CHARGES: He Fatally Shot 22-year-old After Rejected Relationship
A 27-year-old Shakopee man has been charged with second-degree murder after police say he fatally shot a woman inside her Richfield apartment last month.
Authorities allege he then attempted to cover his tracks by discarding evidence across the metro.
Kayli Grace Arseth, Via GoFundMe
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Jose Luis Lopez Xique is accused of killing the woman sometime after 4:30 p.m. on June 16, according to the charging documents. Police found 22-year-old Kayli Grace Arseth dead the next day inside her apartment on the 7700 block of Penn Avenue South, after family called for a welfare check when she didn’t show up to work and wasn’t answering messages.
Responding officers saw Arseth’s car parked outside and, after getting no answer at the door, entered the apartment with a key from management. Inside, they found her lying face down in a pool of blood with a gunshot wound to her head. Investigators say the shot entered through her right eye and exited the back of her skull, fired from close range.
PREVIOUSLY: 22-year-old Woman Killed in Richfield Apartment, Police Say
Investigators learned Arseth had plans on the evening of June 16 to meet a friend at her apartment after work. That friend arrived just before 5 p.m. and began calling and texting her from the parking lot. After receiving no response for about 20 minutes, he walked to her apartment door and knocked.
A nearby neighbor heard the knocking, came out, and told the friend they had earlier heard yelling inside Arseth’s unit, beginning shortly after 4:30 p.m. According to the neighbor, the woman had shouted, “How could you do this to me?” during what sounded like an argument with a man. About ten minutes later, the neighbor heard someone leave the apartment, though they did not see who. The friend, still unable to reach Arseth, left around 5:30 p.m. and messaged her father to report the situation.
Investigators learned Arseth had recently met a man online who went by “Lui.” Friends identified him as Xique and said the two had been spending time together, though the relationship was not romantic. Snapchat logs showed they had a close communication “streak” that ended on June 17, the day after her death, and that no messages were sent by Xique after she was killed.
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On the afternoon of June 16, Arseth told Xique over Snapchat that she didn’t have the capacity for a relationship and was feeling overwhelmed. He replied that he just wanted to be there for her and said he had bought her a gift. The final message she sent was just after 4 p.m.
Phone records show Xique’s device arrived at the apartment building around 3:38 p.m. and stayed until 4:49 p.m. His last message to Arseth was sent from that location. The neighbor heard someone leave at 4:47 p.m. Surveillance video later showed a man matching Xique’s description at a hardware store shortly after, wearing a mask and dark clothing, buying drinks and steel-toe shoe covers.
That same day, police found two bags dumped in West Bloomington containing 9mm ammunition, gloves, gauze, sunglasses and clothing. They also recovered packaging for those items from a nearby trash bin. Investigators confirmed that Xique had purchased those materials just after noon at a megastore, where he was seen on surveillance referencing a handwritten shopping list.
After securing warrants, officers began surveillance at Xique’s home. As they watched, he got into a blue BMW and began to leave. But before exiting the neighborhood, he drove toward an unmarked officer and appeared to film him with his phone. Officers boxed in the car nearby and took Xique into custody. Xique did not inquire about why he was being arrested and even told officers to “hurry it up.”
Inside his home, investigators found a Glock 9mm handgun and a red dot sight adapter plate, which are now undergoing forensic testing. They also recovered flash drives, camera gear and clothing matching what Xique wore in the store footage. A search of his body revealed scratches on his chest and puncture wounds to his arm, the court documents say.
Xique was booked into jail and requested a lawyer after being read his Miranda rights. According to the complaint, he told officers he wasn’t going to answer questions but added, “You can keep talking and maybe something will slip.”
Xique was scheduled to make an initial court appearance on Tuesday morning. Bail is currently set at $2.5 million with conditions including surrendering his passport and electronic monitoring. If convicted, he faces up to 40 years in prison.
According to a GoFundMe created by family members, Arseth worked with autistic children as a behavioral technician and had recently decided to pursue a degree in Developmental Psychology.
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