Man sentenced to over 36 years in prison for murdering his half-brother in Moorhead

A man was sentenced Monday to spend over 36 years in prison for reportedly killing his half-brother in 2023.

Douglas James Swenson II, 27, was sentenced to 439 months in the St. Cloud prison. He will get credit for 635 days already served.

The sentencing comes after Swenson made an Alford plea, a type of guilty plea where Swenson didn’t admit to committing the crime but acknowledged there was enough evidence to be convicted.

Swenson was accused of murdering his half-brother, 29-year-old Dustin Momerak, in a Moorhead apartment the two had been living at on March 9, 2023.

According to charging documents, authorities were called to the apartment after a 911 caller reported hearing men yelling at each other, with one person reportedly saying, “You deserve to die.”

The caller then heard a loud thud and then music.

When officers arrived to investigate, they found Swenson, who refused to let officers in the apartment, stating his brother was sleeping. Officers then noticed he had blood on his hands and eyebrows and again asked to enter the apartment to check on everyone inside.

Swenson reportedly became angry and began cursing at the officers, banging his head on the door jam before eventually opening the door for the officers, and, according to the charging document, admitted to killing Momerak.

“Go ahead, come on, come on, I killed him, go ahead, go ahead, he’s dead, go ahead, go ahead,” he reportedly told officers.

Swenson, who was naked and had blood on his hands and feet, reportedly refused the officer’s commands to get on the ground, so a stun gun was used on him.

Moorhead Police found Momerak face down on the ground in the living room with “significant blunt force trauma to his head and sharp force injuries to his neck.”

His death was later ruled a homicide after an autopsy was performed.