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Staff writer

The second brother accused in the death of 28-year-old Natasha Waalen was sentenced Thursday, June 17 to eight years and four months in prison.

Ryan Boland, who will turn 35 years old on June 25, was originally charged by the Anoka County Attorney’s Office with second-degree murder. But the prosecution was not able to gather enough evidence to prove this charge in court, resulting in a plea agreement made by him and his 33-year-old brother Tim Boland.

Tim Boland was sentenced May 26 to 11 years in prison and was given credit for 612 days already served.

Ryan Boland testified Dec. 7, 2009 that his brother hit Waalen over the head with a baseball bat, but the bat was never recovered.

Boland pled guilty to being an accomplice after the fact the same day he testified. This is a felony-level conviction and he was ordered by Judge Jenny Walker Jasper to serve 100 months in the Minnesota State Correctional Facility in St. Cloud. The 637 days he has already spent in the Anoka County Jail will be subtracted from this sentence, leaving him with more than six-and-a-half years of prison time to serve.

When authorities responded to the 16800 block of Tulip Street in Andover during the early morning hours of Sept. 19, 2008, they thought they were investigating a motorcycle crash.

The motorcycle was found near Waalen’s body, spotted by a passerby around 12:30 a.m. that day.

The injuries discovered by the Anoka County Medical Examiner during the autopsy showed Waalen had been murdered. According to the criminal complaint, she died of blunt force trauma from multiple blows to the head. She also had no cuts or scrapes on her feet, even though she was found barefoot.

The Boland brothers were arrested after an investigation by the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office.

Andrew Johnson, a prosecutor with the Anoka County Attorney’s Office, said Tim Boland gave information to authorities that led to Waalen’s brother Travis Waalen and father Jeff Waalen to be charged for possession of a controlled substance. According to the complaint, Tim Boland was an informant for the Anoka-Hennepin Drug Task Force.

Ryan Boland said during his plea hearing that both his brother and Waalen had consumed cocaine earlier in the evening.

During the course of a heated argument, Tim Boland allegedly hit Waalen over the head with a baseball bat, Ryan Boland accused.

Ryan Boland admitted during his plea hearing that he helped dispose of bloody carpet from the garage and the baseball bat.

It will be determined over the next 30 days if Ryan Boland must pay restitution.



Eric Hagen is at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it