Man Pleads Guilty to Strangling Area Woman to Death

Saint Cloud, MN, USA / KNSI

Nov 20, 2025 | 1:13 PM

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(KNSI) – A man accused of killing a Sauk Rapids woman after driving her home from the bar and then fleeing to Louisiana has pleaded guilty.

On Wednesday, 46-year-old Christopher Lee Neal entered a Norgaard plea for second-degree murder. A Norgaard plea is a guilty plea with a catch. It admits that if the case were to go to trial, the defendant believes prosecutors can prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. It also concedes that the defendant is unable to recall key details of the crime. In this case, Neal claimed he was drunk because he had been at the bar before the killing.

According to the criminal complaint, on August 12th, 2024, Neal choked Victoria Gamble to death. Neal then took the keys to Gamble’s Chevrolet Equinox and fled. Her ex-husband and his current wife had discovered Gamble’s body after they did a welfare check at her apartment. He turned up in Louisiana with the stolen vehicle a week later.

Neal is scheduled to be sentenced in Benton County District Court on November 25th at 8:30 a.m.

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