Series of stabbings contributes to violent spring and summer months in Fargo-Moorhead metropolitan area – InForum

FARGO – During the first week of spring, the city of Fargo recorded its first murder of 2024 when two men got into a fight at the Southtown Pourhouse in the early morning hours of March 28.

The bar staff threw the two out. A few minutes later, Michael Diedrich allegedly stabbed 22-year-old Ethan Larson to death in the parking lot, prosecutors claim.

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Larson was taken to a local hospital, where he died. According to court documents, Diedrich, 28, drove away from the scene but was arrested about 12 hours later. He later pleaded not guilty to the murder charge.

In the months that followed, there were a few minor knife attacks and assaults around the subway, but none of them had serious consequences.

According to crime data from the Fargo Police Department and the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigations, stabbings and related sharp object incidents decreased significantly in the city of Fargo during this period compared to 2023, and the number decreased slightly statewide.

In July and August, a worrying series of high-profile knife incidents placed additional strain on local police forces and raised concerns about what appears to be an increasing trend of stabbings and similar attacks.

The surge began on July 15, when 38-year-old Alexander Anderson died of a fatal stab wound in his West Fargo apartment. His girlfriend, 31-year-old Robyn Lee, was initially arrested and detained on suspicion of murder, but was released three days later without charges being filed.

Very little is known about Anderson's death. West Fargo Police Chief Pete Nielsen said his department is still investigating, but stressed that Anderson's death has not been ruled a homicide.

On August 4, 48-year-old Connie Jo Frank stabbed her boyfriend, 47-year-old Willard DeGroat, to death in Moorhead. It was the third homicide this year in the city.

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According to court documents, Frank admitted to taking a kitchen knife and stabbing DeGroat after he came to her son's house where she was staying. While they were being taken to the Clay County Jail in a police vehicle, Frank said, “I would kill him again,” according to the charges.

Prosecutors convened a grand jury to indict Frank in the case. Her lawyers filed a motion indicating that she was defending herself against the second-degree murder charge against her.

A week later, a Fargo man beat another man on a busy downtown street corner before stabbing a woman four times in the chest and throwing a knife at another woman just as the city's Pride parade was wrapping up, police reports said.

Michael Anthony Hurteau, 35, is charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault and terrorizing in connection with the stabbing in downtown Fargo.

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On August 15, Moorhead police responded to a South Moorhead apartment where a 43-year-old man had been stabbed in the neck.

The man told officers he invited 36-year-old Mary Hjelseth to his home and she attacked him for no reason and then left while he went to a neighbor's house to get help. Hjelseth was arrested the next day on charges of attempted murder, domestic violence and assault.

On August 19, 14-year-old Jaelyn Walker was stabbed to death on the banks of the Red River, just days before her first day at Moorhead High School.

A Fargo teenager and her ex-boyfriend, Isaac Arndt, are accused of killing her. Arndt, 18, admitted to investigators that he stabbed Walker more than a dozen times, court documents show. A petition has been started on Change.org to urge prosecutors to convene a grand jury to upgrade the charge against Arndt to premeditated murder.

Walker's death was painful for both the community and the understaffed Moorhead Police Department. Police Chief Shannon Monroe said police were already feeling the weight of the sudden wave of violent attacks.

“The officers who responded that night were the third homicide of the month on that shift,” Monroe said in late August after Walker's death. “One of the officers on that shift was a former school police officer who knew her from school. It was particularly hard, not just on our department, but on so many people – the family, the community, the schools.”

While there have been a number of disturbing stabbings in the area recently, BCI data suggests that the apparent increase in knife attacks is not an exception to the usual year.

According to BCI data, Fargo sees an average of about 50 knife or cutting tool attacks per year, or four per month. Fargo Police Captain Bill Ahlfeldt acknowledged that the use of knives in both fatal and non-fatal attacks in recent months has created the impression that stabbings are on the rise.

“If you look at the numbers, there were more stabbings in 2023 than in 2024,” he said. “That's human behavior – people are human. You just can't predict these things. It may look like knives are more common this year, but statistically we just don't see that.”

According to Ahlfeldt, stabbings are classified as aggravated assaults. In the vast majority of these cases, they are committed by people who are not armed at all, but use their hands and feet to carry out the attack. He said there is no discernible trend in the type of weapon used to commit this type of crime.

However, Monroe said the number of stabbings has alarmed police and is putting additional strain on overburdened departments like Moorhead, which is currently missing more than a dozen officers.

“We've had so many stabbings in the last few weeks alone,” he said. “It seems like there are more of them throughout the city this summer. For my officers, it's just one incident after another and they're feeling the weight of it.”

Monroe said it was difficult to find a common thread between the incidents, but many of them appeared to be based on a combination of substance abuse and mental health issues.

“There is a big difference in mentality between knife attacks and gun attacks,” Monroe said. “A knife attack is a personal matter and the ones we have experienced have been so brutal and disturbing – there is a very disturbing psychology behind it.”

Kevin Thompson, a criminal justice professor at NDSU, said he sees no trend linking the recent increase in subway stabbings.

“I don't think there's a long-term pattern here. Typically, people resort to firearms when they really want to harm someone – when they're seriously threatening someone or are being threatened by someone,” he said.

Thompson said knife attacks are far more common in other countries than in the U.S. because of stricter gun laws elsewhere. He said people who aren't allowed to carry guns, such as felons or people with a medical diagnosis that prohibits gun ownership, aren't actually the people most likely to carry out a knife attack. Instead, he said, people who use knives are typically those who simply don't feel comfortable carrying firearms.

“Knife attacks like this are often carried out by people who don't want to carry a firearm because they fear they could cause serious harm and kill someone,” Thompson said. “Sometimes it's people who are in a disadvantaged situation – sometimes mentally incompetent, sometimes homeless – who carry knives, usually for protection. But when they get involved in a conflict, the knife is used.”

Nevertheless, Thompson said there were some similarities in the local crimes. In two cases, female perpetrators were involved.

“Women tend to be a little more uncomfortable with firearms, especially when they're carrying or in their possession,” he said. “And women are more adept at handling knives – I don't mean that in a sexist or stereotypical way – but because of their traditional roles, women just have more experience handling knives and handling them,” he said.

Thompson said people who commit crimes with weapons often do not want to get too close to their victim, whereas many knife attacks are more personal in nature.

“The average gun crime involves shooting from about 5 to 6 feet away,” he said. “With people involved in a conflict, particularly when alcohol is involved or it's a crime of passion, those people are in much closer contact and then they will use a knife, either as a protective measure or to commit a crime.”