A 47-year-old man arrested after a high-speed chase in Carlton County last November has pleaded guilty to killing a Michigan woman.
Gregory Allen Rose was wanted in connection with the stabbing death of Connie Pajunen, 67, in Midland County, Mich., on Nov. 16 when he led both Minnesota State Patrol troopers and Carlton County sheriff's deputies on a chase that reached speeds of up to 95 mph. He was driving a U.S. government pickup truck at the time, which he allegedly stole that weekend in Wisconsin.
Had he not been driving over the speed limit, Rose may have continued to elude capture.
Rose was initially spotted by a Minnesota State Trooper, who saw the truck speeding northbound on I-35 south of the Mahtowa exit. When the trooper activated his lights and attempted to stop the vehicle, Rose sped up and crossed the I-35 median, heading into the wrong lane of traffic, driving northbound in the southbound lane. The trooper disengaged from the chase - to avoid a wrong way pursuit on the interstate - but notified other law enforcement agencies in the area to be on the lookout.
At this point, no one was aware that Rose was driving the vehicle, and was wanted on very serious charges in Michigan.
ADVERTISEMENT
A short time later, a Carlton County deputy spotted the black truck on County Highway 61 just north of Moose Lake. The truck drove onto the Willard Munger bike trail and headed south into the city of Moose Lake and the chase began, down county and township roads before ending along County Road 4 west of Mahtowa.
It was a chaotic scene. One deputy fired shots at the suspect vehicle's tires during the chase. Rose also rammed several squad cars and ran at least one off the road, authorities said. Two county squads were damaged enough to require tow trucks.
On July 25, the Midland (Mich.) Daily News reported, Rose pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and second-degree arson, among several other charges. He is scheduled to be sentenced in September.
Michigan Department of Corrections records show Rose served 28 years in a Michigan prison for armed robbery and criminal sexual assault in Muskegon County. He was paroled in June 2014.
