A Minnesota man was convicted of beheading his girlfriend with a machete in a car, in front of several witnesses.
Alexis Saborit, 44, was convicted of first-degree murder after the death of his 56-year-old girlfriend, America Thayer, in the Minneapolis suburb of Shakopee in July 2021.
The attack occured when Saborit and Thayer were on their way to court for an unrelated felony arson charge alleging that he set fire to their apartment in Shakopee during a confrontation with police and that Saborit attacked Thayer after she told him she wanted to end their relationship.
The attack started when Thayer told Saborit she wanted to break up with him. ‘I was really mad at that moment,’ he told the court through a Spanish interpreter.
Saborit also claimed that his actions were in self-defense against his girlfriend, who he said had been trying to poison him.
Onlookers in downtown Shakopee testified that they saw Saborit beat Thayer with an 8-pound dumbbell inside her car at an intersection in the Minnesota suburb, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.
He then retrieved a machete and began decapitating her.
Multiple people witnessed the attack, including one who caught a video of Saborit pulling Thayer’s headless body out of his car.
After the attack Saborit fled the scene on foot, disposing of the machete along the way. He was eventually arrested about 1and half miles near the TraveLodge Hotel where he was staying in.
Thayer’s headless body was found by police in an alleyway in downtown Shakopee, not far from her blood-soaked car.
Saborit also has a criminal history of domestic violence against Thayer, who he dated for about 10 years before the attack.
He was arrested and charged with domestic assault against her in 2017.
The next phase of the trial, which will determine if Saborit can use mental illness as a defense, begins on June 1.
He was already deemed mentally competent to stand trial.
Saborit faces a jail sentence of up to life in prison without parole.
