “could not handle his drugs,” the charging document quoted Center telling police.

Aldridge passed out on the floor. Center did not check on him and went to bed.

The next morning, Center saw that Aldridge was dead. Center said he watched television for a while, flushed all the drugs in the apartment and got rid of drug containers.

Five months later, the Medical Examiner’s Office issued a statement saying that Aldridge’s death was a homicide from a meth overdose.