Local authorities are investigating the killing of a woman who was found beheaded in the town of Shakopee, Minnesota earlier this week.
Shakopee police officers said they had discovered the decapitated body of 55-year-old American Mafalda Thayer on the sidewalk with several stab wounds.
According to them, police responded to a call at approximately 2:31 p.m., Wednesday, to a report of a stabbing at the intersection of Fourth Avenue and Spencer Street. Thayer, a Cuban immigrant who worked at a local shop, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Shakopee resident Carol Erath told the news outlet KSTP: "I thought I saw a body on the pavement, but I wasn't overly sure".
"It's shocking, I just couldn't believe somebody would be so brutal to somebody else", Erath added.
The news network Fox 9 reported that the woman's head was lying next to her body and that police also found what appeared to be a sheath for a large knife in a nearby alley.
The Shakopee Police Department said that 42-year-old Alexis Saborit was apprehended on suspicion of second-degree murder, adding that they believe the suspect knew Thayer and the stabbing was not a random act.
Fox 9 cited the beheaded woman's coworker as saying that Thayer and Saborit had been in a relationship, with the 55-year-old allegedly falling victim to repeated domestic abuse.
Thayer's other coworkers and friends have, meanwhile, paid tribute to the woman, praising her as hardworking, warm, and "truly the kindest to everyone".
"She was soft-spoken, so funny and always had amazing stories. She always went out of her way to say 'hi' to me when she saw me", one of Thayer's friends, Nicky Kendrick, was quoted by the New York Post as saying.