A case against a Red Wing man charged in the 2021 murder of Kelly Jo Marie Kocurek of Hastings is on hold pending a competency examination.
In March 2023, Dakota County Attorney Kathy Keena announced the indictment of Kyle Steven Williams, 34, Red Wing in connection with the death of Kocurek in Hastings on May 23, 2021. A Dakota County Grand Jury indicted Williams for one count each of murder in the first degree (domestic abuse), murder in the first degree (premeditated) and murder in the second degree (with intent/not premeditated).
Court records show a jury trial is scheduled in the matter to start Feb. 20.
On Dec. 19, Judge Dannia L. Edwards ordered that “criminal proceedings in this matter are suspended pending a medical examination of defendant.”
The judge ordered that Regional Psychological Services “conduct an examination to determine Defendant’s competency to proceed and complete a written report to the court on the mental condition of Defendant.”
The judge’s order says that the court believes “there is sufficient probably cause to support the charges against Defendant.”
“The Court finds there is reason to doubt Defendant’s competency to proceed” based on information from defense counsel in the case.
Kocurek was killed in a Hastings motel on May 18, 2021. She was staying at the motel waiting to go to an inpatient treatment facility. She called her mother to bring her a suitcase she had left at home. When her mother arrived at the hotel, Williams, Kocurek’s boyfriend, was also there.
After an exchange where Kocurek’s mother expressed her desire that Williams not be there, the mother left. On the drive home, she received a call from Williams that Kocurek was not breathing, and she rushed back to be with her daughter. Less than a week later, Kocurek was pronounced dead. Her mother reported seeing Kocurek lying motionless in the hospital leading up to her death looking like she had been severely beaten repeatedly with several bruises on her face and neck.
A lengthy autopsy was performed by the Ramsey County Medical Examiner determined that Kocurek’s death was a homicide, and she died from asphyxiation. Notes from the Medical Examiner included details of several injuries that could not be self-inflicted, including facial fractures and facial hemorrhages and hemorrhages in both eyes.
During the initial investigation, witnesses at the hotel reported hearing “wrestling or fighting” before Williams was seen running in the hallway with blood on him.
According to the criminal complaint, Williams had given several different accounts of the events to investigators but had always stuck with the story that Kocurek strangled herself with a cord.
Williams had left the state before charges were filed, and the charge of second-degree murder was issued in October of 2021. The warrant for Williams’s arrest was executed in Arizona and he was returned to Minnesota to stand trial for the homicide of Kocurek.
Williams remains in custody in the Dakota County Jail with cash bail set at $2 million.