Authorities release new details on accused killer Ty Hoffman
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Lyle "Ty" Hoffman, the man charged with murdering Boston Scientific executive Kelly Phillips in August, tried to change dye-stained money from a bank robbery into unstained cash through casino slot machines before his arrest, according to a new criminal complaint.
Ramsey County prosecutors on Friday revealed new details about the month-long search for Hoffman, who is charged with shooting Phillips, 48, in a gas station parking lot in Arden Hills on Aug. 11.
• Related: Hoffman bail set at $2 million
Police arrested Hoffman on Sept. 11 after a passerby spotted him near in Shakopee. He has a court hearing on Oct. 3.
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According to the revised criminal complaint, Hoffman, 44, and Phillips lived together for about 15 years, but their relationship ended about five years ago. Together they started Lush Food Bar. Hoffman continued to work there after their separation, and after Phillips became engaged to another man — an engagement that began a year to the day before Phillips was slain.
Hoffman, of Minneapolis, was fired from the bar after Phillips noticed substantial shortages in the business' bank deposits, compared to what bar records showed, the complaint said. Hoffman was evicted from a home Phillips owned as the dispute widened and Hoffman refused a demand for more records from the bar.
• Related: Suspect charged in murder of Boston Scientific executive
Authorities have not said if they have recovered the weapon Hoffman used in the slaying, which police have described as a handgun and asked the public to watch for. But they say they found a case and a test cartridge for a weapon that could have fired a bullet recovered from Phillips body. Investigators also found matching shell casings at the scene of the crime.
Other links to the crime were also revealed Friday. Phillips' BMW was found hidden in an area in Blaine, near where Hoffman grew up. Close by, investigators found a key to a Ford Edge linked to Hoffman. The car was later found abandoned in downtown Minneapolis. That vehicle had two .45-caliber Glock magazines inside, matching the suspected murder weapon.
Police also have a video of a man who looked like Hoffman heading toward Phillips' home, carrying a water bottle like one later recovered in the garage of Phillips' condo building.
When Hoffman disappeared after the slaying, authorities and friends of Phillips put up a $40,000 reward for his apprehension. According to the complaint, a video recording shows Hoffman going into a TCF Bank in Blaine on Aug. 31 and robbing the teller with what looked like a handgun police believed to have been used to kill Phillips.
A dye pack slipped into the money apparently exploded outside, damaging the robber's shirt and backpack, and possibly injuring the robber. Police also recovered a key fob with a serial number matching it to a condo Hoffman had been recorded leaving the morning of the murder.
The next day, video recorded a man that looked like Hoffman going into a Target store in Richfield just before 10 a.m. He bought clothes and a backpack, and changed in the store's bathroom. Investigators found a backpack and T-shirt, apparently damaged by the dye pack from the bank robbery, in a trash can nearby.
Hoffman was later spotted on video boarding a Metro Transit bus to the Mall of America, and again on video going in and out of the Mystic Lake casino in Prior Lake. Police seized a backpack he is believed to have checked with security there, and found some of the items he was suspected to have purchased at the Target store in Richfield.
When police arrested Hoffman Sept. 11 outside an Arby's restaurant in Shakopee, he initially gave a fake name. But police found he had more than $3,000 in dye-stained money, and a claim check to the backpack found at the casino. He also had burns and red marks on his back consistent with the explosion of the dye pack in the bag handed to the TCF Bank robber in Blaine.
There is still no indication what help Hoffman might have had while he was on the lam, or whether the phone recovered by police led them to anyone suspected of aiding his flight. Ramsey County attorney's office spokesman Dennis Gerhardstein said no case against anyone else connected with Hoffman has been presented for prosecution, but said he couldn't rule that out in the future.