Charges: Sleepy Eye man charged with murder claimed girlfriend’s death was part of a suicide pact

Investigators say a Sleepy Eye man charged with murder claimed his girlfriend’s death was part of a suicide pact.

Casey Dlynn Narvaez, 39, is facing felony counts of 2nd-degree murder with intent – not premeditated and aiding suicide in Nicollet County Court.

Just before 1 a.m. Thursday, Nicollet County 911 received a call from a man who was “making statements that were difficult to understand,” such as “it did not work” and “he did not know why he was alive,” according to a press release from Sheriff Dave Lange. The caller’s location indicated he was at the boat landing in Ridgely Township on Highway 4.

Officers arrived on the scene to find Narvaez standing outside of an SUV in distress with cable ties around his neck. A criminal complaint says the body of a dead woman was found face down on the driver’s seat of the vehicle with cable ties around her neck. Police say a length of dryer vent tubing was attached to the vehicle exhaust pipe, and a second piece was found close to the vehicle.

Narvaez was transported to the Sleepy Eye Medical Center. There, according to court documents, he was interviewed by agents from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.  The criminal complaint says Narvaez initially told the agents he returned from work on the afternoon of October 25 to the apartment he shared with the victim.  Narvaez said he “used marijuana,” and then closed his eyes. The next thing he remembered was waking up at the boat landing, unable to breathe with something around his neck, according to the complaint.  Narvaez allegedly told police he called 911 using the phone of the victim – who, he says, was in the car and not moving. The complaint says he asked investigators if she was okay, and he was told she didn’t survive.

Agents say Narvaez changed his story after investigators challenged his scenario.  According to the complaint Narvaez “admitted he and he victim had made a suicide agreement.” Narvaez allegedly claimed that after the victim got off work, the couple went to the hardware store to get the dryer vent tubing and cable ties, returned to the apartment, and left again later that evening.  He told investigators the pair went to two locations before driving to the boat landing.  He claimed the couple tried to commit suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning, but became frustrated over an hour later when it didn’t work, according to the charging document.

The complaint says Narvaez told agents he was embarrassed that the victim had successfully put the cable ties around her neck, while he had been unsuccessful with his own ties and he invented the story about being kidnapped.

Investigators say the ties around the victim’s neck were “very tight.”  The Ramsey County Medical Examiner ruled she died of asphyxia due to ligature strangulation.

Video surveillance showed Narvaez getting out of the passenger side in a vehicle similar to the SUV at the scene.  Once inside the store, he was seen purchasing the dryer vent hose and the cable ties, according to the complaint.

In a second interview with BCA agents, Narvaez maintained that he and the victim had made a suicide pact.  When agents pressed him about why the victim’s ligature was”extremely tight,” he told them the victim wanted him to help her so he tightened her ligature.

Police say Narvaez acknowledged that he knew tightening the ligature would cause his girlfriend’s death and said he wanted to help her die.  He allegedly told agents the victim was unresponsive within three minutes and that approximately 30 minutes passed before he called 911.