In Wabasha County, Craig Alan Hameister’s case moved from county charges to a state-assisted prosecution and guilty plea.
SAINT PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office helped prosecute a Wabasha County murder case that ended with Craig Alan Hameister sentenced to more than 34 years for killing Melissa Hunt.
The 415-month sentence imposed Monday followed a state-assisted prosecution that began with local charges in Wabasha County. Hameister, 45, of Rochester, pleaded guilty March 3 to second-degree intentional murder in Hunt’s June 18, 2025, death at a Kellogg boat launch.
The attorney general’s office entered the case after Wabasha County Attorney Matthew Stinson referred it under a Minnesota law that permits the attorney general to appear in certain criminal cases when a county attorney requests it. The state office said its authority is mostly civil and that city and county attorneys normally handle criminal prosecutions. In this case, the referral brought state prosecutors into a fatal domestic-relationship shooting that had already drawn attention because of Hunt’s final statements, Hameister’s flight and the unusual circumstances of his arrest.
Hunt, 36, was shot at close range at a boat launch in Kellogg, a small Wabasha County community near the Mississippi River. After the shooting, officials said, she drove herself to a nearby home with portions of her jaw and teeth missing. Deputies said she struggled to speak but identified “Craig” as her assailant. Earlier charging accounts said she described a white pickup with big tires and said the attack took place near the new boat launch. She was transported to a hospital, where she died from the injuries. Ellison later said Hunt was “a mother, a daughter, a sister, and an aunt.”
The first charges accused Hameister of two forms of second-degree murder. One count alleged that he killed Hunt with intent but without premeditation. A second count alleged murder without intent while committing a felony. He also faced a manslaughter charge. At that stage, prosecutors still had to prove what had happened at the launch and what Hameister intended. The record included Hunt’s statements, the severe injuries deputies saw, the autopsy findings and the evidence recovered in later searches. Hameister was held on $2 million bail or bond after his arrest.
Investigators tracked Hameister through several locations after the attack. They found his truck at a property outside Chatfield in Olmsted County with a live 9 mm round on the floor. Witnesses said Hameister had appeared very frantic and said “something bad happened.” One witness said a 9 mm handgun was missing and that Hameister had left on a motorcycle. Officers later found him in the Chester Woods area after a several-hour standoff. Officials said he climbed a tree to avoid arrest. A 9 mm handgun was recovered at the base of the tree.
The evidence shifted the case away from the first description Hunt gave when she said she had been hit with a stick. Court documents said officers did not find a stick or similar weapon at the boat launch. They did find an unspent 9 mm round there, and an autopsy showed gunshot residue in the wound to Hunt’s face. Prosecutors said Hameister shot Hunt in the face at close range, fled and did not call for help. Those claims later supported the state’s notice that it would seek an aggravated sentence if Hameister were convicted at trial.
Pretrial filings showed how the case might have been contested. Hameister’s lawyers asked the court to dismiss the intentional murder count, arguing there was not enough probable cause. They also sought to suppress his statements to police, saying he had not slept for a significant amount of time and had not knowingly waived his right to remain silent. Prosecutors filed their own notice seeking a harsher-than-usual sentence. They argued that Hunt’s injuries, her suffering, Hameister’s alleged failure to help and the alleged act of luring her to the boat launch showed aggravating facts.
The plea ended that fight before trial. Hameister admitted in court that he shot Hunt in the face. He acknowledged he caused her death by shooting her with a handgun and that he acted with intent to kill. Ellison said after the plea that Hunt’s killing shocked the conscience and that the guilty plea ensured Hameister would be held accountable. The plea also gave the court a clear basis for the May sentencing, leaving the judge to impose the agreed or expected prison term rather than send the case to a jury.
At sentencing, the court imposed 415 months in prison and credited Hameister with 327 days already served. The judge also ordered $10,134.97 in restitution. Ellison said after the hearing that Hunt “should still be with us today” and said people who knew her described her as kind and caring. He thanked the Wabasha County Sheriff’s Office and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, both of which assisted in the investigation. The attorney general’s office framed the sentence as both a punishment and the final court result of the referral from Wabasha County.
The case also showed the path a local homicide can take when county and state offices work together. Wabasha County authorities handled the first response, the charging record described deputies at the rural home and boat launch, and state investigators helped build the case. The attorney general’s office then carried the prosecution through the guilty plea and sentencing. That structure did not change the central facts of the killing, but it shaped how the case was presented publicly and how officials explained the outcome.
Hameister’s sentence ends the main criminal proceeding, but it does not answer every question in the public record. Officials have not released a full motive, and the plea avoided a trial that might have included more testimony about the former relationship, the alleged luring and the final minutes at the boat launch. What remains in the court record is Hameister’s admission, the murder conviction, the restitution order and a prison term measured in decades.
For now, the Wabasha County case has concluded with Hameister sentenced to 415 months for second-degree intentional murder and credited for the time he had already spent in custody.
Author note: Last updated June 3, 2026.