Body Found in Rice Co. Identified as Anarae Schunk

The Rosemount Police Department announced that a body found in a ditch north of Lonsdale has been positively identified as that of Anarae Schunk, a Burnsville woman who went missing shortly after witnessing a fatal shooting at Nina's Grill. 

Schunk, a 20-year-old college student, disappeared on Sept. 22. She is seen on surveillance video at Nina's shortly before the death of Palagor Jobi, 23, of Savage. Jobi died of blood loss in the bar's parking lot after being shot eight times.

The prime suspect in the shooting is Schunk's ex-boyfriend Shavelle Chavez-Nelson, 31. He was arrested on Sept. 24 and charged with second-degree murder in the death of Jobi. His current girlfriend, Ashley Conrade, 24, has also been charged with aiding an offender for harboring Chavez-Nelson at her Rosemount townhouse. 

Conrade said that she, Schunk and Chavez-Nelson fled the scene of the shooting in her car. Conrade told police that the trio went to her home in Rosemount, according to the criminal complaint, but there is no mention of what happened after they arrived.

A large-scale search for Schunk began shortly thereafter. On Sept. 30, police told the Schunk family that her jacket had been found on the roof of an apartment in St. Paul. The jacket was bloody and riddled with what appeared to be stab marks.

About 24 hours later, a Rice County maintenance worker recovered a body while cutting weeds in a ditch outside of Lonsdale. This afternoon, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner identified a body using dental records supplied by the Schunk family.

The Rosemount Police Department is leading the investigation. Anyone with information that might be pertinent to the case encouraged to contact the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office tip line at 651-438-4720. Anonymous information can also be provided online at http://www.dakotacountysheriff.org/etip.html.

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