User:Sirdog/ArticleDev/Murder of Alayna Ertl

Staff, BMTN (2018-03-08). "5-year-old Alayna Ertl died of 'homicidal violence,' body found in 'swampy area'". Bring Me The News. Retrieved 2024-04-21.

  • August 20, 2016 | March 8, 2018
  • All events took place on Saturday, August 20, 2016.
  • 5-year-old girl
  • CoD labeled "homicidal violence"
  • No details on when / how she died
  • Found in a "swampy wooded area" in Cass County
  • Suspect was Zachary Todd Anderson, 25, of Coon Rapids
  • Zachary arrested for probable cause to commit murder and kidnapping
  • Zachary found near a cabin owned by Alayna's family
  • Zachary located at 4:24pm a quarter mile away from 4926 Iroquois Trail Loop SW.[Note 1]
  • Zachary did not attempt to flee, have a weapon, or resist arrest
  • Zachary provided information leading to Alayna's body which was a few hundred yards away from the cabin
  • Alayna was pronounced dead on-scene
  • Alayna was last seen by her parents at 2am, discovered missing by parents at 8am along with Zachary (who had stayed the night), Amber Alert issued at 1:12pm.
  • Investigators could not determine a motive
  • Zachary had no record of being a sexual offender
  • GoFundMe setup for family with a goal of $15,000; raised $14.972 within 15 hours

Sawyer, Liz; Jessie, Van Berkel (2016-08-21). "5-year-old Minnesota girl reported missing found dead in Cass County; man under arrest". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2024-04-21.

  • August 21, 2016
  • Found dead 90 minutes from home
  • Ertl was missing for 9 hours
  • Zachary took Ertl's father's pickup truck
  • Zachary found at 4:20pm
  • Zachary had petty traffic violations




Baker, Clairissa (2018-03-02). "Alayna Ertl's killer pleads guilty, gets life sentence". St. Cloud Times. Retrieved 2024-04-21.

"Community Rattled after Body of 5-Year-Old Girl Abducted from Meeker County Recovered | KSTP.com". 2016-08-23. Retrieved 2024-04-21.

Unze, David (2017-05-31). "Judge suppresses Ertl murder suspect's statement". St. Cloud Times. Retrieved 2024-04-21.

Smith, Alexander; Walters, Shamar (2016-08-22). "Minnesota man arrested over kidnap, murder of co-worker's 5-year-old". NBC News. Retrieved 2024-04-21.

"Wayback Machine" (PDF). 2016-08-21. Retrieved 2024-04-21.

Notes edit

  1. ^ Dates are impossible as the article says things like "on Monday", and so on, rather than actual dates. Ugh.