Arlene Bell is an alleged killer from Minnesota who has been charged with the murder of Gary Lehmeyer
According to court documents 32 year old Arlene Bell was living with 76 year old Gary Lehmeyer who was suffering from Parkinson dementia for the last ten years.
Something went wrong and Arlene Bell allegedly stabbed Gary Lehmeyer before strangling the elderly man and wrapping his body up in blankets before stealing his vehicle and driving to Iowa
Arlene Bell would be pulled over as the officer believed she was under the influence. Police would find drugs in the vehicle and took her into custody where they would soon learn she was wanted for murder in Minnesota
Arlene Bell has been charged with second degree murder and auto theft
Arlene Bell News
Prosecutors in Minnesota on Friday accused a woman of stabbing and strangling her 76-year-old roommate who had Parkinson’s dementia, then bounding his ankles and wrapping his body in blankets and a heated mattress pad
Arlene Theresa Bell, 32, is charged with second-degree murder, the Rice County Attorney’s Office said in a press release. Police in Faribault, a city about 50 miles south of Minneapolis, found the body of Gary Lehmeyer while conducting a welfare check at his home on Feb. 5. Cops noticed his van was missing and later learned it was already in possession of law enforcement.
Around 11:30 a.m. Feb. 5, an Iowa State Patrol trooper pulled over Lehmeyer’s vehicle west of Des Moines with Bell driving it, authorities said. Troopers said she looked as if she were under the influence of drugs. They found drugs in the van and she told them she was driving to the Mexico border, according to troopers. She also reportedly said she was coming down from a meth high from a couple days earlier. Troopers took her into custody on the drug charges and Rice County prosecutors later added a motor vehicle theft charge.
Bell later told detectives she was home with Lehmeyer when she heard something hit the floor in his bedroom. When she went to see what happened, she claimed she saw “red bullets” at Lehmeyer’s feet.
“Though Bell admitted that she didn’t see any guns, she said she was scared, that Lehmeyer wouldn’t let her leave the room and that the two began a very physical fight, despite Lehmeyer being physically disabled and diagnosed more than a decade ago with Parkinson’s dementia,” the press release said.
Prosecutors said Bell admitted to stabbing Lehmeyer repeatedly and used a knife to “saw at his wrists.” Bell also told investigators that Lehmeyer threw a dehumidifier at her and began choking her with its cord. She said she cut the cord to free herself.
She watched as he began “bleeding profusely” and spit blood at her, prosecutors say. Bell then bound his feet together with the dehumidifier cord and wrapped his body because she was afraid he would “regain consciousness and kill her.” She said she then took a shower to wash off all the blood on her before driving away in Lehmeyer’s van.
An autopsy determined Lehmeyer died of ligature strangulation and multiple sharp force injuries, local Fox affiliate KMSP reported.
Arlene Bell previously has been arrested for making terroristic threats, burglary and harassment. She remains at the Dallas County Jail awaiting extradition back to Minnesota on the murder charges. A grand jury could indict her for first-degree murder at a later time
