On June 18, 2025, 36-year-old Melissa Nicole Hunt, a woman from Kellogg, Minnesota, was found grievously injured after driving into a local homeowner's driveway in Wabasha County. Deputies noted catastrophic trauma to her face—she was missing several teeth and part of her jaw—and she managed to tell first responders that her ex-boyfriend, 44-year-old Craig Alan Hameister of Rochester, had struck her with a stick near a rural boat launch outside Kellogg. She was rushed to Gundersen – St.
Elizabeth Hospital in Wabasha, where she later died of her injuries.
Investigators converged on the boat launch and began a manhunt for Hameister. According to charging documents summarized by local outlets, the initial account from 36-year-old Melissa Nicole Hunt indicated an assault with a blunt object at the water access; forensic testing later detected gunshot residue in at least one wound, underscoring the brutality of the attack. As the search intensified, authorities tracked Hameister to a rural area east of Rochester; he was ultimately discovered hiding up in a tree, an evasive tableau that marked the end of the manhunt and his arrest.
In the days immediately following the killing, prosecutors charged Hameister with two counts of second-degree murder—murder with intent but without premeditation, and murder without intent while committing a felony. A judge set his bail at $2 million, reflecting both the severity of the allegations and the circumstances of his capture. Coverage of the charging documents emphasizes that 36-year-old Melissa Nicole Hunt was attacked at or near the Kellogg-area boat launch and that her identification of Hameister occurred before she succumbed to her injuries at the hospital.
Obituaries published in the wake of the crime record that 36-year-old Melissa Nicole Hunt died on June 18, 2025, at the Wabasha hospital, and memorial pages from local funeral homes and regional outlets confirmed her identity and age. A community fundraiser later memorialized her as a mother, daughter, and friend, while a gun violence registry listed the incident as a June 18 loss in Kellogg. These public records and notices collectively anchor the timeline and setting of the crime—and its aftermath—around Kellogg and Wabasha, Minnesota.
At present, the court filings and news accounts point to one suspect: Craig Alan Hameister, under arrest and charged in the death of 36-year-old Melissa Nicole Hunt. No additional suspects have been identified in publicly reported records, and the charging documents focus solely on Hameister's alleged actions at the Kellogg-area boat launch that led to her fatal injuries.
