Trial starts for suspect accused of killing and dismembering man whose body was recovered in Lake Superior

DULUTH - Meagan Bieroth testified that she heard a bang so loud it made her ears ring when Jacob Johnson, who was riding in the passenger seat of his own Audi SUV, shot his childhood friend Ricky Balsimo Jr. in the backseat.

Bieroth said she pulled over on a Twin Cities' street, jumped out of the car and she and another passenger ran. Bieroth didn't say a word to anyone about what happened in those early, dark hours of June 20, 2021, until weeks later when she was back home in Louisiana and Johnson called with news that he had been arrested.

Johnson is charged with two felony counts of second-degree murder in a trial that started Monday in St. Louis County Court. Balsimo's body was recovered from Grand Portage Bay nearly a month after he was killed, dismembered and the body was mixed with concrete and dumped in Lake Superior.

https://www.startribune.com/trial-starts-for-suspect-accused-of-dismembering-man-whose-body-recovered-in-lake-superior/600292048/