Kanabec County Sheriff’s Office needs help finding murder weapon, suspect arrested

Investigators in central Minnesota are asking community members to help them find a weapon used in a murder.

Tuesday afternoon, following a welfare check at a home in Ogilvie, the Kanabec County Sheriff’s Office started piecing together a homicide investigation — after finding that a person was dead from “obvious homicidal violence.”

“There’s a lot of feelings out there and that reaches us too,” Kanabec County Sheriff Brian Smith, said. “You feel for the families involved.”

Sheriff Smith said the suspect, 42-year-old Dustin Tinklenberg, killed one of his family members. Since then, Tinklenberg has been booked in the Kanabec County Jail on probable cause second-degree murder — investigators are not looking for any other suspects.

They are asking the public to search their properties for the murder weapon — Sheriff Smith said they’re looking for a “double bladed hatchet.” Investigators are also asking for people to share surveillance video from Monday night, into Tuesday morning, if their camera captured a man doing anything unusual.

“Are we going to be able to have a case without those pieces? Yes. Are we going to be able to have a prosecution without those? Yes. But there are some pieces that could solidify this case even further,” Sheriff Smith added.

Formal charges are expected for Tinklenberg in the coming days. Minnesota court records show he has had two convictions for burglary — both within the last year and a half.

The victim’s identity will be publicly released by the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office at a later time.