Minn. man accused of trapping ex-wife in car, shooting her to death in front of couple’s kids

Cops: Minn. man trapped, shot ex with kids in car

ST. PETER, Minn. — A Minnesota man who repeatedly accused his Russian-born ex-wife of child abuse rammed her car into a tree and shot her to death in front of their three young children before fleeing in a vehicle belonging to good Samaritans who responded to the crash, prosecutors said Tuesday.

A sheriff’s deputy who caught up with Joel Marvin Munt found the children crying inside the stolen SUV and heard one say “Daddy killed Mommy,” according to a criminal complaint charging Munt with second-degree murder in death of his ex-wife, Svetlana Vladimirovna Munt, 32, of Mankato.

Joel Munt, 33, of Burnsville, also was charged with five other felonies related to the crash and vehicle theft. Bail was set at $600,000 Tuesday.

Public defender Krista Jass told The Associated Press that Munt suffered from “untreated depression” after his 2009 divorce. Jassa said he does not have a criminal record beyond minor traffic offenses, but declined to comment further, saying she was gathering more information about the weekend incident.

Court documents and Web site apparently belonging to Joel Munt outline a bitter divorce and custody battle during which the couple accused each other of domestic abuse and Joel Munt alleged his wife hit and bit their children and had unusual habits such as urinating in “chamber pots” other than toilets and stockpiling food.

Authorities allege Munt rammed his Chevrolet Suburban SUV into the driver’s side door of his ex-wife’s car Sunday morning — pinning it against a tree at the Rasmussen Woods Nature Area in Mankato — then shot the woman he’d gone to Russia to marry in 1998 after meeting through an online singles agency. A medical examiner determined she was shot seven times.

Prosecutors believe the children, ages 4, 5, and 7, saw it all.

“I can only assume that they did,” said Assistant Blue Earth County Attorney Patrick McDermott. “They were in the car when she was shot.” They are now in protective custody.

One witness told police that when he went toward the scene, he saw a man outside the car who pointed a large pistol at him and told him to leave. The witness called 911 and saw another SUV drive up. The couple in the second SUV said the man at the crash scene stole their vehicle at gunpoint, but let them unload their three children first, the complaint said.

The sheriff’s deputy pulled over the stolen SUV a short time later. Munt surrendered peacefully, telling a deputy, “Sorry for causing you this trouble,” according to the complaint.

One boy in the vehicle had a bloody face with glass embedded in it — Munt told a witness the child was cut when a car window exploded, according to the complaint. A pistol and an empty magazine where found on the driver’s side floor.

Munt told the officers who arrested him, “If you people had done your job protecting my daughter from her mother, she wouldn’t have to go through this,” the complaint said.

Documents filed in the divorce proceeding show Sventlana Munt was born and raised in Russia. She said she met Joel Munt through a singles agency — the documents do not say when — and they e-mailed back-and-forth with the help of a translator. He visited a few times.

The couple were married in Krasnodar, Russia on Nov. 21, 1998, and she learned English and moved to the United States about eight months later. Joel Munt filed for divorce in December 2006, saying he was concerned about his wife’s “erratic behavior.” Svetlana Munt became a U.S. citizen after the couple separated.

Munt accused his wife of not feeding the children or using child seats in the car and of spiking his Kool-Aid. She denied the claims in her own court filings, saying Munt was the “dictator” in the house who used a wooden dowel and corporal punishment to “train” his children, which he admitted doing.

An intense two-year custody battle ensued, with Joel Munt making numerous allegations of abuse. Pictures of the children posted on a Web site that shares an IP address with a site for Munt’s software development business show them with bruises, scratches and bite marks — and in one case what is described as an untreated yeast infection — that allegedly happened when the children were with their mother.

The court ruled the abuse allegations unfounded.

Another page on the site, titled “Miscarriage of Justice,” details Munt’s efforts to gain custody, levels scathing accusations against his ex-wife and claims she had “odd habits” such as “sucking the brains out of raw fish.”

A Nicollet County judge approved the divorce and awarded Svetlana Munt sole custody of the children last spring, saying some of her behavior could be attributed to cultural distinctions, rather lacking parenting skills.

Joel Munt was given supervised visits, with a judge noting he has anxiety issues, is suspicious and isolates himself from others. A judge denied Munt’s renewed request for sole custody last month.

Associated Press Writer Chris Williams contributed to this report from Minneapolis.