Crime & Safety

Months of Stalking Culminated in Brutal Beating, Police Say

David Eugene Nelson is accused of stalking an Inver Grove Heights Woman, breaking into her apartment in July and assaulting her.

A nationwide arrest warrant has been issued for an Anoka man accused of breaking into an ex-girlfriend’s apartment in Inver Grove Heights in July and beating her, leaving her bleeding in a hallway.

David Eugene Nelson, 48, is charged with five felonies, including two counts of first-degree burglary and one count of aggravated first-degree robbery, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $35,000 fine. Nelson was also charged with stalking, which has a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine; and third-degree assault, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

According to a criminal complaint, police were called to an apartment complex along Upper 55th Street in Inver Grove Heights on July 27 and found the victim sitting in the third-floor lobby with a towel on her head, “fresh blood all over her body,” swollen eyes and numerous cuts on her head.

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A woman sitting with the victim told police that she heard the woman screaming and then found her in the hallway, bleeding from her head.

The victim told police that she walked out of her apartment at 7:30 a.m. to go to work and was immediately jumped by Nelson, who pushed her back inside the apartment, closed the door, knocked her down and continued hitting her.

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Nelson hit the victim numerous times, causing her to pass out, she told police, then stole her purse and fled.

The victim said Nelson had been stalking her since she ended their relationship about a year earlier, and that she took out protection order against him on March 23.

Police found a dime super-glued over the deadbolt keyhole on the door of the victim’s apartment. The victim said she had never seen it before and that it wasn’t there when she got home from work the night before.

Over a months-long span, police say Nelson repeatedly called the victim on her work phone and sent numerous threatening e-mails to her home and work addresses. In one of the messages, Nelson allegedly told the victim he would be seeing her "real soon", while in another he allegedly wrote: "You are going to have to face me!!!”

The victim changed her cell phone number in April, but continued to receive e-mails and messages indicating that Nelson was monitoring her movements, her bank accounts and her e-mail, according to investigators.

At one point, the victim told police she saw him outside her home before 7 a.m.

The victim was treated for her injuries at a hospital. She told police that doctors used 32 staples to close the cuts on her head.

Nelson is believed to be homeless and police have been unable to locate him. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact local police.


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