Caitlin Aldridge knew the mental turmoil her husband was going through and tried to get him help, while also making plans to keep herself and their 13-year-old daughter safe.
But Johnny Ray Aldridge “took that from her when he killed her” in their St. Paul home as their daughter slept down the hallway, Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Nicole Harris said Friday at his sentencing for second-degree intentional murder.
Ramsey County Judge Elena Ostby sentenced Aldridge to a term of more than 21 years, over Aldridge’s attorney’s argument that he should receive a lesser sentence because he was mentally ill when he killed his 41-year-old wife.
Aldridge, 49, was a victim of random violence about three months before the homicide, which caused his mental health to devolve into paranoid delusions, said Katie Conners, managing attorney of the Ramsey County public defender’s office. There was no history of domestic violence between him and Caitlin, Conners said.
In a victim impact statement read by Harris, Caitlin Aldridge’s sister, Shaun Walsh, said she was initially sad, “but now, to say that I’m mad is an understatement.”
She said she’s “enraged that our mental health system doesn’t work,” that Johnny Aldridge killed her sister, that it took over two years to transfer custody of the Aldridges’ daughter to her, and that “the court expectation is that I … explain to you who my sister was and why she did not deserve to be murdered in her own bedroom by someone who said they loved her.”
Caitlin Aldridge, who was known as Casey, “was generous to a fault,” Walsh said. She “spent endless hours listening to (her daughter’s) stories, singing and watching her dance.” Her daughter “deserved to get to grow up with Casey as her mom,” Walsh’s statement said.
Speaking before Ostby sentenced him, Johnny Aldridge said he wanted to tell everyone — but especially his daughter, and Caitlin’s mother and sister — “how sorry I am for the pain that I caused.”
He said he’s learned about his mental illness, but “I did not understand at the time how sick I was. I did not understand what was happening to me. … Because of my confusion, I have ruined my life, my daughter’s life, my wife’s life. I’m sorry that I took my daughter’s mom away from her.” He said he loved his wife and still does.
Aldridge pleaded guilty in April.
Reported himself
On Sept. 28, 2021, Aldridge went to the Ramsey County Law Enforcement Center at about 3 a.m. and called 911, saying that he had killed his wife at their home in the 30 block of Winnipeg Avenue on St. Paul’s North End, according to a criminal complaint. Officers took him into custody and found Caitlin, Aldridge’s wife of 11 years, dead in their home.
Johnny Ray Aldridge (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)
Throughout interviews with police, Johnny Aldridge appeared to be obsessed with claims that people were trying to harm their daughter, according to police. He believed his wife was somehow involved.
In a separate court proceeding after he was charged, Aldridge was civilly committed as mentally ill and dangerous. He was found to be competent to stand trial in March 2023.
In Walsh’s statement read Friday, she said she’s also angry at the implication that a “mental health crisis could explain shooting someone you love in the head. There are a million other responses Johnny could have had to the state of delusion” he had about Caitlin as it related to their daughter.
Caitlin Aldridge spent most of her career as a leader on the youth programs team at the YWCA of Minneapolis. She developed programs focused on leadership, anti-racism and wellness, Walsh said. “She worked primarily in programs that supported the empowerment of girls and left lasting impacts in our communities.”
Domestic violence help
Help is available 24/7 through the Minnesota Day One crisis hotline by calling 866-223-1111 or texting 612-399-9995.
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