Opinion ID: 2132528
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Storage Unit Search

Text: On the afternoon of Tuesday, April 27, Ammend met with Karen Eaves and learned that she was the manager of Big Closet. Eaves told Ammend that Nancy and appellant had rented a storage unit at Big Closet, that Eaves had a key to the unit, and that appellant was the sole person on the lease. According to Ammend's testimony, [Eaves] stated something about it's on the contract where they have a right to go into the storage shed whenever theywhenever they want, I guess, is the wayI don't remember her exact words, but that was the gist of it. Eaves then led Ammend to the storage unit. Ammend later testified that he hoped to find something in the storage unit to indicate where [Nancy and appellant] might have been or have gone; he did not feel that he was investigating a crime but rather was performing a cursory search for the family. However, the Minnesota Crime Alert notification had warned that [s]uspect [appellant] wrote note with [s]uicide & death!!! Eaves unlocked the outer gate surrounding the facility and then removed the lock from the door to appellant's unit. While still standing outside, Ammend opened the garage-style door to the unit and looked inside. On the floor of the storage unit, Ammend saw a blue object that he recognized as either a blanket or a sleeping bag. Next to the blue object was a pillow with a reddish-brown substance on it. Upon seeing this substance, Ammend stepped into the unit to see what was under the pillow. From a vantage point two or three steps inside the unit, he saw what appeared to be the top of a head which had hair and [a] lot of reddish-brown substance on the head. Ammend concluded that the reddish-brown substance was blood. Ammend testified that he immediately exited the unit at that point [because] it appeared to be a crime scene. He told Eaves to leave and then secured the unit with crime scene tape. Next, Ammend notified Investigator Erickson and Special Agent Hermann of what he had found. Upon arriving at the scene, Hermann stepped into the unit to confirm that the person inside was in fact dead. Aside from these intrusions by Hermann and Ammend, no one entered the unit until Erickson and another investigator obtained a search warrant. The affidavit supporting the warrant summarized the investigation to this point, including the discovery of a body in the storage unit. When Isanti County and state BCA officers later entered the storage unit with the warrant, they determined the body was that of Nancy Licari. She had been severely beaten about the face. They also found a baseball bat with Nancy's blood on it and a tennis shoe print in the victim's blood.