HMJ:hcs
AO 91 (Rev. 11/11) Criminal Complaint 2025R00345
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
for the
District of Minnesota
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Case No. 25-mj-376 (JFD)
v. FILED UNDER SEAL PURSUANT TO
COURT ORDER
VANCE LUTHER BOELTER
CRIMINAL COMPLAINT
I, the undersigned complainant, being duly sworn, state the following is true and correct to the best of
my knowledge and belief.
COUNT ONE
(Stalking of Melissa Hortman – Use of Interstate Facilities)
On or about June 14, 2025, in the State and District of Minnesota and elsewhere, VANCE LUTHER
BOELTER, the defendant, with the intent to kill, injure, harass, intimidate, and place under surveillance
with intent to kill, injure, harass, and intimidate another person, used an interactive computer service,
electronic communication service, and electronic communication system of interstate commerce, and a facility
of interstate or foreign commerce, to engage in a course of conduct that placed that person in a reasonable
fear of the death of and serious bodily injury to that person and that person’s spouse, and in the course of
engaging in such conduct caused the death of that person and that person’s spouse, to wit, BOELTER used a
GPS navigation system, interstate wires, and the Internet to plan and carry out the stalking, shooting, and
killing of Melissa Hortman and Mark Hortman in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, all in violation of Title 18,
United States Code, Sections 2261A(2)(A) and 2261(b)(1).
COUNT TWO
(Stalking of John Hoffman – Use of Interstate Facilities)
On or about June 14, 2025, in the State and District of Minnesota and elsewhere, VANCE LUTHER
BOELTER, the defendant, with the intent to kill, injure, harass, intimidate, and place under surveillance
with intent to kill, injure, harass, and intimidate another person, used an interactive computer service,
electronic communication service, and electronic communication system of interstate commerce, and a facility
of interstate or foreign commerce, to engage in a course of conduct that placed that person in a reasonable
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31. Officers also found approximately five firearms in the SUV, including
semi-automatic, assault-style rifles, as well as a large quantity of ammunition
organized into loaded magazines. They also found a medical kit containing wound-
treatment supplies and several eye masks of the kind that might be worn while
sleeping.
Interior of Boelter’s abandoned SUV
32. From the SUV, officers recovered several notebooks full of hand-written
notes. Listed among the pages of those notebooks were the names of more than
45 Minnesota state and federal public officials, including Representative Hortman,
whose home address was written next to her name.
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33. One of those notebooks contained lists of internet-based people search
engines including Truepeoplesearch, Spokeo, Pipl, Peoplefinders, Beenverified,
Whitepages, Truthfinder, Intelius, Ownerly, USsearch, and Peoplelooker. I know
from my training and experience, and the training and experience of other officers
and agents involved in this investigation, that these websites aggregate data from
various online and offline sources to provide the querying user details about the
searched-for person, such as home addresses, phone numbers, and information about
family members.
Pages from Boelter’s notebook
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