Man Sentenced to Life in Prison for 2023 Waite Park Murder

(KNSI) – A man found guilty of stabbing a woman to death in her Waite Park apartment will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Judge Andrew Pearson handed down the sentence to Jarquez Javon Bedford on Friday. Bedford was convicted of first- and second-degree murder in January. The criminal complaint states that investigators determined Bedford used a kitchen knife to slash Andrea Cottew’s neck several times on February 5th, 2023.

Bedford was attempting to enter the complex where Cottew lived, but couldn’t get past the locked entry door. He knocked several times, and Cottew, who had just entered herself, attempted to do a good deed by letting him in. A security camera shows the pair talking in the lobby before walking towards the first-floor hallway. Bedford reappears on camera an hour later, leaving the building with his shirt turned inside out. Bedford would use Cottew’s key fob to gain access to the building repeatedly over the course of several hours as he robbed her.

Cottew was found dead the next day during a welfare check. The criminal complaint says Bedford had been living with tenants in a unit on the third floor. He told them that he had been busy with a job during the time he had killed Cottew.

Investigators found Bedford’s DNA on the knife handle of what is thought to be the murder weapon, Cottew’s purse, a cigarette, a marijuana joint, and a knotted-up sweatshirt discovered in a bedroom.

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