Authorities found the murder suspect more than 150 miles away after his sister said she feared their father could also be in danger.
MONTICELLO, Minn. — Hours after Daniel Lawrence Ferdelman was found dead inside a Monticello home, a homicide investigation had become a statewide search driven in part by a warning from the victim’s girlfriend: She believed her brother might be headed toward their father’s home in northern Minnesota.
Authorities located Steven Ralph Stahlberg, 48, near Remer at about 9:45 a.m. Sept. 3, according to the Wright County Sheriff’s Office and reports describing a criminal complaint. Investigators said a shotgun was recovered from the Toyota Tundra he had been driving. Stahlberg was later charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the death of Ferdelman, 57. The arrest ended the immediate search, and no attack on Stahlberg’s father was reported. What remained was a criminal case built around the events of the night before, statements made during a deteriorating household dispute and evidence gathered after Ferdelman’s death.
The possible danger to Stahlberg’s father was not presented publicly as an independently verified plan. It came from Stahlberg’s sister after she returned from work and found Ferdelman dead, according to the complaint as described by several news organizations. She told investigators that, if her brother had killed Ferdelman, she believed he was likely going to their father’s residence in Remer and intended to kill him. The available complaint summaries do not explain why she feared their father could be targeted, and authorities have not publicly supplied a motive for any alleged plan involving him.
That distinction is important because the father-related allegation became an urgent investigative lead without becoming a separate publicly documented act of violence. Deputies were dealing with a man who had been found dead in Monticello, a missing resident of the same household, a missing pickup and information pointing toward a destination more than 150 miles away. The Wright County Sheriff’s Office said it conducted an extensive statewide search with help from other law enforcement agencies. Bring Me The News reported that automated license plate readers were used to help follow Stahlberg’s movements.
The investigation had begun at about 7:27 a.m., when Stahlberg’s sister called 911 after arriving home from work. She lived at the residence with Stahlberg and Ferdelman, her boyfriend. Deputies went to the home on Highway 25 NE and found Ferdelman dead in a bedroom. The sheriff’s office initially said evidence at the scene indicated he had recently been in an altercation with Stahlberg. The Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office later ruled the death a homicide. Reporting drawn from the criminal complaint said the medical examiner determined Ferdelman suffered a fatal shotgun wound to the chest.
Only after investigators spoke with the woman did the earlier sequence begin to come into focus. While she had been at work, Ferdelman contacted her about trouble inside the home. According to the complaint, a disagreement involved the household’s new cat. Ferdelman said Stahlberg had taken the animal into his bedroom and closed himself in with it. When Ferdelman sought to have the cat brought back out, Stahlberg eventually left the room and a confrontation followed. The men pushed each other, according to Ferdelman’s account to his girlfriend, and he described Stahlberg as intoxicated.
Stahlberg then returned to his room with the cat, but the conflict allegedly continued. Ferdelman contacted his girlfriend again and reported that Stahlberg had entered his bedroom and another fight had begun. Ferdelman had expressed concern that another shove or blow could lead to someone being hurt, according to reports describing the complaint. His girlfriend later told investigators she understood her brother to have been drinking and feared any renewed confrontation between the men could end badly. Those statements became central to the later reconstruction because the woman was at work rather than inside the home during the confrontations she described to authorities.
Surveillance evidence supplied investigators with a separate piece of the timeline. A nearby camera recorded a man getting into a pickup consistent with Stahlberg’s Toyota Tundra and leaving the residence at about 1:18 a.m., according to the complaint. Public reporting also places Ferdelman’s second call to his girlfriend sometime between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. The available accounts do not reconcile those two times. Rather than assuming one is correct, the discrepancy remains an unresolved point in the public version of the chronology. Investigators have not released all surveillance material or telephone records that might clarify it.
By morning, however, Stahlberg and his truck were gone from the Monticello property. The information about his father gave investigators a direction for the search. The Wright County Sheriff’s Office said Cass County deputies and Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agents located Stahlberg’s vehicle at about 9:45 a.m. Reports based on the complaint placed him in the Remer area. Bring Me The News reported that he was arrested about 10 miles from the father’s home. Authorities then transported Stahlberg to the Wright County Jail.
The truck itself became a significant part of the case. Investigators found a shotgun on the passenger side, according to multiple reports. FOX 9, citing the complaint, reported that the weapon was beneath a windshield sunshade on the floorboard and that shells loaded with different types of ammunition were found with it. Those details are allegations and reported evidence, not a finding of guilt. Publicly available reporting has not described a completed forensic comparison establishing that the recovered shotgun fired the fatal round, although reports say material associated with a shotgun round was recovered during the medical examination of Ferdelman.
The homicide ruling provided another link in prosecutors’ account. The medical examiner concluded Ferdelman had died from a shotgun injury and classified the death as homicide, according to reporting on the complaint. A homicide ruling describes the manner of death; it does not itself determine who is criminally responsible. Prosecutors still must prove the criminal charges against Stahlberg. He is entitled to challenge the evidence, the timeline, witness statements and any forensic conclusions presented in court.
Reports say the charging document contains two second-degree murder counts. Some shorter accounts initially described the case only as a second-degree murder charge, but FOX 9 specifically reported two counts after reviewing the complaint. Minnesota’s second-degree murder statute covers several defined circumstances and carries a maximum term of 40 years. The public reports reviewed here do not consistently identify which statutory provision corresponds to each count, making it inappropriate to assume a prosecution theory that has not been verified from the filed document itself.
Law&Crime reported that a judge set bail in September at $1 million with conditions or $2 million without conditions. At that stage, FOX 9 said it had not confirmed whether Stahlberg had entered a plea or retained counsel. The most recent reliable public material located for this report did not establish a later plea, trial date or disposition through Oct. 20. The allegations involving Ferdelman’s death remain pending accusations unless and until they are resolved in court.
The arrest near Remer also marks an important boundary between what authorities said they feared and what actually occurred. Stahlberg’s sister’s warning gave investigators reason to look toward their father’s home, and officers found Stahlberg in that area with a shotgun in his vehicle. But the sources reviewed do not report that the father was attacked, do not identify a documented motive for allegedly targeting him and do not establish that Stahlberg reached his residence. Those unanswered points remain separate from the murder case centered on Ferdelman’s death in Monticello.
Author note: Last updated October 20, 2026.