On an autumn evening in 2011, the life of Stephanie "Steph" Jaeb Maxam, a 51-year-old Caucasian female from Saint Paul, Minnesota, was tragically cut short. On October 3rd, in a parking lot at Parkdale Plaza, she was shot and killed by her former husband, David Maxam. Witnesses reported hearing an argument between the two before David opened fire. Stephanie and David had divorced in 2006.
The shooting occurred just one day before what would have been their 25th wedding anniversary.
Stephanie was a devoted mother to her four children and a successful executive, holding the position of Senior Vice President of Human Resources, Compensation and Benefit Design for US Bank. She was a graduate of the Carlson School of Business at the University of Minnesota and had built a notable career. Her loved ones remembered her as a brilliant and fearless woman who filled a room with her presence and was a loyal and caring friend.
The perpetrator of this tragedy, David Maxam, fled the scene after the shooting. His body was discovered later that evening in Minneapolis, near 37th Street and Hiawatha Avenue. It was determined that he had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Near his body, authorities found a shotgun and an envelope containing a handwritten note. A subsequent search of a storage shed belonging to him revealed ammunition and a letter addressed to his family.
Given that the only suspect in Stephanie's murder took his own life, no arrests were made, and the case was concluded as a murder-suicide. The devastating event left behind a grieving family and community, who mourned the loss of a vibrant woman described as a beautiful sparkle of brilliance.
