Charges: Morristown man ‘taking lots of drugs’ charged with murder of housemate

MORRISTOWN, Minn. (FOX 9) - Authorities have charged a Morristown man with second-degree murder after police found his housemate dead on Monday.

Cody Vernon Kolstad, 32, was arrested early Tuesday morning after Rice County Sheriff’s Deputies were called to his Morristown residence the day before. 

According to police, a caller told dispatchers that a man, later identified as Brian Daniel Stoeckel, 41, was dead, and deputies needed to "take him into custody."

When deputies arrived, they found Kolstad lying face down on the lawn with a phone in his hand when he told a deputy that he had shot Stoeckel in the head, according to the criminal complaint.

At the scene, police found Stoeckel in his bed with what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the neck, and a hole in the wall that was consistent with a shotgun blast.

Kolstad told the deputies that he had been "taking lots of drugs" and was stressed out, but was sober when interviewed by investigators.

Upon questioning, Kolstad said, "Another person had told him either he or Stoeckel needed to die by midnight."

A bail hearing for Kolstad is set for June 2 in Rice County court.