Court Filing-Rochester Murder Victim Told Friends About Assaults

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - A pretrial hearing was held Friday in Rochester's Christmas Day murder case.

The hearing in Olmsted County Court was likely the last before jury selection begins next month for the trial of 41-year-old Mustafa Rahshad Bush. The Rochester man, who was convicted for a murder in Rochester 18 years ago, faces first and second-degree murder charges connected to the shooting death of 41-year-old Kimberly Robinson on Christmas Day in 2022.

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The Olmsted County Attorney's Office gave notice of its intent to introduce evidence pointing to a pattern of domestic violence by Bush. A Notice of Intent filed in Olmsted County Court includes a list of statements from possible witnesses in the trial involving communications with the victim prior to her death.

The court document indicates one of the witnesses told investigators that Robinson told her that she had been assaulted and "pistol-whipped" by Bush. Another witness described an intra-company message in which Robinson stated that "he tried to kill me," and that the "he" in that message referred to Bush. The court filing identifies eight witnesses who have stated that Robinson told them about physical abuse allegedly inflicted by Bush.

According to the criminal complaint in the case, Bush is accused of fatally shooting Robinson on either Christmas Eve or early Christmas Day two years ago. He then allegedly dumped her body in the ditch along a rural northwest Rochester road the day after Christmas.

The charges state that investigators learned that Bush had been living with the victim at a southeast Rochester residence during the two years leading up to her murder. The court document also says she was last seen alive in his company on Christmas Eve or in the early morning hours of Christmas Day in 2022.

The Olmsted County Attorney's Office also gave notice of its intent to introduce evidence during the trial concerning Bush's previous murder conviction. Court records show he was sentenced to just over 20 years in prison after he entered a guilty plea to a second-degree murder charge for his involvement in the shooting death of Corey Richardson in 2006.