Blake Stangel Charged In 2017 Killing Of Courtney Fenske

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A Hibbing man has been charged in the 2017 death of a 71-year-old woman.

Blake Stangel, 51, is charged with second-degree manslaughter, according to the St. Louis County Sheriff's Office.

Courtney Fenske was found dead in her home near Hibbing on Nov. 29, 2017. Her postal carrier alerted 911 after several days' worth of mail piled up, the sheriff's office said.

An autopsy determined she was strangled to death.

Stangel, a former renter of Fenske, was identified as a suspect and arrested May 24 of this year on unrelated charges, the sheriff's office said. A DNA sample tied him to Fenske's killing.

Stangel is being held at the St. Louis County Jail on $100,00 bail. He's scheduled to appear in court June 10.