Jose Luis Lopez Xique was convicted Friday of first-degree premeditated murder in the 2025 death of Kayli Arseth. The verdict also included second-degree intentional murder and harassment using a dangerous weapon, and it sends him to a sentencing hearing set for Thursday, October 15.
Because the conviction is for first-degree murder, Lopez Xique, 27, will automatically receive life in prison without the possibility of parole. Arseth was 22.
Kayli Arseth on June 16
Mary Moriarty, the Hennepin County Attorney, said Arseth and Lopez Xique met online and were in constant communication on Snapchat, with best friend badges and a streak. Police reviewed messages from the days before Arseth died and found Lopez Xique asking for a romantic relationship with actual dates.
On June 16, Arseth wrote that she did not have enough mental capacity for any type of relationship right now. She said she was trying to figure out herself, manage her relationship with her parents and deal with being overwhelmed and stressed already.
She also told him, “she just wasn't ready for a relationship.” Lopez Xique answered that he was confused, wanted to be there for her and was “Sorry if I've been pushy to hangout but I can tone it back we can just text and keep being that person we can talk to like we were.”
Lopez Xique at Arseth's apartment
Lopez Xique showed up at Arseth's apartment around 3:38 p.m. on June 16. His last message from that location was sent at 4:49 p.m.
After loved ones could not reach her, they contacted police and asked for a welfare check. Officers entered Arseth's unit with a key from apartment management and found her face down on her living room floor in a pool of blood with an apparent gunshot wound to her head.
Moriarty called the case “a horrifying instance of a 'rejection killing' where Mr. Lopez Xique refused to accept that Kayli did not want a relationship.” She also said Arseth loved music, art and her family and friends, and that she was restoring her motorcycle while working as a behavioral technician for children with special needs.
Mary Moriarty on Friday
The verdict closes the trial with a mandatory sentence attached to the top count, leaving Thursday's hearing to set the formal sentence already required by law. For Arseth's family and friends, the case now moves from the jury's decision to the sentencing that follows it.
