Jurors shown video of man following 14-year-old girl moments before fatal attack

FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) - More than 15 months after the grisly murder of a 14-year-old West Fargo girl, surveillance video captured from the attack has been released.

The second day of testimony continued Friday, Sept. 9 in the trial of 23-year-old Arthur Kollie who’s accused of stabbing and strangling Jupiter Paulsen to death in a Fargo strip mall parking lot last June. Kollie is charged with murder, robbery and aggravated assault. If convicted on the murder charge, he faces the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole.

A neighboring business, Pure Dakota Health, captured the moments leading up to the brutal June 4, 2021, attack in the Party City parking lot at 4340 13th Ave. S. While grainy, prosecutors say the video shows Kollie in a white t-shirt follow and then stab the teen 25 times, strangle her, as well as kick and stomp on her. Paulsen died a few days later due to lack of oxygen to her brain during the strangulation, prosecutors state.

“I didn’t see anything clear that would indicate that she attacked him,” Fargo Police Detective Mark Voigtschild testified.

Prosecutors say Kollie fled the scene shortly after a city worker arrived and called 911. Police say Patrick Peterson, the city worker, was the only person to call 911 that morning despite surveillance video showing several cars driving by the assault. Voigtschild testified it’s possible the drivers didn’t notice what was happening as Kollie and Paulsen would have been about 200 feet away.

After he fled the crime scene, surveillance video captured a now-shirtless Kollie as he walked through town. Petro gas station on 45th St. S. was one of Kollie’s first stops as prosecutors say he snuck into a shower bay to wash off evidence.

“He yelled, ‘I’m in a hurry! I’m in a hurry!’ And I said, ‘Well, I’m going to wait out here for you because you have to pay for the shower,’” Barbara Gravalin, a Petro Serve Housekeeping staffer said.

Fargo Police testified Kollie went on to ditch a laundry list of items in a nearby apartment dumpster, including Paulson’s school bus pass and ID. Officers also found Kollie’s bloodstained t-shirt, a backpack and a three-bladed green knife.

Prosecutors say Kollie then made his way to the 13th Ave. S. Walmart where surveillance video captured him walking in without a shirt on, and walking out with a brand new wardrobe. Before leaving the store, Kollie threw away his bloodstained shoes and pants into a store bathroom garbage can, prosecutors said.

Over the next two hours, Kollie would continue to be seen on surveillance videos across Fargo asking for help along the way.

“He asked several questions during my contact. one was if he could have a few hundred dollars, he said he wanted to get out of town,” John Lien, a court security officer at the federal courthouse in downtown Fargo at 655 1st Ave. N.

“He asked me to call 911 to go to the courthouse and my response was that’s not something we call 911 for,” Holy Spirit Elementary Principal Jason Kotrba said.

“He told me, ‘I would like to be put in protective custody.‘ He said it was because drug cartels were after him,” Matthew Seyfried, a member of the U.S. Marshals said.

Kollie was eventually arrested in downtown Fargo shortly after 12 p.m. that same day, but court documents state he told investigators he didn’t remember the attack. Video of that interview is expected to be played in court next week.

Testimony is expected to resume on Monday afternoon at 1 p.m.

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Testimony begins in trial of man accused of brutally murdering 14-year-old girl

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