Police find two dead adults during welfare check in Babbitt

A welfare check in Babbitt ended with two adults found dead inside a home on Aspen Lane, and investigators say they do not believe there is any danger to the public. The deaths have prompted a state-assisted investigation in the small St. Louis County city, but officials have released only the most basic details so far.

Just before 11 a.m. Thursday, June 18, a Babbitt Police Department officer responded to a residence in the 30 block of Aspen Lane. Police said the officer entered the home and found two adult victims inside. Multiple local reports say both appeared to have gunshot injuries, and Babbitt Ambulance Service pronounced them deceased at the scene.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is assisting with the investigation. The bodies were to be transported to the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office for autopsy, and officials said the victims’ names would be released only after preliminary autopsy results and family notifications were complete.

For now, authorities have not said what led to the welfare check, how long the victims had been dead, or whether the deaths will be ruled homicides, accidents or something else. The only public safety message so far is that investigators do not believe the case poses a threat to the broader community.

That reassurance matters in Babbitt, a city of 1,397 people in the 2020 census, where major emergency calls can ripple quickly through a tight-knit population. The city sits in St. Louis County, and the area around Aspen Lane is the kind of neighborhood where a police response is likely to be noticed fast and discussed even faster.

The next major update is expected after the autopsies and family notifications are finished. Until then, the investigation remains in its early stages, with police holding back the identities of the two adults and any final determination about how they died.