St. Cloud man gets life in prison for fatally shooting co-worker he became ‘infatuated with’

FOLEY, Minn. - A Benton County judge on Friday sentenced a 38-year-old St. Cloud man to life in prison for fatally shooting a woman outside her workplace in 2022 after she repeatedly rebuffed his advances.

In August, a jury found Michael J. Carpenter guilty on one count of first-degree premeditated murder and one count of second-degree murder, both felonies, in the slaying of 28-year-old Nicole M. Hammond of St. Cloud.

Hammond, the youngest of five siblings who loved animals and nature, was fatally shot by Carpenter the morning of Oct. 24, 2022, in the parking lot of Dubow Textile, the company in St. Cloud where they both worked.

“Our world has been shattered,” Nicole’s sister, Amy Hammond, said Friday during the sentencing hearing that was attended by about three dozen people, many of whom wore shirts adorned with Nicole’s picture. The back of the shirts, designed for a memorial walk that raised awareness for domestic violence, stated, “No Means No.”

Carpenter planned Hammond’s murder after becoming “infatuated with her,” said Erin Eldridge, a prosecuting attorney from the state Attorney General’s Office, during the sentencing.

As co-workers, Carpenter and Hammond became friends in the summer of 2022 but he then developed deeper feelings that she didn’t share, Eldridge said. The night before Carpenter shot Hammond, she had texted him saying she did not want to be touched by him and told him not to make things uncomfortable at work, documents state.

“He stewed about it all night,” Eldridge said. Carpenter then drove to work, walked up to Hammond in the parking lot and shot her in the neck with a 9-millimeter pistol.

“The defendant saw those last breaths and he took off,” Eldridge said. “[He] left her there to die.”

“What hurts the most is knowing how much she suffered in her final moments,” said Amy Hammond, who told the judge no punishment could fulfill justice but asked that the full weight of the law come down on Carpenter.

Judge Robert Raupp sentenced Carpenter to life imprisonment, which state law mandates for first-degree murder, without parole.

At Friday’s hearing, Carpenter entered the courtroom smiling. Before he was sentenced, he spoke briefly. He did not apologize but said Nicole Hammond was a caring person who was always willing to lend an ear to listen.

“I agree she was a really amazing person,” Carpenter said.

A couple of Nicole Hammond’s relatives who spoke at the hearing referenced Carpenter’s odd demeanor during trial. Hammond’s mother, Terri Anderson, said Carpenter’s smiles and smirks in the courtroom were “pathetic.”

Kenneth Wutsch, a cousin of Nicole Hammond, said he hopes Carpenter is “haunted by the images of the crime scene and autopsy photos,” just as the family continues to be, and hopes Carpenter finds no peace or salvation because no one in the family will ever find “absolute peace.”

While family members read their victim impact statements, photos of Nicole were shown on a screen, including a picture her grinning while holding up a fish.

Her father, Steve Hammond, said Nicole was his kayaking and fishing partner — and that she was a daughter every parent would be proud to have: kind, adventurous and insistent that she would learn how to do things herself instead of having her dad, for example, repair her vehicle.

He told the judge he has suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder since the murder: “I leave this courtroom a broken man.”