LINCOLN PARK - The death of a 27-year-old man found in a Lincoln Park residence Saturday afternoon has been ruled a homicide as a result of a stabbing. It鈥檚 the third stabbing death in the city in less than a year with two of the crimes now unsolved.
Duluth police identified the latest victim as Bryan Alan Starnes, who lived at 702 N. 24th Ave. W., the address where his body was found about 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
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Police said an autopsy conducted by the St. Louis County Medical Examiner鈥檚 Office on Monday determined that the manner of Starnes鈥� death was homicide and the cause of death was injuries due to stabbing. No other details were released.
Several leads are being followed, but no suspects are in custody, police said.
The victim鈥檚 mother spoke to the News Tribune from a phone listed in Nevada. She said she couldn鈥檛 comment on the case. She said Starnes had been living in Duluth and Alaska in the past five years; he had friends in both places.
Duluth鈥檚 last homicide remains unsolved. Kevin Tyman, a 54-year-old Duluth father of two, was stabbed about 10 p.m. Dec. 21 at his Central Hillside duplex on East Seventh Street. He died from his wound about 90 minutes later at a Duluth hospital. Police said they recovered a knife about a block away from where Tyman was stabbed. It was sent to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Crime Lab for analysis as the murder investigation continues.
Tyman鈥檚 death was the city鈥檚 second homicide of 2012. Joshua Eric Olson, 28, was stabbed to death in a downtown apartment in April. That killing was the city鈥檚 first since 2010. Joshua Lee Littlewolf is awaiting trial on a charge of second-degree murder in Olson鈥檚 death.
This article was written by Mark Stodghill and Mike Creger of the Forum News Service.
