Minnesota Kids Ask Help From Strangers on the Street as Their Father Beat Their Mom

Kids Ask Help from Strangers Anders Odegaard Carissa Odegaard North Dakota Minnesota kids child custody divorce custody battle mother beaten to death Odegaard kids sole physical custody second-degree murder brain- dead

By Lili Scott , Parent Herald Aug 27, 11:52 pm

Two Minnesota kids asked help from strangers on the street while their father was beating their mother inside their house. The kids belonged to a brood of five, between the ages of 3 to 9, in the family of Anders Odegaard and Carissa Odegaard, who recently divorced.

Anders was a former North Dakota lawyer embroiled in a custody battle with Carissa since she asked for a divorce in April 2022.

According to the New York Post, Carissa was clinging to one of her children while Anders beat her. The older kids rushed out to ask strangers to call 911 because their "mom was bleeding really bad."

First responders arrived at the house and found Anders in his underwear with blood all over his face and hair. Carissa was on the floor, unresponsive, and surrounded by a pool of blood. Anders told the cops that he didn't "feel right," but he was whisked away to jail.

CPR was attempted on Carissa until the ambulance arrived to rush her to the hospital, where she was declared brain dead due to "severe head trauma." All five children saw their mother beaten to death.

"They got into a big fight"

One of the Odegaard kids told the police that their parents got into a big fight about going to church. The next thing they saw was their father striking their mother with a knife and a spatula.

That's when the two older boys went outside to ask for help from strangers as their dad kept beating and yelling at their mother. One of the children also told the cops that their father was tackling and choking their mom. The youngest, a toddler, could not even respond to the police talking to them because they were traumatized by what happened.

According to Law & Crime, Anders was unhappy about Carissa gaining sole physical custody of their kids, based on a judge's assessment. She was a photographer and stay-at-home mom who earned $1,000 a month. Anders, on the other hand, was a prosecutor with a monthly earning of $6,166,67 until he was fired in September 2021.

Court records showed that the couple's marriage could no longer be saved, and their union was "irretrievably broken." Anders was ordered to pay $1,983 a month in child support, but he was significantly in debt with more than $150,000 in payables, including his student loans. Carissa had an $8,000 debt, separate from their joint debt as a former couple, which amounted to $30,000

"Carissa did not hide the fact that she left him because his mental health became emotionally abusive," a friend, Laura Vaughn, shared on Facebook. "She told us he had never harmed her or the kids physically. It only took once."

Carissa's organs will be donated

After she was declared brain dead, Carissa remained on life support as her organ donation was processed. Anders, on the other hand, was charged with second-degree murder. He faces 40 years in prison, but prosecutors want a harsher punishment because of what their kids witnessed, according to Oxygen.

Anders and Carissa were married for ten years but had been living separately since 2020. Her sister, Anna, said she tried to rebuild her life until she could finally file for a divorce. Her family has opened a GoFundMe, which will go to the children.