Man kills wife and daughter at Hopkins home daycare before taking his own life
Police say a 41-year-old man stabbed his wife and their 7-year-old daughter at a Hopkins home daycare before committing suicide; six other children were found unharmed.
Police responded to a report of a stabbing at a home daycare on the 200 block of Tyler Avenue North in Hopkins around 9 a.m. on Wednesday. Officers discovered the bodies of 41-year-old Kristen Ann Brown and her 7-year-old daughter, identified as Evie, on the kitchen floor, both covered in blood and pronounced dead at the scene. The suspect, 41-year-old Nathan Brown, was found dead in an upstairs closet from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to a search warrant.
A witness who had arrived to drop off his children heard screaming from the basement and entered the home, where he observed Nathan Brown on top of Kristen Brown with a screwdriver in his hand. The witness initially thought the man was performing CPR before realizing he was stabbing his wife. He also reported seeing Nathan Brown stab the child before escorting his own children and two other children to safety. The two surviving children, along with four additional children present at the daycare, were unharmed and have been returned to their families.
Court filings indicate the witness had received a letter from Kristen Brown two weeks earlier stating the daycare would close due to “relationship issues” with Nathan. Investigators have linked the incident to a separate homicide in Burnsville involving a 78-year-old woman believed to be a close family relative of Nathan Brown. Further details on that case are pending.
A small memorial with flowers, a candle and a plush toy was observed outside the home on Thursday. Police continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding the murder-suicide.