The attorney general joined the Benton County case before Saleebaan Mohamed Abdirisaaq admitted two counts of second-degree murder.
ST. PAUL, Minn. — A rarely used form of state-local prosecution has produced two murder convictions in the deaths of a pregnant St. Cloud woman and her unborn child, with the defendant now awaiting sentencing in November.
The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office announced that Saleebaan Mohamed Abdirisaaq pleaded guilty to second-degree intentional murder and second-degree felony murder of an unborn child. The office entered the case after Benton County Attorney Kathleen Reuter requested its involvement under a state law that allows the attorney general to assist in selected criminal prosecutions. Abdirisaaq admitted killing his girlfriend, 24-year-old Falus Ali, during an argument on Sept. 23, 2025.
The prosecutorial arrangement is an important part of how the case reached its conclusion. Minnesota’s attorney general has broad responsibility in civil litigation but does not routinely bring local murder charges. Most criminal authority rests with county and city attorneys. State law permits a county attorney to request help, after which the attorney general may decide whether to appear in the case. Reuter made that referral, and lawyers from the Attorney General’s Office worked with local authorities through the guilty pleas.
The public statements do not say why Benton County sought state assistance or identify a specific legal problem that required the referral. The case, however, involved multiple homicide counts, the death of an unborn child, earlier domestic-violence proceedings and a 3-year-old child who was present during the killing. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and St. Cloud police also participated, creating an investigation that crossed the responsibilities of several agencies.
Abdirisaaq’s pleas resolved the central criminal questions without a trial. In court, he admitted that he and Ali argued at a St. Cloud residence before he retrieved a knife from a dishwasher and repeatedly stabbed her. The Attorney General’s Office identified wounds to her neck, chest and arm. The criminal complaint, as reported by local and national outlets, said Ali suffered 34 wounds. Medical personnel later determined that she was about 17 weeks pregnant.
Under the final convictions, one count addresses Ali’s intentional killing. The second addresses the death of the unborn child through a felony-murder theory. Public reports say Abdirisaaq initially faced four second-degree murder counts, including allegations related to a court order involving Ali. The materials reviewed for this report do not provide the complete written plea agreement or explain how every original charge was formally resolved. The two admitted counts are the offenses now moving toward sentencing.
The killings came to police attention through Abdirisaaq himself. He called emergency dispatchers late on Sept. 23 and reported that someone had died inside the residence, according to the complaint accounts. He said he wanted to surrender and gave authorities directions to come to the apartment. Officers reached the East Germain Court complex at about 11:55 p.m. and found him outside with his hands raised.
Police entered the apartment and found Ali on the floor near a couch, with a knife nearby. Emergency personnel transported her to CentraCare-St. Cloud Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Hospital staff told investigators about the pregnancy and the loss of the unborn child. Those medical findings helped establish that the case involved two deaths under Minnesota law rather than only the homicide of Ali.
The investigation quickly gathered evidence from several sources. Abdirisaaq’s brother contacted authorities and reported receiving a call in which Abdirisaaq admitted killing Ali with a knife. Police documented the apartment, recovered the suspected weapon and obtained information from people present or connected to the couple. The couple’s 3-year-old child was in the home and was later placed with relatives. The child was not physically injured.
Had the case gone to trial, prosecutors could have relied on Abdirisaaq’s reported calls, the physical evidence, medical findings and testimony from investigators or other witnesses. Defense attorneys would have had the right to challenge the evidence, question witnesses and require the state to prove every element beyond a reasonable doubt. By pleading guilty and establishing a factual basis for the offenses, Abdirisaaq gave up the trial process and accepted criminal responsibility.
The plea also changed the language appropriate for describing the case. Before the admission, prosecutors’ account remained an allegation contained in charging documents. Abdirisaaq was presumed innocent unless proved guilty. After the court accepted his pleas, officials could describe him as convicted of the two offenses. Sentencing, rather than guilt, became the next central issue.
The earlier history between Abdirisaaq and Ali remained relevant to the case. Reports citing court records said Abdirisaaq had a Sherburne County conviction for violating a domestic abuse no-contact order protecting Ali. A separate Hennepin County case involved threats against her in 2024. Law&Crime reported that he had been released under a condition barring contact with her. The reviewed public materials do not explain how Abdirisaaq came to be inside the residence with Ali on the night she was killed.
Those prior proceedings could have affected charging decisions and may be considered during sentencing, depending on Minnesota law and the judge’s rulings. They do not alter the prosecution’s burden for the murders, but they provide context for the court restrictions that existed before the attack. Prosecutors initially included charges associated with violating an order, according to KNSI, although the pleas announced by the state concerned intentional murder and felony murder of the unborn child.
The attorney general’s announcement emphasized cooperation rather than the division of responsibility among agencies. The St. Cloud Police Department handled the immediate response and local investigative work. The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension assisted, while Benton County retained its role as the local prosecuting jurisdiction. The Attorney General’s Office supplied prosecutors under the county referral.
Attorney General Keith Ellison said Abdirisaaq was being held accountable and described the crimes as shocking. He expressed sympathy for Ali’s relatives, friends and loved ones and said his office would continue working with law enforcement agencies on serious cases. Ellison’s statement did not announce a requested sentence or disclose the negotiations that led to the pleas.
Reuter’s referral demonstrates one way Minnesota can expand the resources available in a county prosecution without shifting every aspect of the case to a permanent statewide criminal division. The attorney general decides whether to accept such requests, and the office has said its criminal authority outside referred cases and Medicaid-fraud matters is limited. The arrangement does not change the court that will sentence Abdirisaaq or the substantive murder laws that govern the convictions.
The remaining proceeding is expected to focus on punishment. A sentencing judge can review the convictions, Abdirisaaq’s criminal history, facts admitted during the plea and any other information permitted by law. Prosecutors and defense lawyers may argue for different outcomes. Ali’s family may have an opportunity to describe the effect of the deaths, though no public source reviewed for this report identified who will participate.
The reports do not state whether prosecutors will request that the punishment for the two counts run at the same time or one after the other. They also do not provide a final sentencing calculation. Those omissions are significant because a conviction alone does not reveal how long a defendant will remain imprisoned. The judge’s order will supply that answer after the parties make their presentations.
For now, the state-local prosecution has completed its first objective: obtaining convictions for both deaths. Abdirisaaq is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 25, 2026, when the court is expected to determine the consequences of the crimes he admitted.
Author note: Last updated August 5, 2026.