A Hennepin County jury convicted Jose Luis Lopez Xique of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Kayli Arseth.

The jury's guilty findings are the judgment on the counts the county attorney listed. Sentencing on Oct. 15 is the hearing at which the mandatory life term is imposed. It has not been imposed yet. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty called the case a rejection killing, which is her description of a finished trial. It is not a separate charge.

The Hennepin County Attorney's Office said it secured convictions on all counts against Jose Luis Lopez Xique, 27, in the 2025 murder of Kayli Arseth in Richfield. The office said the jury convicted him of first-degree premeditated murder, second-degree intentional murder, and harassment by aggravated violations for using a dangerous weapon in the offense. A first-degree murder conviction triggers a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, the office said. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 15 at 11 a.m. The case number is 27-CR-25-16934. FOX 9 reported the same first-degree conviction and the same sentencing time. A conviction on the top count sets the term the statute requires. The Oct. 15 hearing is when the court imposes it.

FOX 9 reported that on June 17, 2025, Richfield police went to Arseth's apartment for a welfare check after she did not show up for work, and that no one had heard from her since the evening before. Officers found her dead inside a unit in the 7700 block of Penn Avenue South. A Hennepin Medical Examiner's report said she died from a gunshot wound to the head and that the death was ruled a homicide, FOX 9 reported. A search warrant FOX 9 obtained said the apartment was locked, the windows were secured, and there were no signs of forced entry, and that officers saw bloodstains inside and what appeared to be a blood smear on the outside of the door. Charges in Hennepin County said messages before the shooting showed Lopez Xique had pursued a romantic relationship and Arseth had said she wanted only a friendship, FOX 9 reported. Gray News, in a July 2025 account of the charging papers, reported her full name as Kayli Grace Arseth and her age as 22, and reported that officials said she died of multiple gunshot wounds on June 16. FOX 9's verdict story describes one gunshot wound to the head and a body found on June 17. The date she was found and the date she died are not the same fact, and the outlets do not use the same wound count.

Gray News reported, citing a criminal complaint obtained by KARE, that her family asked for the welfare check the day after she did not show up for work and would not answer her phone or her door. The county attorney's office told Gray News the texts showed Lopez Xique asking for "real dates" and Arseth saying she wanted a friendship. Gray News reported that friends told police the two had met online and had been spending time together, and that the relationship was not romantic or sexual. Gray News also reported that phone location data put Lopez Xique at the apartment for about an hour on June 16, that a neighbor said they heard fighting, and that he was later in Bloomington, where investigators found two bags of discarded items including ammunition, an empty box of gauze, disposable gloves, shoes, and a hat. When he was arrested, police said he "didn't seem surprised" and that he had scratches and wounds on his arms, Gray News reported. Those details are the investigation as it was described when he was charged with second-degree intentional murder. They are not a transcript of what this jury was asked to find.

After the verdict, Moriarty said, "My thoughts are with Kayli's loved ones today and I am so sorry for their loss. This was a horrifying instance of a 'rejection killing' where Mr. Lopez Xique refused to accept that Kayli did not want a relationship." She thanked the trial team, victim services staff, and the jury. She said Arseth loved music, art, and her family and friends, that she was restoring her motorcycle while working as a behavioral technician for children with special needs, and that she should still be with her family. Gray News had quoted an earlier Moriarty statement calling the case a "terrible instance of extreme, targeted violence." The July case was a charge. Friday's case is a conviction on the counts the office listed, with the life term still to be imposed on Oct. 15. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.