Town note
In the 1700s, Chief Shakopee II of the Mdewakanton Dakota established his village on the east end of the area near the water.
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FILE 608 / 27 June 2025 / 73 MIN / express
We're going to Shakopee... it's in southeastern Minnesota... This is in Scott County, area code 952. about 0:03:43
In the 1700s, Chief Shakopee II of the Mdewakanton Dakota established his village on the east end of the area near the water.
about 0:05:16In 1851 a trader established a trading post and began platting the village, naming it after the chief.
about 0:05:36The town incorporated and then surrendered its charter in 1861.
about 0:05:46It was renamed Jackson Township after Andrew Jackson for a time, then later renamed Shakopee again.
about 0:05:54In the 1700s, Chief Shakopee II of the Mdewakanton Dakota established his village on the east end of the area near the water.
about 0:05:16In 1851 a trader established a trading post and began platting the village, naming it after the chief.
about 0:05:36The town incorporated and then surrendered its charter in 1861.
about 0:05:46It was renamed Jackson Township after Andrew Jackson for a time, then later renamed Shakopee again.
about 0:05:54"about 45,000"
No direction stated.
As told in 2025 about 0:04:40
"20,000"
No direction stated.
As told in 2025 about 0:04:42
"about 8,000"
No direction stated.
As told in 2025 about 0:04:46
"$96,473"
Comparison: "almost $30,000 above the national average". Direction: above.
As told in 2025 about 0:04:52
"$349,900"
No direction stated.
As told in 2025 about 0:05:00
3.3 / 5 · average of 3
“A recent arrival calls it a wonderful, very safe neighbourhood with no negative experiences at all.”about 0:06:21
“Likes the community but wishes there was more to do locally instead of having to drive elsewhere.”about 0:06:44
“Complains that it is Minnesota and they freeze balls all winter, then adds a garbled line about rain, floods and traffic.”about 0:07:05
America Thayer was born in Cuba in 1966 and had lived in the United States for many years by 2021. She was fifty-five that year, held two jobs at the My Pillow factory and at Dollar Tree, and was described by colleagues as soft-spoken and always smiling. She had a son, Charles.
A restraining order was imposed, but Thayer wrote to the court asking for it to be lifted. Later that year he crashed a car while intoxicated, suffered a traumatic brain injury and spent days in a coma; afterwards he reported auditory hallucinations and paranoid delusions. By 2018, according to court records, the two were married.
In July 2019 he entered a chemical dependency treatment centre and was discharged four months later. In 2020 a friend warned his probation officer that Thayer would end up dead, but Thayer denied that he was violent. In May 2020 he was hospitalised at Unity Hospital, saying there was a camera in his head and that everyone could hear his thoughts.
On 9 November 2020 he was reported smashing car windows with a baseball bat at the Pullman Club.
In July she texted a friend that he was talking to the voices in his head. At about 2 p.m. the couple were seen at Shakopee Memorial Park in Thayer's Chrysler 300, with him driving.
At 2.31 p.m. a 911 caller reported a man pulling a headless body from a car in the middle of the intersection of Fourth Avenue and Spencer Street. Police found Thayer naked from the waist up, decapitated, her head about a foot from her body. A neighbour filmed part of the attack. A machete sheath was found near the scene, bloody clothing and a knife in a recycling bin a block and a half away, and two days later a dog found a bloodstained machete with blond hair on the blade in a garden near the intersection.
He also said her head came off by accident while they were both pulling a machete that had stuck in an air vent. He was held on bail set at $2.5 million and raised to $4 million.
July 28, 2021 / the intersection of Fourth Avenue and Spencer Street, Shakopee
As told in the episode, on 27 June 2025.
Accused
Public places are marked on the map.
business
about 0:19:33home
about 0:20:21business
about 0:26:19business
about 0:34:31home
about 0:47:23landmark
about 0:51:12crime scene
about 0:53:54other
about 0:56:49road
about 0:57:21landmark
about 0:58:05other
about 1:04:08hospital
about 0:45:26hospital
about 0:45:09landmark
about 0:07:52landmark
about 0:08:11business
about 0:10:41business
about 0:10:41police
about 0:19:33