Twelve to almost 32 years in prison for six in fatal Bloomington home invasion

Case update

On April 11, the sixth defendant in this case, Maurice Verser, was sentenced to 346 months in prison for the murder of Corey Elder and 36 months for the assault charge involving Elder’s girlfriend. The sentences will run consecutively for a total of 382 months in prison.

Original press release

Hennepin County District Court Judge Kerry Meyer sentenced two women and three men in the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Corey Elder, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Friday.

Megan Cater, 20, of Lakeville and Briana Martinson, 21, of Prior Lake were both sentenced to 162 months; Alex Streit, 20, of Minneapolis and Noah Peterson, 21, of Lakeville, received 153 months; and Tarrance Murphy, of Minneapolis, 240 months for their involvement in the home invasion to steal drugs and an XBox that resulted in the death of Elder. The sixth co-defendant Maurice Verse, 34, of Minneapolis will be sentenced next week.

In court Friday afternoon, Corey Elder’s grandmother, mother, sister and girlfriend, who was assaulted during the invasion, gave victim impact statements. His grandmother, Tamra Kramer, said that six people were responsible for her grandson’s death and any one of them could have stopped the stupidity. His 16-year-old sister said she will never be able to see her brother again, but the co-defendants will still get to visit their families when they are in prison.

Before sentencing the five co-defendants, Judge Meyer said the courtroom was full of broken dreams.

Even though Cater had no conflict with Elder or his girlfriend, she was a critical communicator between Martinson and the other co-defendants. It was Martinson who insisted that they have a gun for the burglary, even though they knew Elder didn’t have one.

Streit was mad at Elder for taking his belongings. He helped obtain the gun and provided transportation, but did not go in the apartment on the night of April 27 when Elder was murdered. Peterson was the connector. He is the one who contacted Murphy about the gun. And although Murphy didn’t plan the burglary, he was one of the four people actively involved during the burglary in Elder’s apartment and he was very violent.