A Maplewood man charged with starting a fire when officers came to his apartment with asearch warrant about a missing St. Paul womanis a person of interest in her disappearance, police said Wednesday.
Manijeh “Mani” Starren, 34, remains missing. She was last in contact with her family around April 21.
Joseph Steven Jorgenson, 40, described as Starren’s boyfriend, was seen on video surveillance from her apartment building on April 21 running after Starren, grabbing her, turning her around and pushing her back into her apartment, according to search warrant affidavits. Police didn’t find video that showed her leaving her apartment again after that day.
Crime scene technicians later found blood in Starren’s apartment and it “was evident that someone had attempted” to clean it up, the affidavits said.
Jorgenson hasn’t been arrested or charged in Starren’s disappearance.
Breanna Moinicken, who calls Starren her best friend, said Starren is a mother of three. “Her most important thing is spending time with her kids,” Moinicken said Wednesday.
Starren makes friends everywhere she goes because “she has this positivity and patience and kindness that she shows you no matter who you are,” Moinicken said.
Charges from Monday
The Ramsey County attorney’s office charged Jorgenson on Wednesday with first-degree arson, threats of violence and attempted disarming of a police officer. The criminal complaint gives this account from prosecutors:
St. Paul police SWAT officers and Maplewood police went to an apartment building at 89 Century Ave. N. in Maplewood on Monday with a search warrant in the Starren case and to arrest Jorgenson on warrants in a different matter.
Officers saw a man, later identified as Jorgenson, try to get out a back window of the apartment. He then barricaded himself in a bedroom and started a fire in the bedroom’s closet, which caused the sprinkler system to activate, and smoke filled the apartment. Other residents of the building had to be evacuated.
Police deployed a chemical irritant into the bedroom where Jorgenson was barricaded and he “came charging out of the room yelling that he had a gun and he was going to kill the police officers. Officers had a difficult time seeing and breathing due to the amount of smoke in the apartment.” They used a fire extinguisher to put out the fire.
Jorgenson grabbed onto a SWAT officer’s AR-15, while continuing to yell he had a gun and would kill them. The officer fought with Jorgenson and maintained control of his gun.
“Officers were eventually able to overcome Jorgenson’s resistance and they arrested him.” Several officers were injured. Jorgenson was taken to the hospital for treatment for smoke inhalation and minor injuries, Sgt. Mike Ernster, a St. Paul police spokesman, said Monday. He was then booked into the Ramsey County jail.
Jorgenson, who was also listed with the first name Joshua in a court document, declined to talk to police. He is due to make his first court appearance in the case Thursday and an attorney wasn’t listed for him in the court record.
Search warrants in disappearance
Affidavits for search warrants obtained by police in their investigation into Starren’s disappearance include this information from police:
Starren’s father reported her missing to St. Paul police on May 1. They last talked by phone April 18 and he said she seemed afraid; he believed it was of a boyfriend.
A man who Starren has a child with told police she last called him April 21, and he said he was very concerned because she usually checks in with him about their child.
An employee from the apartment building where Starren lives in the 1400 block of East Seventh Street told police that Starren has a boyfriend named “Joe,” who police identified as Jorgenson.
Investigators learned May 23 that the apartment management had found video surveillance of Starren running from her apartment on April 21 with Jorgenson running after her and pushing her back into the apartment.
Surveillance video showed Jorgenson coming and going from Starren’s apartment between April 21 and 28, and apartment management determined he accessed her apartment 28 times in that timeframe. He was seen on April 28 carrying two duffle bags and a suitcase from the apartment, which he loaded into a pickup truck and drove away.
Police are still asking for tips about Starren.
“Anyone who knows anything about her or where she might be is encouraged to call investigators” at 651-266-5650, Ernster said Wednesday.
Starren’s friend echoed that request for information. “I believe that someone out there knows something,” Moinicken said.
Starren is described as having blond hair and green eyes, is 5 feet 10 inches tall and 145 pounds, and has an angels wing tattoo on her stomach with initials “MS” and a heart, a lifeline tattoo on her shoulder and a mountains tattoo on her arm with the words “Keep Going.”
