FARGO — A Barnesville, Minn., woman accused of spray painting a Jesus statue outside a downtown Fargo cathedral and crashing her ex-boyfriend's funeral this spring now faces a felony terrorizing charge.
Police arrested Blair Rebecca Whitten, 28, after an incident outside a north Fargo apartment home around 5 p.m., Tuesday, July 13, according to court documents.
A family told WDAY News that Whitten visited their home on Fourth Street North and told them she was looking for a friend who was killed at a different address in 2015.
Whitten allegedly started making threats after the family repeatedly asked her to leave. The family told WDAY that Whitten had visited the same house in 2015 searching for her friend. They called the police then as well, but nothing came of the incident.
The family said they do not believe Whitten is dangerous, but hope sharing their story will make her stop visiting their home.
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Prosecutors on Wednesday filed a Class C felony terrorizing charge against Whitten. She remained in custody at the Cass County Jail Thursday night, where she was being held on a $20,600 cash-only bond, according to jail staff.
Whitten is set to appear in court for a hearing on the terrorizing charge on Aug. 12.
She also faces a Class B misdemeanor charge of criminal mischief in Fargo Municipal Court that accuses of her spray-painting the face of a statue of Jesus outside St. Mary's Cathedral in downtown on April 17.
In addition, Whitten is charged in Cass County District Court with one count of misdemeanor reckless endangerment stemming from a May 1 incident at Riverside Cemetery in south Fargo.
According to court documents in that case:
Officers responding to a disturbance at the cemetery were told by members of the public that a vehicle had been driving over gravesites and "trying to run people over."
An officer detained a female driver on the north side of the cemetery who identified herself as Whitten.
Whitten told police she had shown up for her ex-boyfriend's funeral and was sitting in her vehicle at the cemetery when people approached her.
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She told police she thought the people would hurt her, so she drove off, being careful not to hit anything.
The father of the deceased told police he witnessed Whitten, who he said was not wanted at the funeral, driving an SUV at high speed across the cemetery, which he said frightened him.
Another witness told police he was approaching Whitten's parked vehicle after the burial to ask her to leave when Whitten accelerated towards him, causing him to jump out of the way and to fear for his life.
The witness said Whitten was not welcome at the funeral because she had made harassing posts on social media about her ex-boyfriend's death.
Whitten has pleaded not guilty to both the criminal mischief charge and the reckless endangerment charge.
