In the late summer of 2023, the life of Sarah Kathryn Patrick, a 30-year-old White female, was tragically cut short in a Minneapolis duplex. On the evening of August 3rd, her body was discovered alongside that of 38-year-old Adam Lee Erickson in a residence in the Longfellow neighborhood. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office would later confirm that both had died from gunshot wounds to the head.
Patrick's death was officially ruled a homicide, while Erickson's was determined to be a suicide.
The events leading up to the discovery paint a grim picture of a troubled relationship. Patrick and Erickson had been involved in an on-and-off relationship. In the month prior to her death, friends reported that Erickson had been exhibiting erratic behavior, including excessive cocaine and alcohol use, and was acting in a manner that was emotionally, psychologically, and financially abusive. Patrick had expressed a desire to her friends to end the relationship and focus on her own well-being, but she also voiced fear that Erickson would not accept her decision.
On that August evening, it was Erickson's roommate who made the devastating discovery. Arriving home, he found Erickson in his room and not breathing, prompting a 911 call shortly before 6 p.m. When Minneapolis Police Department officers responded to the duplex on 29th Avenue South, they found both Patrick and Erickson deceased inside the apartment.
Investigators at the scene recovered the handgun that was used in the fatal shooting. With the perpetrator deceased, the Minneapolis Police Department announced that they were not seeking any other suspects in connection with Sarah Kathryn Patrick's murder. The case was subsequently closed, leaving friends and family to mourn the loss of a life ended by an act of domestic violence.
