Burnsville Interlachen Park death leads to murder charges
BURNSVILLE, Minn. (FOX 9) - A body found in Burnsville’s Interlachen Park in May has led to murder charges being filed against a 21-year-old man whose mother told police he had become "increasingly aggressive at home."
Burnsville Interlachen Park murder charges
What we know:
Michael Lual Nhial, 21, of Burnsville is charged with second-degree murder after an incident that allegedly occurred in the early morning hours of May 3, 2025.
Around 8:10 a.m. that day, Burnsville police received a call from the victim’s mother, saying she had found her son – David Stuart Chant – unconscious and unresponsive in the park. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office determined he died from blunt force trauma to his head after authorities discovered him with swelling in his head, mouth and eyes.
She told police that he typically takes a walk between 6:30 a.m. and 7:00 a.m., but the last time she saw him was the previous night around 10 p.m., according to the charges.
When police searched the park, they located a pair of tennis shoes and an alternator in its original packaging in the well of a porta potty. A red stain on one of the shoes tested positive for Chant’s blood, and gray hairs on their bottoms were also connected to him, according to the charges.
Around 9:43 a.m. the same morning, police learned from another witness that her son, Nhial, had been absent from her apartment from approximately midnight to 2 a.m.
Police say they have had numerous contacts with Nhial in recent months, according to charges, after his mother reported he had "recently been fighting with people in school and had become increasingly aggressive at home."
Interlachen Park attack
Dig deeper:
As part of their investigation, police obtained surveillance video from areas surrounding the park.
In one video, Nhial can be seen walking around the underground garage of his apartment, looking in the windows of vehicles at 12:29 a.m. The shoes he was wearing appear to match those found in the porta potty, charges state.
Between 1:34 a.m. and 1:41 a.m., a man matching his description was then seen in the vestibule of his apartment complex, where he opened a package similar in size and shape to the one found in the porta potty by police.
Between 1:43 a.m. and 1:53 a.m., thumping sounds were heard on surveillance video pointing to a parking lot adjacent to the park where Chant was found.
In the video, police believe to hear Chant saying, "Hey, give me my cane back, god******".
Officers can then hear multiple sounds that can be equated with thumping and hitting noises.
Nhial was subsequently arrested by police.
In a recorded jail call, charges say he told someone that he "knocked out a person at the park the weekend before he was arrested," according to charges.