Mom Gets Life for Killing Her Two Young Sons

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — A Red Lake woman was sentenced to life in federal prison for murdering her two young children and setting their home on fire, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Minnesota announced.

Read the U.S. Attorney's release: https://www.justice.gov/usao-mn/pr/red-lake-woman-sentenced-life-prison-murder-her-two-children

The Sentence, The Conviction, The Case

Jennifer Marie Stately, 37, of Red Lake, was sentenced to life in prison for five counts of first-degree murder and one count of arson.

Stately was sentenced before U.S. District Judge John R. Tunheim on November 6, 2026.

She was previously convicted by a federal jury on February 25, 2026, following a two-and-a-half-week trial.

The Attack, The Fire, The Flight

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, on March 15, 2024, Stately attacked and killed two of her young children.

The evidence at trial showed that Stately, when alone with the children at their home on the Red Lake Indian Reservation, assaulted the boys, causing numerous injuries, and attacked them with a knife.

Stately fatally stabbed her older son before setting the home on fire.

Investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives determined Stately used gasoline and lighter fluid to ignite three separate fires, including fires at both exit points of the home.

While the older boy died of his sharp force injuries, the younger boy was trapped inside and died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

After setting fire to the home, Stately fled the scene and was missing for several hours.

The Red Lake Tribal Police Department issued an AMBER Alert, and, less than an hour later, a motorist spotted Stately in Todd County, approximately 150 miles south of the Stately home.

Minnesota State Patrol, the Todd County Sheriff's Department, and the Long Prairie Police Department responded to Stately's location. She was apprehended and booked in the Todd County Jail.

The Quotes, The Investigation, The Accountability

"Jennifer Stately's murder of two of her children shocks the conscience. I offer my deepest condolences to the family and Red Lake community who lost two innocent lives," said United States Attorney Daniel N. Rosen.

"Today's sentence ensures Jennifer Stately is held accountable for the unimaginable violence she inflicted on two young children," said FBI Minneapolis Special Agent in Charge Christopher D. Dotson. "While no sentence can undo this loss, we hope it provides some measure of justice for the victims' loved ones and the Red Lake community."

"This case is truly unfathomable. Two innocent children lost their lives in an act of unimaginable violence," said ATF Special Agent in Charge Joseph Persails of the St. Paul Field Division. "One child may have survived the injuries inflicted upon him, but the fire his mother set ultimately sealed his fate."

This case was the result of an investigation by the FBI, with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the Todd County Sheriff's Department, the Long Prairie Police Department, and the Red Lake Tribal Police Department.

Assistant United States Attorney Garrett S. Fields prosecuted the case.

"The memory of our two young community members will forever be in our thoughts and prayers of the Red Lake Nation," said Director of Red Lake Department of Public Safety Kendall Kingbird Sr.

Sources

U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Minnesota, "Red Lake Woman Sentenced to Life in Prison for Murder of Her Two Children," November 6, 2026: https://www.justice.gov/usao-mn/pr/red-lake-woman-sentenced-life-prison-murder-her-two-children