One Guilty Plea in Southeastern Minnesota Child Torture Case

Winona, MN (KROC-AM News) - One of the three people charged in a southeastern Minnesota child torture case has pleaded guilty.

The charges stem from a Winona Police response in late July to a business in Winona, where coworkers of 20-year-old Joseline Puente Gunderson reported that she had shown them a video depicting a child with duct tape wrapped around his wrists and ankles. The criminal complaint against Gunderson says one of the coworkers indicated that she offered to share the video, thinking the coworker would find it funny.

The Charges Stem From Videos Shared With Co-Workers

The court document says the witness described seeing an African-American child, approximately 3 years old, with duct tape binding his wrists and ankles together and duct tape covering his mouth. The child in the video was sitting in a recliner and screaming while a woman could be heard laughing in the background. The coworker identified the laugh as coming from Gunderson.

The witness also viewed two other videos. The criminal complaint says one showed the victim, still bound with duct tape, and another person covered in a blanket and wearing a clown mask, scaring the victim. The third video depicted the bound child being placed in a closet.

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According to the criminal complaint, Winona police spoke with Gunderson, who confirmed recording the videos on Snapchat and showing them to her coworkers. She indicated that she had deleted the videos, but a search warrant was obtained, and the court document says investigators were able to retrieve them.

Court Documents Describe the Disturbing Videos

The criminal complaint says that in the first video, the child is sitting in a reclining chair, while the other videos show him being removed from a closet and terrified by a male covered in a throw blanket and wearing a “full-faced, scary/creepy clown, Halloween-type mask.” The child, still bound with duct tape, is seen in the videos screaming, kicking, and flailing in an attempt to escape from the person wearing the mask.

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The criminal complaint states investigators recognized the location where the videos were recorded as Gunderson’s apartment. It also says that Gunderson told police she knew the two other men in the videos only by the names Jalil and Zay, and that they had come to her apartment to “party.” She did not know their real names and told investigators she believed they were from La Crosse.

Police Identify Two Other Suspects in Video Abuse Case

Court documents indicate investigators were later able to identify the two other men allegedly involved in the production of the videos. 27-year-old Jalil Wilson of La Crosse was accused of being the man wearing the clown mask. The other suspect, 25-year-old Atzavesta Raymon Williams of La Crosse, was seen in a video pulling the child from a closet at Gunderson's residence.

Wilson is then seen on video crawling out of the closet toward the victim. Williams then swung the bound child into Wilson as Wilson crawled out of the closet multiple times, the charges allege.

Wilson then begins dragging the boy by his feet toward him. Court documents allege Williams was the one who duct-taped the boy's extremities together and taped his mouth shut.

Gunderson, Williams, and Wilson were each charged with one count of felony child torture. Wilson, today, entered a guilty plea to an amended felony charge of false imprisonment. He is scheduled to be sentenced in January.

Gunderson is scheduled to appear in Winona County Court on Thursday for an evidentiary hearing, while Williams remains at large and is the target of an arrest warrant.

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