Jul 23, 2008 10:44 pm US/Central
Man Found Not Guilty In 1981 Maplewood Murder Case
ST. PAUL (WCCO) ―
A jury came back with a not guilty verdict late Wednesday night in the trial of a man accused of killing his girlfriend 27 years ago in Maplewood.
Aaron Foster, 56, was found not guilty of third-degree murder in the death of Barbara Winn, who was found shot in her bedroom in the townhome the two shared on May 8, 1981.
At first police thought Winn killed herself, and attorneys didn't charge Foster because they didn't have enough evidence.
The case was reopened by the Ramsey County sheriff's office in 2006.
Investigators were trying to prove he accidentally shot her during a fight.
Winn's three children were home at the time of the shooting, and all testified that they heard Winn arguing with Foster the night she died, followed by a gunshot.
Foster said that Winn shot herself, and then told him to get rid of the gun.
An autopsy of Winn's body found her manner of death to be "undetermined."
Winn's family members cried and yelled after the verdict was read Wednesday night. Some jurors also cried.
Patty Bruce, Winn's sister-in-law said, "this is a huge lesson that no murder should wait to be prosecuted." And she said the verdict would have been guilty if the jury had seen all the evidence.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
