Man sentenced to nearly 40 years for stabbing man to death in Crystal

A Minneapolis man convicted of murder for a stabbing death in Crystal last year will now serve a sentence of nearly 40 years.

Last month, a jury found Larondo Connell Willis, 38, guilty of second-degree murder for the killing of 40-year-old Eddie Winters. A judge on Monday sentenced him to more than 39.5 years in prison (475 months) with credit for 419 days served.

As previously reported, court documents state Winters was found dead inside a vehicle the morning of March 21, 2024, on the 3200 block of Hampshire Avenue North in Crystal. An autopsy found he had been stabbed 19 times.

Winters’ 14-year-old son told police he had gone to a barbershop with his father the night before he was found dead. While they were there, a man whom Winters referred to as “cousin” stepped inside the shop, and the three of them left together in Winters’ car and dropped the son off at his apartment.

Surveillance video from nearby homes showed that Winters’ vehicle parked where it was found between 7:16 p.m. and 8:26 p.m. the night before he was found.

A witness who was in the area during that window said a man in a puffy jacket emerged from a portable toilet, opened the passenger door of his car and asked for a ride. The witness refused. Blood was later found smeared on the door handle of the portable toilet.

Winters’ son identified the man in the puffy jacket as the person who met his father in the barbershop after family members showed him pictures of Willis.

Charging documents note that Willis’ phone pinged at the barbershop, the son’s apartment, and the location where the witness saw him before finally pinging near the Robbinsdale Metro Transit station around 9:20 p.m. that night.

Willis was arrested the following day for an unrelated assault, jail records showed. In that incident, he’s accused of punching a man in the head at a Minneapolis shelter, leaving the man intubated and in critical condition.

According to court documents, Winters’ family members told officers that Winters and Willis had a cousin in common. However, that cousin was murdered in April 2022 while with Winters. They added that some family members, including Willis, were upset with Winters because he ran away from the murder instead of helping his cousin.