After rejecting a man’s romantic advances, a Minnesota woman told him she only wanted to be friends — and now he’s been charged with her murder.
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office announced that Jose Luis Lopez Xique, 27, has been charged with second-degree intentional murder in the death of Kayli Arseth, 22.
According to a probable cause statement obtained by PEOPLE, Arseth was found dead on June 17 from multiple gunshot wounds in her Richfield, Minnesota, home.
Arseth’s family requested a welfare check after she failed to show up for plans and did not return calls or messages, according to the statement.
Police then spoke with a neighbor, who stated that the day before, she heard yelling in Arseth’s home during an argument with a man.
At one point, the neighbor overheard Arseth saying, “How could you do this to me?”
A neighbor heard someone leave 10 minutes later.
Investigators later discovered that Arseth had met Lopez Xique online and had been exchanging Snapchat messages, though their relationship ended on the day her body was discovered.
According to the messages, Lopez Xique asked Arseth for a romantic relationship, but she declined, stating that she only wanted to be friends with him and had no romantic feelings for him.
On June 16, Arseth asked Lopez Xique for help with her motorcycle. His phone data allegedly showed that he was in Arseth’s apartment building that day.
Authorities claim they later discovered two bags of discarded items, including ammunition, an empty box of gauze, disposable gloves, a pair of shoes, and a hat, near where Lopez Xique’s phone had stopped for a few minutes on the evening of June 16. A nearby trash can contained wipes, masking tape, and rubber gloves.
According to the probable cause statement, Lopez Xique was seen purchasing those items in a store earlier that day.
Lopez Xique was eventually arrested. According to the statement, when he was taken into custody, he did not ask why he was being arrested and instead told officers to hurry up.
Police said they discovered a handgun inside his home.
A GoFundMe was started to raise money for Arseth’s family and has raised more than $44,000.
“She was always smiling and had a contagious laugh that could brighten anyone’s day,” the person organizing the event said. “She was easy to be around because she could talk about anything and everything.”
