David J. Nanovic, a 45-year-old man, was living with his 10-year-old son in a pool house on the Credit River, Minnesota, property of his cousin, Jennifer Lynn Lieber. Nanovic and Lieber, who was separating from her husband, had recently begun a romantic relationship. According to Nanovic’s son, the living situation was difficult, describing it as "living in hell" due to what he said was Lieber's verbal and physical abuse of his father.
On the evening of March 4, 2024, Nanovic and his
son were watching television with Lieber inside her home on Century Lane. Sources from the investigation state that Lieber, who had been drinking beer and brandy, became agitated. She retrieved a handgun, waved it around, and threatened to kill Nanovic, his son, and herself. Nanovic and his son were able to escape to the pool house. Some time later, Nanovic went back into the main house to check on the dogs and did not come back.
Concerned about their mother’s erratic behavior, Lieber's own children contacted their father, who then called the Scott County Sheriff's Office shortly before 10:30 p.m. to request a welfare check. When deputies arrived, they found a sobbing Jennifer Lieber outside the home. She told them she had "really f--ked up." Inside, deputies discovered David Nanovic’s body at the bottom of a staircase. He was covered in blood, and a handgun was lying next to him. Medics pronounced him dead at the scene.
An autopsy determined that Nanovic died from a single gunshot wound to his forehead, fired at close range. When questioned, Lieber told investigators that she and Nanovic had been arguing when she kicked the gun out of his hand, causing it to accidentally fire and kill him. "I loved him," she told them. However, Nanovic’s son provided a conflicting account of ongoing threats and abuse. Based on the evidence, authorities arrested Jennifer Lieber, then 45, and charged her with second-degree intentional murder.
Following a two-week trial, a Scott County jury found Jennifer Lieber guilty of second-degree murder on January 30, 2026. In April 2026, she was sentenced to 25 and a half years in prison.
