The man charged in the killings of a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband one week ago was a “prepper” and had at some point given his wife a “bailout plan” in case of “exigent circumstances,” according to an FBI agent investigating the case.
The term “prepper” refers generally to someone who stockpiles materials and makes plans to survive some future disaster or doomsday event.
In a newly unsealed affidavit obtained by CNN affiliate WCCO, FBI agent Terry Getsch wrote that Boelter and his wife were preppers and that Boelter’s established “bailout plan” instructed his wife to go to her mother’s home in Wisconsin.
The affidavit does not imply that Boelter’s wife knew about her husband’s alleged plans to attack the lawmakers, and she has not been charged with any crime.
After last Saturday’s shootings, Boelter’s wife was pulled over by law enforcement “while traveling with her four children to visit friends northwest of the metro area,” Getsch wrote. She consented to a search of their car, in which investigators found two handguns, passports for Boelter’s wife and their children and about $10,000 in cash.
During an interview, Boelter’s wife said that she received a group text message from Boelter in a thread with their kids.
“Dad went to war last night … I don’t wanna say more because I don’t wanna implicate anybody,” one text from Boelter to members of his family read, according to a federal complaint unsealed earlier this week.
The affidavit also revealed that at roughly 9 a.m. on Saturday, Boelter visited a bank in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, and withdrew all $2,200 he had in a bank account in his name. A third party whose name is redacted in the affidavit drove Boelter from the bank.
Boelter was driven to the bank by a person listed as “Witness 1” in a previously unsealed court document, the same person who authorities say sold Boelter an electric bike and Buick sedan, which was found during the 43-hour manhunt last weekend.
Authorities said earlier this week Boelter is believed to have carried out the attacks on lawmakers alone, but noted investigators would “fully explore” to ensure that was the case. CNN reached out to the Brooklyn Park Police Department for an update on the investigation.
Boelter, 57, faces both federal and state charges. Investigators found “voluminous writings” in Boelter’s home and car, but no clear manifesto has been uncovered, according to Acting US attorney Joseph Thompson.
The notebooks contained the names of more than 45 Minnesota state and federal public officials, “mostly or all Democrats,” according to the complaint. Some listed had ties to Planned Parenthood and the abortion rights movement.
Boelter made his first appearance in federal court on Monday. He faces six federal charges, including murder, stalking and firearms offenses. He has not yet entered a plea and CNN has reached out to the federal public defender representing him for comment.
Boelter is scheduled to appear in federal court in St. Paul, Minnesota, for a preliminary detention hearing on Friday.
