DETROIT LAKES, Minn. — State Senator Nicole Mitchell, who has been charged with burglary, said she broke inti her stepmother’s house to retrieve her father’s cremated ashes, photographs, a flannel shirt and other personal items by which to remember him. Mitchell was arrested inside the house in the early hours Monday. Mitchell said she and her stepmother have a rocky relationship. Apparently Mitchell had entered the house through a propped-open basement window. The stepmother heard an intruder and called 911. An arresting officer quoted Mitchell telling her stepmother: “I was just trying to get a couple of my dad’s things because you wouldn’t talk to me anymore.” Her father died a year ago at age 72. He and Mitchell’s stepmother had been married 40 years.
Black garb for the job
There seems no doubt that Mitchell was in the house surreptitiously. She was dressed all in black and wearing a black hat, She had a flashlight that was covered with a black sock, apparently modified to control the amount of light coming from it, police said. She also was carrying a black backpack. In an online post Mitchel implied she sought what was due her and not stealing., Even so, she added: “I know I did something bad.” Mitchell, 49, has bene charged with first-degre burglary. About beig caught, an officer quoted Mjtchell at the scene: “Clearly I’m not good at this.”
Mitchell. Known in Twin Cities as a broadcast meteorologist with KSTP, Minnesota Public Radio and the Weather Channel before being elected to the State Senate in 2022. Also a meteorology officer, a lieutenant colonel. with the Minnesota Air National Guard. In the Senate she represents District 47, which comprises Woodbury and other east St. Paul suburbs.