Kearney Pleads Guilty To Father’s Murder

ST. CLOUD -- A St. Cloud woman charged with murdering her father in 2016 has pleaded guilty to 2nd degree intentional murder. Forty-year-old Lisa Kearney had previously been found incompetent to stand trial in the murder of Jeffrey Schilling.

The plea agreement allows for a sentence ranging from just over 23 years in prison up to 30 years behind bars. The Stearns County Attorney's Office will be asking the judge for a 30-year term.

Kearney was accused of killing Schilling at his north St. Cloud home in January 2016, then fleeing to Kentucky.

Police officers were called on a welfare check to Schilling's home on January 4th, which was a few days after the murder, and found the 66-year-old Schilling dead on a couch. He died from blunt trauma to his head.

Police say they found a short handled maul near his body which they determined was the murder weapon and his truck and wallet missing.

Kearney was arrested in Kentucky and extradited back to Minnesota to face a charge of second degree murder.

She's scheduled to be sentenced November 30th.