Hibbing teen charged with aiding an offender in homicide case

VIRGINIA, Minn. -- A teenage girl allegedly witnessed the killing of a Hibbing, Minn., man last month, drove with the suspect when he dumped the body and later lied to investigators about the events of that night, according to charges filed this week.
A Hibbing man also faces charges after allegedly seeing the aftermath of the crime, hearing the suspect confess, helping to clean the apartment of blood and also lying to authorities.
Julianna Sala, 16, and Sean Powers, 19, each are charged in State District Court with one felony count of aiding an offender in connection with the death of Jaysen Greenwood.
Sala is charged as a juvenile, but Assistant St. Louis County Attorney Karl Sundquist filed a motion Wednesday to try Sala as an adult. She is being held at the Arrowhead Juvenile Center and is scheduled to be arraigned next Thursday at the courthouse in Virginia, Minn.
Powers faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted on his charge. He appeared in court Thursday in Virginia, where Judge Gary Pagliaccetti set his bail at $500,000. He remained in the St. Louis County Jail as of Thursday afternoon, and is scheduled to appear in court again on July 6.
Greenwood’s body was found by a passerby on May 19 in the Mott Pit area of Mountain Iron. Prosecutors allege that Greenwood, 20, was stabbed and beaten before his body was moved to the mine pit and burned.
Dylan Bernard Gilbertson, 19, of Hibbing was charged last month with second-degree intentional homicide in connection with Greenwood’s death after a search warrant conducted in the apartment he shared with Greenwood, Powers and Sala located a wooden paddle, a pair of boots and a men's watch - all with blood stains - along with other blood spots, according to the criminal complaint.
Investigators also found a gas can in Greenwood's car - parked outside the apartment - and observed that the vehicle's tires matched tire marks found at the mine pit, according to the complaint.
According to the juvenile delinquency petition filed this week against Sala, and the criminal complaint filed against Powers:
In three interviews with law enforcement after Greenwood’s body was found, Sala said she had been sleeping in the back bedroom of the apartment on the night of May 18 and the early morning hours of May 19. During these interviews she told law enforcement the last time she saw Greenwood, he was with Gilbertson in the living room of the apartment.
Powers also gave “numerous statements” to investigators in which he said he was asleep the entire night in the apartment, never helped clean the apartment and didn’t have any knowledge of Gilbertson’s involvement in Greenwood’s death.
During further investigation, however, investigators received evidence was that Gilbertson and Sala had gone to the Walmart in Hibbing at about 2 a.m. on May 19, and also met with a third party who provided them with a gas can.
That individual - who said he had received a call from Powers asking if he had a gas can - told investigators that Gilbertson said they needed to go to Mountain Iron to help a friend who had run out of gas.
During another interview Tuesday at Arrowhead Juvenile Center, Sala allegedly told investigators that she had been in the bedroom that night, “but heard something happening in the front room of the apartment and went out and witnessed Dylan Gilbertson choking Jaysen Greenwood with a cord,” the juvenile delinquency petition states.
When Gilbertson asked Sala to hand him a wooden paddle, Sala allegedly told investigators that she handed it to him. She said Gilbertson then hit Greenwood on the head with the paddle.
Sala also allegedly admitted going with Gilbertson in the early morning hours of May 19 to Walmart; to a Hibbing gas station to get gas; and to Mountain Iron when Greenwood’s body was placed in the Mott Pit area.
“At no time during this incident did she contact law enforcement and when interviewed by law enforcement (previously) … at no time did she state her involvement in the death of Jaysen Greenwood and impeded the investigation,” the juvenile delinquency petition states.
Powers contacted investigators on Wednesday, his criminal complaint states, to provide another statement. He allegedly told authorities that he in fact had woken up between 3 and 4 a.m. on May 19, walked into the living room of the apartment, saw blood on the floor and a chair, and went back to bed.
At about 10 a.m. that morning, he got up after Gilbertson came into the bedroom and said they needed to talk. Powers allegedly told authorities he went back into the living room, where both Sala and Gilbertson were present, and again saw blood in the room.
“(Powers) stated that Dylan Gilbertson told him that he had gotten Jaysen Greenwood real good,” the complaint states.
Powers told authorities he then helped clean the apartment of blood.
Phone records show that Powers’ phone was used during the early morning hours of May 19, the complaint alleges.
Neither the juvenile delinquency petition against Sala nor the the criminal complaints against Gilbertson or Powers contain much information about the events preceding Greenwood's death. The only mention of a potential motive is that Gilbertson allegedly had stated to Sala in the past that he "would like to stab Greenwood" over some stolen property. Officials have said that property may have been a computer tablet.
Gilbertson's public defender last month said his client was professing his innocence and would "fight the charge head-on."
Greenwood was a 2014 graduate of Hibbing High School and was working at Lake States Tree Service, according to his family and friends.