OWATONNA — Richard W. Jurgensen, 22, thought he was with friends the night he died. Instead, the man accused of shooting him asked Jurgensen to cut a length of cord — cord that was later used to bind Jurgensen's hands before he was killed.
Cyrus Noel Trevino, 24, of Owatonna, has been charged with second-degree murder in the case. He remains in custody in the Steele County Detention Center in lieu of $1.5 million conditional bail; his initial court appearance is set for Monday.
His first legal appearance was made in a small courtroom inside the detention center, authorities said, because of the tension between the Jurgensen and Trevino families. Additional deputies and jail staff members were also present.
Gerald William Blevins, 36, also of Owatonna, has been charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder. He was allegedly present when Jurgensen was killed June 25 on a gravel road in Steele County.
His body was found early the next morning. He'd been shot multiple times, and his hands were bound.
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A preliminary search of his cell phone indicated that the last contact he'd had was from a number associated with Trevino, the criminal complaint says, leading investigators to him as a suspect.
Trevino believed Jurgensen had been an informant for law enforcement in a case against Trevino's brother. Jeremy Rae Trevino and Cecilia Elizabeth Boyd were arrested in March with more than two pounds of methamphetamine in their possession.
Another woman, the girlfriend of Trevino's uncle, was arrested in May for possession of meth.
Boyd reportedly told Cyrus Trevino that Jurgensen had "snitched" on her and the uncle's girlfriend; he was not an informant, law enforcement records revealed.
A witness told investigators that the night of the murder, Trevino was looking at documents that purported to show Jurgensen was a police informant. The witness said Trevino claimed he would "handle" the "snitches."
According to the criminal complaint, Trevino and Blevins were together June 25; several witnesses said the men took a sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun and a handgun with them when they left Trevino's apartment with Jurgensen. Trevino allegedly told one of the witnesses later that he got rid of the weapons, and to tell anyone who asked that he'd thrown them in a trash bin.
A notebook found in Trevino's closet — labeled "Cyrus Book" — contained a letter to his children, court documents say, reading in part, "… I'm gonna rule the underground world. I'm take it and it's gonna be bloody and many will be getting hurt …," going on to say, "its funny how no one remember the love I had for people like brothers I had or thought I had. To be honest people should be dead."
Blevins told investigators he'd been at Trevino's apartment the night of the shooting, and heard Trevino tell the victim to cut a piece of yellow cord from a length of cord in Trevino's bedroom. Jurgensen did, and brought the cord with them when the three left together in Trevino's vehicle.
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Blevins said Trevino used the rope to bind Jurgensen's hands when they reached the gravel road, and later told a friend he was holding the shotgun while the victim "was pleading and denying that he was not a snitch," the reports say.
Blevins allegedly told detectives that Trevino shot Jurgensen at point-blank range in the chest with the pistol; after Jurgensen fell, Trevino fired additional shots into his head.
According to the complaint, Trevino told both Jurgensen and Blevins that "snitches end up in ditches, bitches." The two drove back to Owatonna, where a witness said Blevins was sweating profusely and upset, and said "the driver" had shot Jurgensen.
Trevino has told investigators the last time he saw the victim, Jurgensen was in Owatonna, walking with Blevins and another person. Trevino died any involvement in the murder.
