Morristown homicide victim identified, suspect charged with murder

A Rice County man has now been charged with murdering another man earlier this week.

As previously reported, a man was found dead during the overnight hours on Tuesday in the 100 block of Second Street Southeast.

RELATED: Man found dead in Morristown, 1 in custody

Wednesday, the Rice County Sheriff’s Office identified the victim as 41-year-old Brian Stoeckel.

The suspect, 32-year-old Cody Vernon Kolstad, is charged with second-degree intentional murder in Stoeckel’s death.

The criminal complaint states that when deputies arrived, Kolstad said, “I shot him in the head, dude,” and added, “I’m going to jail.” They then found Stoeckel dead in a bed.

Authorities also noted a hole in the wall consistent with a shotgun blast and injuries on Stoeckel indicating he’d been shot in the neck.

When questioned by deputies, Kolstad told deputies to “put one in my head and burn me in that building,” saying he deserved to die because “I took a life.” When further questioned, the complaint states that Kolstad claimed a person had told him that either he or Stoeckel needed to die by midnight, so he grabbed his shotgun and fired at Stoeckel twice.

Kolstad also said he’d taken lots of drugs and was stressed out, the complaint states.

His bail hearing is set for Thursday morning.

The sheriff’s office says there is no active threat to the public, and the case is still being investigated.