Park Rapids couple charged in home invasion, stabbing over alleged affair

Prosecutors have criminally charged two people after police say a man was stabbed repeatedly in his home in front of his young daughter over an alleged affair.

A woman called Hubbard County deputies to a trailer park south of Park Rapids at around 3:35 a.m. on Saturday after a 5-year-old girl and her bloodied father were pounding on nearby doors and screaming for help, court documents state.

Deputies found the man suffering from eight to 10 stab wounds over his body.

He told first responders that he was attacked in his home by a former neighbor, a man later identified as 44-year-old Charles Wayne Justus.

The victim was taken to a hospital by ambulance, then airlifted to another medical facility for treatment due to the severity of his injuries. As of Monday, his condition was unknown.

Investigators tracked down Justus and his wife, 50-year-old Danielle Runae Westphal, at their home and interviewed them.

During that time, both told deputies they’d used meth the previous night, charging documents state, and Justus said he believed Westphal had cheated on him with someone with the victim’s name, so he went to his house and “whooped his [expletives].”

After admitting to stabbing the victim, Justus said he then went back home, drove with Westphal to a church near Nevis and told her what he’d done.

Deputies then talked again with Westphal, who earlier had denied knowing where or what Justus had been doing, and asked her about what Justus told them. According to a criminal complaint, she admitted to throwing her husband’s bloodied clothing out a window as they drove back from the church.

Justus is charged with attempted first- and second-degree murder, first-degree assault and burglary — each charge carrying up to 20 years in prison — while Westphal is facing charges of aiding an offender, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

They each made their first court appearances on Monday.
The post Park Rapids couple charged in home invasion, stabbing over alleged affair first appeared on KSTP.com 5 Eyewitness News.