Grand jury upgrades murder charges for Lakeville man accused of dismembering pregnant sister

A Dakota County grand jury has brought elevated murder charges against a Lakeville man accused of killing his pregnant sister and dismembering her body.

Jack Joseph Ball, 23, was initially charged with two counts of second-degree murder in connection with the deaths of 30-year-old Bethany Ann Israel and her unborn child last year. A new indictment charges Ball with two counts of first-degree murder, the Dakota County Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.

Ball faces an automatic life sentence if found guilty of first-degree murder.

Charging documents allege Israel went to have dinner with Ball at his home in Lakeville on May 23. Israel’s mother became concerned after she did not hear from her daughter that night, and when she went to check on her, she saw Ball “tear out of the house” and found a large pool of blood.

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Police investigators responding to the scene found bloodied knives and dismembered body parts. More were found after a Rosemount resident reported that a man placed what appeared to be a body part on their front step. Officers searching the property found Ball in a shed nearby, covered in blood and near several other body parts.

According to a criminal complaint, Israel was between 17 and 18 weeks pregnant with her first child at the time of the murder.

Journals and handwritten papers belonging to Ball indicated that he was angry his sister was pregnant because she was “no longer innocent,” a criminal complaint states.

A judge ruled in October that Ball was competent to stand trial. He’s scheduled to be arraigned on the first-degree murder charges on Friday.