Man must spend over 38 years behind bars for stabbing in which two people died

Joseph Francis Sandoval II, 33, was sentenced Friday in connection with the 2022 stabbing attack on two people at a St. Paul rehab center.

According to court documents, Sandoval was sentenced to approximately 38 years in prison for two counts of second-degree murder, to which he pleaded guilty.

As previously reported, St. Paul police officers were called to a home on Lawson Avenue East on October 20, 2022, after a resident ran out of the house screaming that someone inside had killed a person.

Officers made contact with Sandoval, who left the house with blood-stained clothing and cuts on his face and hands, the criminal complaint states.

Police said he appeared to be under the influence of a substance, and Sandoval said he had taken fentanyl.

Sandoval told officers that two “big guys” inflicted his injuries and claimed that another tried to kill him and “got the other guys too.”

In the complaint, officials also stated that Sandoval said he sat down on the couch at the rehab center and heard noises. “I kept being told on TV to take my chance, so I took my chance.”

When asked to elaborate, he replied: “It was said on TV that they were going to kill me. … It was said on TV that they were going to kill me and that I should take advantage of the opportunity.”

Officers found the bodies of 40-year-old Jason T. Murphy and 56-year-old Jon R. Wentz, both of St. Paul, in separate locations in the home, along with a bloody knife and a bloody hammer.

The owner of the rehab home said Murphy was a handyman doing work on the home and Wentz was a resident.