A Burnsville woman has admitted to fatally shooting a 70-year-old man at her father’s Burnsville home, a killing that prosecutors say she then tried to cover up by hiring someone to clean up the blood and hide the body in Minneapolis.
Josephine Ann Powers, 26, pleaded guilty in Dakota County District Court last week to second-degree intentional murder for shooting Michael Robert Riccio around July 9, 2024, at a home she shared with her father.
Josephine Ann Powers (Courtesy of the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office)
Ten days later, Riccio’s body was discovered by police in a large container outside a shed at a north Minneapolis home. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office determined Riccio, of Minneapolis, died of a single gunshot wound to the head in a homicide.
The criminal complaint did not offer a clear motive for the killing, although it said a man, later identified as Christopher Michael Hawkins, told police she told him “a guy was (expletive) with her and she could not take it anymore, so she shot him.” The complaint didn’t offer any details about her precise relationship with Riccio, whose obituary said he was known in his neighborhood as “Mechanic Mike.”
Powers reached a plea agreement with the prosecution and entered an Alford plea to the murder charge, meaning she maintains innocence while acknowledging the state likely has enough evidence to convict her.
The state has agreed to withdraw its motion for an aggravated sentence, and the parties agreed to a 22¾-year prison term, which is the low-end of state sentencing guidelines. Powers remains jailed ahead of sentencing, which is scheduled for May 11.
In June, Hawkins, 49, of Minneapolis, pleaded guilty to felony aiding an offender by being an accomplice after the fact for helping Powers. A charge of felony interfering with a body or death scene with intent to conceal a body will be dismissed at sentencing as part of plea agreement. A sentencing date has not been scheduled, and he is out of custody on bond and due back in court for a March 18 hearing.
A strong odor of bleach
According to the criminal complaints, Powers reported the killing to police on July 18, saying that a man had shot and killed Riccio about nine days earlier. When police were in the house, officers smelled a strong odor of bleach and saw what looked like patched bullet holes in the hallway.
Powers’ father said he returned to his Burnsville home on Keating Court, near Minnesota 13, after a two-week vacation and found what he thought were brown paint splatters throughout the house. Then, while home on a lunch break, he saw a male in a hazmat suit cleaning up the “paint” and removing portions of carpet from the basement floor. He later smelled a strong odor of bleach, and was told by Powers’ friend on July 18 that she told him Riccio had been shot and killed in the house while he was on vacation.
Christopher Michael Hawkins (Courtesy of the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office)
Powers said another man, whom she referred to as “Chris,” helped in moving the body. She said he kept his belongings in Minneapolis in a shed with tarps outside it, and she described where Riccio’s body was hidden.
Police carried out a search warrant in Minneapolis and found Riccio’s remains. Hawkins was at the home and told police that Powers and a man asked him to move a package from a Burnsville address in exchange for a truck, according to the complaint against him.
Hawkins said he saw blood throughout the Burnsville home’s downstairs area, and saw what he believed was a body wrapped up in garbage bags and rugs. He wrapped an additional tarp around the body and loaded it into a pickup, and helped Powers clean up the blood, the complaint said.
Another man told police that Powers picked him up the morning of July 9 and they went to her house. He said he was outside Powers’ bedroom, and could see and hear Powers and Riccio arguing. Powers started throwing things at Riccio, then grabbed a handgun and shot him, the witness reported, according to the complaint.
“Powers freaked out and ran around the house” and she began to clean up the blood, the complaint said of what the man reported. He said he didn’t help with the cleaning or moving Riccio’s body.
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