When Mani Starren went missing, police learnt Fanta Xayavong had suffered a similar fate – and worryingly both women had been dating the same man leading to tragic consequences
Despite facing her own difficulties in life, Manijeh ‘Mani’ Starren was always putting others first. She made friends wherever she went and would give her last dollar to a homeless person. Whether it was finding a second hand bargain or decorating on a budget, which she had a talent for, the 34-year-old knew she didn’t have to spend lots of money to have nice things.
Mani, who was a mum-of-three, had struggled for years with mental health problems and drug addiction and had agreed to attend a drug rehabilitation centre.
But on 1 May 2023, Mani’s father, Marvin, reported his daughter missing, claiming he hadn’t heard from her in 10 days and she hadn’t shown up for her rehab appointment.
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He told police that when he’d last spoken to Mani, she had seemed frightened of her boyfriend who he only knew as Joe. Marvin recalled a time when Mani had said he’d wrapped a rope around her throat when an argument had “got out of hand”. Officers discovered that Mani had been dating Joseph Jorgenson and their relationship had been physically abusive. Mani’s neighbours said they had seen her with a black eye and red marks around her neck.
Mani was seen on security footage entering her home in St Paul, Minnesota,on 21 April 2023 at around 6pm. Later that night, she was seen trying to run out of the property, but Jorgenson looked to be pulling her back in. Over the following week, he was seen going in and out of the home 28 times. The last time he left, he had two large duffle bags and a large suitcase which he loaded into a pick-up truck.
Officers went inside the apartment and found broken furniture and appliances, and evidence of blood on the sofa in the livingroom and in the kitchen. It belonged to Mani. But where was she?
Jorgenson was the prime suspect in her suspicious disappearance. They discovered he had been using Mani’s food state benefits card to buy cleaning products including a bucket, six boxes of clingfilm, latex gloves and disinfectant wipes. He’d also made some internet searches. He’d looked up the word “jugular” on 21 April – the last timeMani’s dad heard from her. On 1 May, he searched, “What do police do with a missing person’s report?” He also looked up how to clear cookies from a mobile and “lime for soil”, which can be used to speed up the decomposition of a body and reduce the smell. Investigators also found threatening messages Jorgenson had sent to Mani two weeks before she disappeared. “N u owe me 2 bc u called the cops on me 2 times. Very clear I was of that being punishable by hanging. I’m giving u this plea bargain opportunity. So yw,” one read. The other said, “Hope u die of a kidney infection u bitch c**t terrible f*****g mother.”
A SWAT team raided Jorgenson’s flat and he barricaded himself inside. He started afire and fought off officers when they broke down the door. He even tried to grab a gun from an officer before he was arrested. His phone records led investigators to a storage unit in Woodbury which had been rented under the name of Jorgenson’s flatmate. There were padlock keys in Jorgenson’s flat. At the unit in June 2023,officers found Mani’s dismembered remains.
The body parts, including the head, arms, thighs, legs and feet, had been wrapped in a considerable amount of clingfilm and placed into several different bags.
A second victim
Jorgenson was charged with her murder and someone came forward after seeing his name and linked him to another missing person – Fanta Xayavong. She hadn’t been seen in two years and she used to date Jorgenson around the time of her disappearance, when she was 33. But a missing person report wasn’t filed until May2023 when the person who provided the tip-off saw in the press that Jorgenson had been arrested for murder. Fanta, also a mum, suffered with drug addiction and her lifestyle meant she would often go missing.
Police found text messages from 2021 on Jorgenson’s phone where he told a friend he broke his hand hitting Fanta. “I legit broke my hand on her skull last week,” he wrote.
Investigators spoke to witnesses who said that between July and September 2021,when they visited Jorgenson’s home in Shoreview, Minnesota, it smelled “terrible”. When he moved out, a cleaning crew had to sort the place and noted that the bedroom carpet had been removed and there was a large stain on the wooden floorboards.
Just weeks after Mani’s body was found, police went to a different storage facility in Coon Rapids that was rented under another name. They found the dismembered body of a woman with her hands still tied behind her back, hidden in coolers and large plastic tote bags. It was Fanta. Knives that had been used to cut up her body were also found with some of her belongings. Jorgenson’s DNA was on the tape used to bind her.
In January this year, as part of a plea bargain, Jorgenson, 41, pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder. He said he’d killed Fanta “around Labor Day of 2021” but was doing drugs at the time and didn’t know an exact date. He admitted attacking Fanta during a drunken argument at his home in Shoreview. He said he hit her in the head with his knee and kept beating her until she died. “I was very drunk at the time,” he told the court. “I did feel bad about it immediately afterwards, but my intent at that time was to kill her.” He said he kept her body at his home before trying to dismember her. Then he took her remains to the storage unit in Coon Rapids.
Jorgenson said he strangled Mani in her apartment in April 2023. He described getting very upset after she demanded he leave the flat, when he then put her in a chokehold and “choked her out until she was no longer breathing”. He admitted he used a long razor blade to dismember her body and then moved the remains to the storage facility.
At the sentencing, Jorgenson made a statement. “I’d just like to say that I truly am sorry. I want to say especially to the family and especially to the children of both Mani and Fanta, I am very, very sorry,” he said.
Mani’s mum, Ricki Starren, said, “Mani was more than just my daughter, she was the light in our life – a source of joy, strength and unconditional love. Her dreams of making a difference in the world were as bright as her spirit. Her absence has left an irreplaceable void, not only in our family,but in the lives of the people she would have helped and cared for in the future.”
The suffering continues
Fanta’s sister said, “He didn’t just take Fanta’s life, he destroyed the lives of her children, her family and everyone who loved her. ”The judge handed down the sentence saying Jorgenson deserved life without parole, but his hands were tied due to the plea deal. “You inexplicably committed the most gruesome and heinous of crimes I have ever known,” he said.
Jorgenson was sentenced to40 years for each murder to be served concurrently. He is likely to serve around 27 years before he is released.
