Full Notification

PRESS RELEASE **UPDATE**
 
For Immediate Release                                                                                      
Interim Chief of Police Derek Randall
 
March 8, 2020
 
Suspect located and taken into custody in double-homicide
 
After an extensive search and investigation, authorities have located and arrested Sheldon James Thompson in connection with the double-homicide that left a 27-year-old woman and her 18-month-old son dead.
 
Since discovering the victims, law enforcement worked throughout the evening and today investigating the whereabouts of Thompson, gathering information and evidence related to the deaths.
 
At 8:43 p.m., law enforcement, with the assistance of a Minnesota State Patrol helicopter and a K-9 from the Carlton County Sheriff’s Office, Thompson was taken into custody. He was in a wooded area off Mission Road in Perch Lake Township in Carlton County on the Fond du Lac Reservation.
 
Thompson was medically treated for temperature-related issues. He was later cleared from a local hospital and booked into the Carlton County Jail on two counts of second-degree homicide.
 
Formal charges are pending by the Carlton County Attorney’s Office. No weapons were found on Thompson at the time of his arrest.
 
 

Autopsies will be performed on the victims on Monday, March 9, 2020, by the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office in Ramsey, Minnesota.

Law enforcement continues to determine a motive for the crime. The investigation is active and on-going.
 
Law enforcement also recovered the vehicle, believed to be Thompson’s, that was previously sought unoccupied.
 
The Cloquet Police Department urges anyone with additional information regarding the investigation to contact our agency.
 
Anonymous tips can be sent by sending the message TIP CLOQUETPD, followed by your message to 888777. A link to the tip line can also be found on the Cloquet Police Department Facebook and Twitter pages.
 
 
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Cloquet Police were assisted by the Fond du Lac Police, Carlton County Sheriff’s Office, St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Investigators and Crime Scene Unit, the Minnesota State Patrol, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, and the Carlton County Attorney’s Office.