Man sentenced for murder in 2024 Crystal stabbing, attorney says
A 38-year-old man has been sentenced for second-degree intentional murder in a stabbing that happened last year in Crystal.
Larondo Willis was sentenced by a Hennepin County judge to 475 months, or just over 39-and-a-half years, in prison on Monday, with credit for 419 days served.
The sentence length is longer than the "presumptive sentence of 386 months under the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines," according to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office.
Prosecutors said Willis stabbed 40-year-old Eddie Winters 19 times because he was angry the man didn't help a mutual cousin, who was murdered in 2022.
Charges say Winters and Willis met at a Minneapolis barber shop on March 20, 2024, then left together in Winters' vehicle, along with Winters' son. They dropped the son off at an apartment, then returned a short time later when he couldn't get inside. Willis and Winters again left the apartment together, the complaint said, about 12 hours before Winters was found dead.
A witness parked at Valley Place Park the same night told police a man exited a portable bathroom and approached his vehicle, asking for a ride. The witness refused, and the man left the park. Police later found blood on the portable bathroom, the complaint said.
Willis was arrested the next day in connection with an unrelated investigation. Police traced his phone's location, finding it had been near Valley Place Park the night before Winters was found dead.
When police arrested Willis, he had a butterfly knife on him, the complaint states. He also had shorts with "a spot of blood-like substance on the waistband."
"We sought a lengthy sentence for Mr. Willis to protect the public in light of the severity of his crime," Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a release on Monday. "While he is being held accountable, it does not bring Eddie back to his loved ones. My thoughts are with all of them today."
