Murder charge filed against man in connection with the January death of woman in Jordan
Booking photo of John Joseph Peterson, April 2025. Credit: Sherburne County Sheriff's Office
Months after a woman was found shot in the back of the head, a man has had charges filed against him in connection with her death.
On Friday, one count of second-degree murder was filed against John Joseph Peterson, 41, in connection with the death of 46-year-old Tabitha Renee Justice.
According to the criminal complaint, on Jan. 28, Jordan police were looking for a missing person, later identified as Justice, on Quaker Avenue in Jordan. The person who reported her as missing said she had not seen Justice since Dec. 10.
Officers went to Justice’s last known address and found Justice’s body in the lower level of an outbuilding near a home. Court documents note that Justice had a hole in the back of her head, and officers found a 9mm bullet casing near her body.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide caused by a gunshot wound to the head.
Investigators interviewed Justice’s friends and learned that she had a relationship with a man known as “Nico” and that she had been living with him. According to court records, Justice had told one of her friends that Nico was “very controlling, bi-polar, and physically aggressive” and accused Justice of cheating on him.
On Feb. 4, authorities interviewed Peterson, who said he used the name Nico and was called that by Justice. He stated that he saw Justice two to three days before Christmas when she came to his home but said he never saw or heard from her again.
According to court documents, on April 11, investigators executed a search warrant at a home in Hovland, found Peterson and arrested him for a probation violation. Inside the home, authorities found a 9mm handgun and several spent 9mm casings.
On April 17, investigators received lab analysis of the casings found at the Jordan scene and in the Hovland home and determined that several of them were shot by the 9mm handgun. The next day, prints were found on the gun that matched Peterson’s prints.
Peterson is currently in custody at LeSueur County Jail and will be brought to the Scott County Jail to face arraignment on the murder charge.