Murder Charges Filed After Fatal St. Cloud Stabbing
BY MN CRIME STAFF
A 23-year-old woman is charged with second-degree murder after a man was fatally stabbed inside a St. Cloud apartment last week.
Katerina Ivanovna Markiv faces two counts of second-degree murder in connection with the killing.
One count alleges intentional murder without premeditation. The second alleges felony murder, accusing her of causing a death without intent while committing second-degree assault. Each charge carries a maximum possible sentence of 40 years in prison.
According to the criminal complaint, law enforcement was dispatched at about 4:05 a.m. to a residence in St. Cloud on a reported knife complaint. The victim briefly spoke with a dispatcher and said he had just been stabbed, describing it as an accident tied to a “minor disagreement.” Dispatchers noted he was coughing and struggling to speak. During the same call, a woman later identified as Markiv took the phone and told dispatch the stab wound was “at his left f***ing nipple,” apologizing as the call continued.
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Officers arrived to find the victim lying unresponsive on the floor with a visible chest wound and extensive blood on his body and throughout the apartment. Markiv was applying pressure to the wound and told officers she did not mean to stab him. She said that when people get mad they just want to swing things and she did not realize how close he was. She denied having any injuries.
Police located a knife on the floor behind her, described as a boning-style knife about eight inches long with a blade roughly one to one-and-a-half inches high. Investigators reported the blade had blood on it. The victim had a wound on the left side of his chest estimated at one to one-and-a-half inches long, with blood on his chest, neck and face. Blood was also coming from his nose and mouth.
Officers immediately began lifesaving efforts. The victim initially showed eye movement and had a pulse, but officers later lost a pulse and continued CPR until paramedics arrived. He was pronounced dead at 4:36 a.m. inside the apartment.
The complaint states Markiv gave a Mirandized statement at the scene. She told officers she and the victim began dating in October 2025 and that he picked her up from work the night before using her car. He stayed overnight at her apartment. She said she had been drinking throughout the night, taking “a few chugs” every other hour.
She told investigators an argument started because she wanted to “have fun” and the victim did not. She clarified that meant sex. She said the victim “kinda” raised his voice, leading to what she described as a “stupid a** argument” she admitted she had mostly created in her own head. She said the victim kept cutting her off while she tried to explain herself, something that annoyed her.
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Markiv told police she had a knife at her side and swung it, believing she would only “scratch” him. She said her hand moved forward reflexively and stabbed him, adding that she did not realize her own strength. She admitted pulling the knife out after stabbing him. The victim then told her to call 911. She said she tried but could not talk at first, while the victim spoke to dispatch before she resumed the call and applied pressure to the wound.
She also admitted throwing light punches at the victim, describing them as “tapping.” She denied that the victim ever hurt her and said he tried to get close to calm her down. She acknowledged being in a rage and said she has anger issues.
“Something in my head got triggered to where my f***in’ hand just went forward and it f***ing shanked him and I'm like, ‘what the hell just happened?’” Markiv allegedly told investigators.
In a later Mirandized interview at the police department, Markiv again denied the victim ever hurt her or put his hands on her. She told investigators she was upset but could not remember what she had been angry about because of the rage. She demonstrated the stabbing motion, showing that she initially held the knife in her right hand with the blade facing down, then bent her arm so the blade faced outward before making a forward stabbing motion. She told police she did not want the victim to die, according to the court documents.
Investigators also spoke with coworkers who worked with both Markiv and the victim. One coworker said Markiv would get mad and upset but never expected something like this would happen. Another described her as emotional and said she would step away or take breaks at work when she became upset. That coworker told police Markiv had said the previous week that she “gets so crazy to the point she will kill somebody,” though no specific person was mentioned.
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