On January 27, 2026, at 0424 hours, a North St. Paul police officer was on routine patrol when she observed a naked person lying face down in the street at the intersection of 17th Ave E and 2nd St N, North St. Paul, Ramsey County. Medics arrived and declared that the male, later identified as JG, [DOB REDACTED], was deceased. Officers checked a group home located at [ADDRESS REDACTED]. N. And discovered that JG was a vulnerable adult who resided at that group home. Staff there did not know that he had left the residence.
Daily report notes showed the following: 01/19/2027, JG left his room naked and ran back to his room when confronted by staff. 01/20/2027, JG left his room naked 3 times between 3 am and 6 am. 01/22/2026, JG dis-robed and attempted to run out of the house through the garage, but was stopped by staff arriving for shift change. Investigation revealed that Abiodun Olalekan Onakoya, [DOB REDACTED], was the staff member at the group home assigned to JG’s one-on-one care. Onakoya’s signed work agreement stated that he was not allowed to sleep at any time while at work.
Officers spoke to another staff member, IM. He stated that he did not know that JG was missing until police arrived. He went downstairs and found JG’s bedroom door open, and JG was missing. IM stated that he started to look for Onakoya, who was responsible for JG. He found Onakoya sleeping in a spare bedroom of the residence with the lights off and door closed. It appeared that JG left through the garage as he had attempted to do without clothing on January 22, 2026. When police arrived at the group home, they observed that the garage service door was open.
Other staff members were by the main entrance and exit and would have noticed JG attempting to leave. There were no footprints in the snow outside of JG’s windows. Camera footage from 2351 17th Ave E showed JG walking past the camera on the sidewalk on westbound 17th Ave E at 0322 hours. He was walking normally and did not appear to be injured. In a post-Miranda interview, Onakoya admitted that he was sleeping in a downstairs bedroom off the living room. He stated that he knows he is not supposed to sleep while at work.
He stated that he never thought this would happen. Temperatures were well below freezing during the early morning hours of January 27, 2026. Autopsy results are pending.
