Woodbury teen sentenced in murder plot case

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The Woodbury teenager accused of plotting to kill a stranger last August received a 90-day jail sentence Monday in Washington County District Court.

Andrew Busskohl, 19, will serve his jail time beginning July 2, according to a sentence issued by Judge Elizabeth Martin.

Busskohl will also receive four years' probation on two gross misdemeanors - one for aggravated harassment and another for damage to property. Both crimes are related toan alleged plot Busskohl made last August to kill a Woodbury resident while he slept in his home.

The sentence stems from a plea deal that prosecuting attorneys reached with Busskohl’s lawyer in April, when the 2008 Woodbury High School graduate pleaded guilty to aggravated harassment and third-degree damage to property. As a result a first-degree burglary charge was dropped.

Busskohl, a 2008 Woodbury High School graduate, was arrested Aug. 7 in connection with an attempted break-in to a home on the 3800 block of Oxford Drive.

Woodbury police were tipped off by a friend of Busskohl’s of his alleged plot to kill a stranger who lived near his home.

An Aug. 11, 2008 criminal complaint stated Busskohl told his friend he planned to break a window at the home of the targeted victim one night and would return the next night to “either stab the potential victim in the chest or slash his throat” and then either cut off the eye lids of the victim or cut out his heart.

After Busskohl’s arrest, Woodbury police found a backpack in the trunk of Busskohl’s vehicle that contained a swimming cap, black gloves, latex gloves, scrubs and an address card with the name and address of the resident who called the night earlier to report the attempted break-in.

Also included in the backpack was a map with directions to the named resident’s home, situated in the general vicinity of Busskohl’s residence in the 3200 block of Canterbury Court.

The county attorney’s office added a first-degree murder charge to the case in September, but a judge dismissed the murder charge in January.

Included in Judge Martin’s sentence, is a condition that Busskohl see a forensic psychiatrist to get a more complete threat assessment for his capacity to commit similar crimes.

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