ST. PAUL, Minn. – A Minnesota man pleaded guilty Thursday to killing and dismembering two women whose bodies were found in different storage units.
Under his plea deal, Joseph Steven Jorgenson, 41, of Woodbury, is expected to be sentenced Feb. 28 to two 40-year terms for the 2023 deaths of Manijeh Starren and 2021 Fanta Xayavong, prosecutors said.
That’s the maximum under Minnesota law for each count of intentional second-degree murder. He will serve them at the same time. In Minnesota, defendants typically serve two-thirds of their sentence in prison and one-third on supervised release.
“These horrific atrocities took the lives of two young women and forever changed the futures of their friends and families,” Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said in a statement.
Authorities began investigating after receiving a missing person report from Starren’s father in April 2023. He told police she was struggling with mental health and addiction issues and had not checked in as usual that day. Evidence from her apartment, surveillance video and her social media and financial accounts led police to consider Jorgenson as the prime suspect.
Prosecutors said keys recovered from Jorgenson’s apartment led investigators to a storage facility in Woodbury, where they found Starren’s dismembered remains in two separate coolers and a large bag.
During that investigation, authorities discovered evidence of a second victim, Xayavong, with whom Jorgensen dated in 2021. Investigators found her remains in a separate storage unit in Coon Rapids.
