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WALKER — A Cass Lake woman was sentenced Monday, March 24, for the 2023 murder of her 2-year-old son in Cass County.

Larena Renee Jackson, 31, of Cass Lake, entered a guilty plea on Feb. 10, 2025, to felony second-degree unintentional murder while committing a felony. The plea agreement makes note her charge carries aggravating factors for an upward departure in sentencing, citing the victim was particularly vulnerable.

Contributed / Cass County Sheriff's Office

On Monday, Jackson was sentenced to serve 210 months confinement, an upward departure from the state guidelines of 180 months, at Minnesota Correctional Facility - Shakopee. She received 581 days credit for time served and was fined $977. All other charges were dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

In Minnesota, a sentence consists of a minimum term of imprisonment equal to two-thirds of the total sentence and supervised release equal to one-third of the total sentence.

, 2023, the prosecuting attorney, based on the opinion of an examiner, found Jackson was incompetent to stand trial. The state deemed Jackson unable to fully understand the charges filed against her because of a mental illness or cognitive impairment.

When a finding of incompetence is accepted, the criminal proceedings are put on hold, said Cass County Attorney Benjamin Lindstrom during an interview in 2023.

As the criminal case involves a murder, Lindstrom said he filed paperwork for intent to prosecute, meaning if Jackson is later found competent to stand trial the criminal proceedings would continue.

On Oct. 6, 2023, the Cass County Attorney’s office filed the paperwork for civil commitment for a person who is mentally ill and dangerous to the public.

According to court documents, following the finding of incompetence to stand trial in November 2023, Jackson underwent a competency exam every few months. Her last competency exam was ordered in September 2024 and was presented to the court in November 2024.

Following the September order, Jackson had regularly scheduled court appearances until Feb. 10, 2025, when she accepted a plea agreement.

According to responded to a call on Aug. 19, 2023, where a child was reportedly run over by a vehicle at 9:34 p.m. on the 14000 block of White Stone Loop, south of Cass Lake.

When deputies arrived, they were told the child was run over and was not breathing. They began lifesaving efforts until emergency medical personnel arrived and transported the boy by ambulance to Sanford Hospital in Bemidji. He was then flown to Sanford Hospital in Fargo, North Dakota, with numerous life-threatening injuries.

When investigators arrived on scene, they learned Jackson told deputies she had a disagreement with the child's father. Jackson said the father took the child and left in his personal vehicle shortly after her mother left the residence, which was around 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Aug. 19, 2023.

Jackson told deputies the father contacted her later that night and told her he was leaving the child in the road down the street and she believed the child had been run over, presumably by the father.

A subsequent investigation revealed the father was at his residence in Bemidji and he had not recently been in the Cass Lake area. When deputies asked to see her phone log, Jackson was not able to show the father called and she told them her phone was dead when she received the call.

When asked how she knew he called, she told the deputy, "he called me and I told him my phone was dead." She then suggested it may have been on her tablet. Upon retrieving her tablet, she said it was broken and mentioned it doesn't receive phone calls.

Deputies reported getting multiple stories from Jackson of the evening's events and blood was observed in numerous locations throughout the home. They also saw cleaning products in the kitchen and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide on the floor near the front door.

A sheriff’s deputy also noted the child had been wrapped in a towel and when the deputy attempted to move closer to Jackson, she would step back and pull the child closer to her as if to conceal him from sight.

The unconscious child did not have any blood, dry or wet, on his body, other than the top of his head from an obvious laceration. It looked as if the child had been cleaned up prior to the deputy’s arrival. The child had multiple lacerations to his head, which were actively bleeding.

Investigators then took a recorded statement from Jackson where she admitted the child was not run over by a vehicle. Instead she said she had been carrying the child in the street after she picked him up from having been left by the father. She told officers she fell while carrying the child and subsequently caused the injuries.

She denied anyone else assaulted or otherwise harmed the child and told officers she had taken the child inside and attempted to clean his injuries in the bathtub, also telling officers a relative came to the house and told her to report the incident to law enforcement.

A search warrant of the house was obtained when law enforcement learned the child suffered fatal injuries and was expected to succumb to those injuries in the coming days.

The search located numerous areas of apparent blood located in a southeast bedroom along with a large amount of blood on a mattress, which had a matching box spring on top of it in an apparent attempt to conceal the blood.

Located in the Sheetrock of the bedroom wall above the bed were indentations consistent with the shape of a toddler's head, which had apparent blood spatter on them as well.

On Aug. 20, investigators spoke with Jackson’s mother who said she had been staying with Jackson for several days, but left around 5 p.m. Aug. 19 due to Jackson’s drinking, her rudeness, and her being confrontational.

Jackson’s mother told investigators the child's father had not been to the residence or contacted Jackson in approximately three weeks.

On Aug. 22, Jackson was located at a friend's home in Cass County after she called her housing complex in an attempt to gain access to her residence. She was located hiding in a cabinet in the bathroom.

Her son later died on the evening Aug. 24, 2023, from a cardiac arrest event.

TIM SPEIER, staff writer, can be reached on Twitter , call 218-855-5859 or email tim.speier@brainerddispatch.com .