Hibbing woman Corrine Alice Starc sentenced to 41 months after kidnapping plea

Sixth Judicial District Judge Rachel C. Sullivan sentenced Corrine Alice Starc, 47, to 41 months in prison on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, after denying the defense’s motion for a dispositional departure, a sentencing action announced by St. Louis County Attorney Kim Maki in a news release summarized by Mesabi Tribune. The prison term is the immediate legal consequence of the judge’s ruling in the Hibbing-associated case.

The sentence followed what the initial report characterized as a kidnapping plea; the supplied coverage did not include the full statutory language or plea date for Starc, leaving formal charge details to be confirmed in court records. The county attorney’s news release, as reported by Mesabi Tribune, also noted a key event in the underlying incident: “In the early morning hours of February 19, 2024, the victim escaped.”

A related defendant, Shelly Jean Goerdt, pleaded guilty on Dec. 2, 2025, to charges listed by Mesabi Tribune as Assault in the Second Degree, Dangerous Weapon and False Imprisonment, Intentional Restraint. WDIO corroborated that Goerdt pleaded guilty to assault with a dangerous weapon and false imprisonment and was sentenced Feb. 5, 2026, to 36 months in prison. Goerdt’s plea and earlier sentence provide parallel case context for the prosecutions arising from the February 2024 incident.

Judge Sullivan’s rejection of the defense’s dispositional-departure motion is the court’s formal denial of an attempt to depart from the presumptive sentence; Duluth News Tribune summarized that action as the judge denying a request for leniency from Corrine Alice Starc. The Sixth Judicial District judge’s written sentencing order and any accompanying commentary will clarify the court’s reasoning and whether criminal-history scoring or guidelines influenced the 41-month term.

St. Louis County Attorney Kim Maki’s office issued the release announcing Starc’s sentence, according to Mesabi Tribune’s coverage. The public record assembled in that release and in court filings does not, in the material supplied, identify the victim or provide further factual narrative beyond the escape noted for Feb. 19, 2024, so additional details about the alleged conduct and the prosecution’s case will require examination of court dockets and the county attorney’s full statement.

With Starc ordered to prison and Goerdt already serving a 36-month sentence imposed Feb. 5, 2026, the next concrete steps are locating the formal plea paperwork and sentencing transcripts in the Sixth Judicial District file to confirm charge language, plea dates, and the court’s justification for denying the dispositional departure.