Victim’s Family Relieved by Suspect’s Arrest

GRANITE FALLS, Minn. (AP) - Family members of a Granite Falls woman killed along with another man say that the arrest of her former boyfriend has allowed them to feel safe for the first time since the two were killed.

Andrew Dikken (DEE'-kehn) turned himself in at the Renville County Sheriff's Department Tuesday afternoon. Authorities say Dikken was being sought in the shooting deaths of 26-year-old Kara Monson and her 28-year-old boyfriend, Chris Panitzke (pah-NIHT'-skee), of Redwood Falls.

Monson's cousin, Eric Monson, tells reporters the family is relieved Dikken is in custody and that his arrest is one step toward closure.

Dikken had been missing since Monson and Pantizke were fatally shot Sept. 2 in Granite Falls. Dikken is being held in the Yellow Medicine County Jail.