Three Defendants Plead Guilty for Roles in 2019 Red Lake Murder and Assault

Three people have pleaded guilty to charges in relation to a August 2019 murder and assault on the Red Lake Indian Reservation.

Alexia Cutbank
Credit: Sherburne County Jail

According to the United State Department of Justice, Alexia Gah Gi Gay Mary Cutbank, 21, of Bemidji, Mia Faye Sumner, 21, of Duluth, and Daniel Charles Barrett, 31, of Redby entered the garage at 23-year-old Daniel Alan Johnson’s residence on August 12, 2019. The group was reportedly armed with at least one handgun. Cutbank then fired multiple shots once inside. Johnson was fatally wounded, and another victim received serious injuries.

The three defendants then returned to their vehicle and left the scene. Another person, 50-year-old Rose Celeste Siewert of Cass Lake, is reported to have assisted the group in avoiding arrest by driving the three off of the Red Lake Indian Reservation.

Three individuals all pleaded guilty to their charges. On August 16, 2022, Barrett pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting murder in the second degree. Siewert pleaded guilty to one count of accessory after the fact on September 14. Finally, on September 20, Cutbank pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree aiding and abetting murder. She also pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree assault resulting in serious bodily injury.

Sentencing hearings have not been set for any of the individuals involved yet. Sumner is set to go to trial on October 31, 2022.

The investigation and subsequent results were conducted by the Red Lake Tribal Police Department, the FBI, the FBI Headwaters Safe Trail Task Force, the Duluth Police, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the Minnesota Department of Corrections. These entities also collaborated with the United State’s Attorney’s Office Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Initiative.