Vance Boelter was sentenced in federal court on Thursday to two consecutive life terms plus 40 years for killing Melissa Hortman and Mark Hortman. He also received 480 months after pleading guilty in June to six counts tied to the attacks.
U.S. District Court Judge John R. Tunheim called it “the longest sentence I have imposed after hearing thousands of cases over the years, but I do believe it is deserved.” Boelter agreed to the sentence instead of facing the death penalty.
John Hoffman and Yvette Hoffman
The case reached sentencing after Boelter critically wounded John Hoffman and Yvette Hoffman, and killed Melissa and Mark Hortman, in attacks that shook Minnesota. Boelter said in court, “To every person I have caused loss, pain, heartache, confusion, sadness, shame, or loneliness, I am truly sorry.”
John Hoffman answered with his own account of the harm. “These were acts of calculated violence,” he said. He also told the court, “The defendant permanently changed my life...Every ordinary, boring moment forever altered by extraordinary violence.”
Sophie and Colin
Sophie was among the family members who attended court when the sentence was handed down, alongside Colin. Their presence came as the sentencing closed the federal case against Boelter, who spent months identifying and stalking his targets before driving to their homes in the middle of the night disguised as a police officer.
Court documents said Boelter went to two other lawmakers' houses that night as well. The attacks led to the largest police search in Minnesota state history, and the sentence leaves Boelter serving life terms plus 40 years in federal prison.
June 14, 2025
Boelter went to Melissa Hortman’s home about 3:30 a.m. on June 14, 2025, rang the doorbell, and shouted that he was a police officer doing a welfare check. He shot Mark Hortman multiple times before pushing into the house and shooting Melissa Hortman as she fled upstairs. By the time the sentence was imposed, the court had already taken his guilty plea and turned it into the maximum punishment short of death.
