Man charged with murdering Twin Cities woman patrolled U.S. border with Army Reserve

Two weeks before Jose Luis Lopez Xique allegedly stalked and murdered a 22-year-old Twin Cities woman who rebuffed his advances, he was protecting the U.S. border in Texas as a first sergeant in the Army Reserve.

During his first court appearance on Tuesday in Hennepin County, Lopez Xique’s lawyer used that information to argue that his bail should be lowered to $1 million with conditions.

Defense attorney Michael Fredrickson said Lopez Xique, 27, deserved the presumption of innocence. He had lived in Shakopee for the bulk of his life, shared his home with three family members who relied on him, and had a full time job. He also had no criminal history and the fact that the murder happened on June 17 and Lopez Xique didn’t flee before being arrested showed he wasn’t a flight risk, Fredrickson said. “He is a citizen of the United States and a member of our armed forces,” he said.

Public records list a previous address for Lopez Xique in San Antonio, along with an active voter registration in Texas from 2023.

Fredrickson said Lopez Xique had a federal security clearance and “was stationed down on the U.S. border by the government.”

Senior Hennepin County Attorney Judith Cole alleged that Lopez Xique had stalked and murdered Kayli Grace Arseth, bringing gloves and other items to the crime scene to help him carry out the killing. Cole noted that Lopez Xique had a passport and there was concern about him returning to court. She requested bail at $3 million without conditions and $2.5 million with conditions.

Judge Tamara Garcia sided with Cole.

Criminal charges indicate that Lopez Xique and Arseth had met online recently and Lopez Xique wanted a romantic relationship but Arseth was not looking for that.

“She was only interested in a friendship and did not feel a romantic attraction to [Lopez Xique],” the complaint read.

In announcing charges against Lopez Xique, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said the crime was clearly intentional.

“This was a terrible instance of extreme, targeted violence that took Kayli from her loved ones,” Moriarty said. Her office charged Lopez Xique with one count of second-degree intentional murder. His next court appearance is scheduled for Aug. 5.

Police made a welfare check on Arseth about 9 a.m. on June 17 at her apartment in the 7700 block of Penn Avenue S., according to police. Her family said she had not been heard from since a day earlier and had not reported to work.

Police said they found Arseth dead inside her apartment with a gunshot wound to the head.

“Kayli loved working with children and started babysitting and nannying while still in middle school,” according to her obituary. “More recently, she worked as a behavioral technician, guiding autistic children through their developmental years. … Just 10 days before her life was taken away, she mentioned she had decided to pursue a degree in developmental psychology at the University of Minnesota.”

While attending Wayzata High School, Arseth was on the swim team and was a pole vaulter on the track and field team, the obituary noted. An older sister, Heather Arseth, was a state champion swimmer for Wayzata High School who competed for the East African nation of Mauritius in the 2012 Olympics in London and the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The criminal complaint showed that investigators analyzed data from Lopez Xique’s phone. For 16 minutes on the night that Arseth was killed, it sat stationary.

When investigators went to that location, they recovered 16 rounds of 9-millimeter ammunition, a blue shirt, an empty box of gauze, disposable gloves, shoes and a hat. Police determined he bought many of the items earlier that day while wearing the clothing that was discarded.

As investigators neared his home last week, Lopez Xique drove off but was boxed in by police vehicles and arrested. A police search of his home turned up a 9 mm gun and clothing similar to what he was wearing on the day of Arseth’s death.

Lopez Xique declined to answer police questions and asked for an attorney. Investigators saw he had scratches on his chest and puncture wounds to one forearm.

Paul Walsh of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this report.