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Six individuals were arrested in the days following the shooting death of 19-year-old Cheyenne Clough, who was found unresponsive at the entrance of Crow Springs County Park on June 1, 2016. The young mother died at a hospital three days later. Out of the six, namely Shawn Benson, Justin Jensen, Natasha Brandenburger, Callie Anderson, Edward Zelko, and Thomas F. Nicholson, only four were charged.
Reports state that Benson, the alleged shooter, was charged with second-degree murder, while Jensen and Zelko were each charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder. Further, Nicholson was charged with felony aiding an offender to avoid arrest.
ID's Mean Girl Murders will further delve into Cheyenne Clough's murder case in an episode titled Minnesota Vicious, which airs on the channel this Monday, April 24, 2023, at 9:00 pm ET. Here's the synopsis for the upcoming episode:
"Minnesota teen mom Cheyenne Clough is over the hallway dramas and petty jealousies of high school; she finds acceptance in a new crowd by moving in with two gals and their boyfriends, but after Cheyenne gets her own beau, distrust leads to death."
Three out of the six arrested in Cheyenne Clough's killing were charged with second-degree murder charges
On June 1, 2016, Cheyenne Clough, the teen mother of a three-year-old boy, was found unresponsive near the entrance of Crow Springs County Park in the early morning hours. Clough was brutally beaten and shot multiple times, and an autopsy confirmed that she was shot four times with a .22 caliber weapon in the back of the head, neck, and shoulder.
Clough's death at the North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale three days later led to a homicide investigation that directed law enforcement to three men and numerous other individuals. All the suspects were located by investigators at a house in Koochiching County, Minnesota, where state and federal SWAT forces were able to make the arrests within days.
Six individuals, namely Shawn Benson, 21, Justin Jensen, 28, Edward Zelko, 26, Natasha Brandenburger, 33, Callie Anderson, 19, and, Thomas F. Nicholson, 26, were arrested in the days following the young mother's shooting death. Benson, Jensen, and Zelko faced second-degree murder charges after their arrest near the Canadian border. Authorities believed the three men conspired to kill Clough.
The respective girlfriends of Benson and Jensen, Anderson and Brandenburger, were not charged in connection with the crime. However, the fourth man, Nicholson, was charged with felony aiding an offender to avoid arrest.
What happened on the night Cheyenne Clough was left brutally injured outside Crow Springs County Park?
According to reports, Shawn Benson, Cheyenne Clough, and the other suspects were together at a Maple Lake home on June 1. Clough and the others argued about someone calling a bounty hunter and having Clough's boyfriend arrested in connection with an outstanding warrant.
Clough threatened to call the cops on Callie Anderson on an outstanding warrant. This resulted in a physical confrontation between the young mother and Natasha Brandenburger. Believing that she was a "snitch" and a "troublemaker" for them, Justin Jensen, whose house they were staying in, allegedly ordered his friends, Shawn Benson and Edward Zelko, to have the 19-year-old killed.
Benson and Zelko, under the guise of taking her home, drove Clough to Crow Springs County Park, where they assaulted her and shot her four times in the early morning hours of June 1. Nearby residents even reported hearing a woman screaming and multiple gunshots being fired. A few hours later, Clough was found brutally injured at the park's entrance.
According to confessions made to the police, Jensen ordered Zelko and Benson to have the 19-year-old killed and even supplied them with a .22 stolen handgun. After committing the crime, Benson and Zelko returned to Maple Lake, following which, all five individuals drove to International Falls.
All three individuals charged with second-degree murder in Cheyenne Clough's case were handed hefty sentences
For their respective roles in the murder of Cheyenne Clough, Justin Jensen and Shawn Benson each received 40-year prison sentences in June 2018. Jensen made an Alford plea while Benson entered a guilty plea. Edward Zelko was given a 30-year jail term after entering a guilty plea to abetting murder.
Meanwhile, Thomas F. Nicholson was initially given a 12-month prison term, but was soon given three years of supervised probation and two years of unsupervised good behavior instead. He was also required to pay a fine and do community service.
Mean Girl Murders on ID will report more details on the case this Monday, April 24, at 9 pm ET.
