In preliminary autopsy results released Sunday night, the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office said Alayna died of homicidal violence, according to the Minnesota DPS.
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Anderson, of Monticello, is being held without bail in the Crow Wing County jail in Brainerd awaiting charges this week.
He remains in custody in the Crow Wing County Jail in Brainerd on probable cause murder and kidnapping. Anderson was arrested about a quarter-mile from the house, and Alayna’s body was found in a wooded area nearby.
This is home and property owned by Zachary Todd Anderson’s family in rural Cass County.
Deputies searched the neighborhood for Ertl. The parents – whose names authorities have not been released – told police that two hours prior, they had realized that she and Anderson, who had stayed overnight, were missing along with Alayna’s father’s GMC Sierra truck and cell phone, according to authorities.
That led the BCA to issue an Amber Alert about 1:30 p.m. Saturday, saying authorities believed Anderson had left the house with Alayna in her father’s white pickup truck.
KARE 11 reached out to the family of Alayna Ertl who politely declined an interview request.
Meeker County Deputies canvassed the Watkins area, but were unable to locate Ertl or Anderson.
Authorities say the suspect did not try to flee, was not armed and did not resist arrest.
“Information provided by the suspect” and other “investigative efforts” led officials to Alayna’s remains in a wooded, swampy area a few hundred yards from the Anderson family cabin, the statement said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
20, 2016, on suspicion of first-degree murder and kidnapping in the death of a co-worker’s 5-year-old daughter, Alayna Ertl, whose mother says was taken from their home in Watkins, Minn. Her body’s discovery was reported by Meeker County Sheriff Brian Cruze at 6:02 p.m. Saturday and the Amber Alert was cancelled.
The two men are also co-workers, the sheriff said. Authorities said the cellphone was then shut off.
“This is not the first time”, Cruze told KSTP. Alayna’s death was “obviously not the outcome that we wanted and when we did learn the information, the officers in the room, you could see.it weighed heavy on them”, the sheriff said. “We tried everything we could today to find her safely and obviously that didn’t happen. We know that doesn’t compare to what the family is going through right now”.
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“It’s senseless”, Tom Ertl said of the little girl’s killing.
