Minnesota State Senator charged with burglarizing stepmother’s home

April 24, 2024

DETROIT LAKES, Minn.–A state senator from Woodbury, Minnesota has now been charged with burglary for breaking into her stepmother’s home in Detroit Lakes.

Forty nine year-old Nicole Mitchell (pictured) told police that she broke into the house to retrieve some of her late father’s belongings, including his ashes. Police say Mitchell told responding officers that her stepmother had broken off contact with the family.

Mitchell was dressed all in black and wearing a black hat, the complaint said. The officer said he discovered a flashlight near her that was covered with a black sock, apparently modified to control the amount of light coming from it.

The complaint, filed in Becker County District Court in Detroit Lakes, charges Mitchell with one count of first-degree burglary.

Mitchell is a Democrat state senator who was elected in 2022 and former meteorologist for KSTP-TV in Minneapolis. She is currently a Lt. Colonel in the Air Force Reserve, serving as a meteorologist for the Air Force’s ‘Hurricane Hunters’. She was also an anchor on The Weather Channel from 2004 to 2011.