A 49-year-old man is charged with second-degree murder after officers found his 70-year-old roommate dead under a heap of clothing inside their Elk River house early Sunday, Jan. 4, following phone calls in which the suspect said the man was dead, authorities said.
Prosecutors in Sherburne County filed the count against Brandon Rose, who remains jailed without bond. The victim was identified as William Canty Jr. Investigators say a series of calls and texts preceded the discovery, including a message in which Rose complained that Canty called his girlfriend a “fatso.” The case is at the charging stage while the medical examiner reviews full autopsy findings and detectives process items collected at the home on the 17900 block of Fillmore Street in Elk River.
According to the charging document, Rose’s girlfriend told investigators she stayed at the house the night of Jan. 2 and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She said Rose later phoned her several times on Jan. 3 and into the early hours of Jan. 4, rambling that Canty was dead and claiming he had injected himself with air three times. In a separate text hours before the killing, Rose wrote, “Anyone who calls another human being a fatso and giggles … is not a human,” the complaint states. Officers responding to the home early Sunday said they found Canty under a pile of clothing in a bathroom and a bloody shower curtain nearby. Rose was discovered unconscious in a bedroom with a syringe and a blue substance on his hands and shorts.
The complaint says first responders administered Narcan and Rose regained consciousness. Medical personnel reported blue dye on Rose and on the victim; officers said a bottle labeled “methylene blue” was found in Rose’s room. During treatment, Rose allegedly talked about Canty making sexual advances toward him days earlier. In later interviews, Rose admitted there had been “a scuffle,” investigators wrote. The autopsy noted numerous rib fractures front and back, a broken clavicle, fractures of interior neck bones and brain bleeding. Detectives also documented an overturned couch and a bathrobe belt tie hanging from a towel rack in the bathroom. The agency has not alleged a weapon beyond hands or household items and has not reported any other injuries in the home.
Records in the case outline a timeline that stretches to New Year’s Eve. The girlfriend told investigators that on Dec. 31 Canty, intoxicated, entered Rose’s bedroom and asked about sex, which Rose said he refused to discuss. She added that Rose later accused Canty of insulting her weight and making other remarks. She said she last spoke to Rose at length during the early morning of Jan. 4, when he repeatedly mentioned death and his attempted self-harm. Officers arrived soon after and secured the scene. Detectives later collected the shower curtain, the belt tie and the methylene blue bottle as evidence, along with phones for analysis.
Rose was booked Tuesday into the Sherburne County jail on second-degree murder and is being held without bond pending his first appearance. Prosecutors said formal charging documents will be updated as lab work and autopsy details are finalized. The court is expected to set deadlines for discovery and any competency screening if requested by counsel. Authorities have not announced a motive beyond the disputed insults and alleged advances reported in interviews. A defense attorney was not listed in initial court records Friday.
The quiet Elk River subdivision where the men lived sits near two-lane roads lined with single-family homes. Neighbors told investigators they did not report loud disturbances before the police response. One resident who declined to give a name said cruisers and an ambulance stayed on the block through daybreak. Another described seeing officers carry paper bags from the house. “It was shocking because it was so calm,” the neighbor said.
As of Friday, Rose remained jailed as the medical examiner completes testing and prosecutors prepare for an initial appearance in Sherburne County District Court. Authorities said the next expected milestone is a bond and scheduling hearing in the coming days.
Author note: Last updated January 9, 2026.