Late on December 30, 2020, in a west-side Sioux Falls neighborhood, Mitchell James Houchins, 27, a man born in South Korea, was shot in the chest near the area of West Pine Meadows Place and West Sandalwood Place. Police were called around 11:43 p.m. after he was seen lying in the street, and he was taken to a Sioux Falls hospital where he was pronounced dead, with authorities treating the case as a homicide rather than a self-inflicted shooting.
Investigators said early on that the person responsible was believed to be someone who knew him, not a stranger who struck at random.
As details emerged, investigators described a grim stretch of time between the shooting and the first call for help: by police accounts shared publicly, he remained in the roadway for roughly 25 minutes before anyone finally contacted authorities, even as others passed by. That delay, and the fact that he was discovered in the middle of a residential street, became part of the case's unsettling public outline while detectives worked toward identifying the people last connected to him.
By mid-January 2021, police announced arrests and laid out their theory of what led to the killing. Three Sioux Falls suspects were taken into custody: Josue Emmanuel Hernandez, Crystal Lorraine Mousseau, and Susan Alice Sanchez. Police said the group had arranged to rob Houchins and that he was shot and killed during the attempted robbery; another account from the same period reported police believed the homicide occurred during a meth deal and involved an alleged debt. Hernandez's arrest, in particular, came after an extensive chase through central and western Sioux Falls. Hernandez and Mousseau faced charges that included first-degree murder, first-degree robbery, and attempted robbery, while Sanchez was charged with being an accessory and with fleeing law enforcement, among other counts.
Court outcomes later followed for two of the three defendants in publicly reported sentencing coverage. Hernandez ultimately avoided a murder trial by plea deal: after initially being charged with first-degree murder, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter under an agreement that capped potential sentencing, and a judge imposed an 80-year sentence with 30 years suspended, along with credit for time already served; he was also reported to be required to serve 75% before becoming eligible for parole.
Sanchez was described as helping the two primary suspects after the killing. Reports said Hernandez and Mousseau fled to the Denver area in a vehicle previously driven by the victim, and after the car was towed in Henderson, Colorado, they contacted Sanchez, who then traveled to pick them up; she was reported to have learned about what had happened and later returned with them to Sioux Falls, where they were arrested. Sanchez pleaded guilty to aggravated eluding and accessory to felony and was sentenced to three years in prison. Public reporting from the sources available here describes Mousseau's arrest and charges, but it does not provide a complete final disposition for her case.
