By Shereen Siewert
MERRILL — A 22-year-old Merrill man will spend 25 years in prison in connection with the January 2016 stabbing death of his father.
Tyler Monroe, who was 19 when he stabbed his father to death, was sentenced Thursday in Lincoln County Circuit Court after a nearly two-hour hearing. Defense attorneys had questioned whether Tyler Monroe was mentally competent to stand trial, but those questions were overruled during a May 25 hearing, court records show.
As part of a plea agreement, prosecutors in June amended a charge of first degree intentional homicide to second degree intentional homicide and Circuit Judge Jay Tlusty dismissed additional charges of hiding a corpse, possession of a firearm as a felon, taking and driving a vehicle without the owner’s consent and felony bail jumping.
Had Monroe been convicted of first degree intentional homicide, he would have faced life in prison.
Police say friends of Monroe’s father, Kevin Monroe, became concerned when he hadn’t been seen for several days. Investigators found Kevin Monroe’s body on the floor of a bedroom in his home on Wisconsin Street in Merrill, where the window was open and a fan was blowing air out of the room, according to the criminal complaint.
An autopsy revealed that Kevin Monroe had been dead for more than a week before his body was discovered, and had likely been killed in his kitchen, police said. Investigators said Kevin Monroe had been stabbed more than two dozen times.
Tyler Monroe fled the scene but was located a short time later near Hwy. 107, where he was arrested on a probation hold and held at the Lincoln County Jail. He has been jailed since Jan. 13, 2016 and held on a $1 million cash bond.
In addition to 25 years initial confinement, Tyler Monroe was also ordered to spend 20 years on extended supervision following his release from prison.
