Minnesota prosecutors reopened 2018 shooting case after woman accused of husband’s death in Texas

GARFIELD, MN (FOX 9) – Prosecutors in northern Minnesota are rehearing a 2018 case in which a woman shot her fiancé while reporting a domestic riot after the woman involved in the shooting was most recently charged with murder in connection with the death of her current husband in Texas. .

In 2019, the Douglas County Attorney’s Office decided not to press charges against Sarah Donahue — now Sarah Hartsfield — after she shot and killed her then-fiance David Bragg at a home in Garfield, Minnesota. Ultimately, the prosecutor’s office recognized the incident as shooting in self-defense.

Deputies responded to a home in Garfield on May 9, 2018, to reports of domestic disturbances during which shots were fired.

At the scene, they found Bragg dead in the house. According to a 2019 letter from the Douglas County Attorney, Donahue alleged that Bragg assaulted and shot her on the stairs. She responded by shooting him, killing him.

At the time, prosecutors said evidence at the house appeared to support Donahue’s version of events. “The evidence shows that Mr. Bragg fired a firearm at Ms. Donahue in close proximity as the two had an altercation that escalated into a fight,” Douglas County Attorney Chad Larson wrote. “Under the circumstances, Ms. Donahue was acquitted of shooting Mr. Bragg in self-defence, as she was in danger and had no reasonable opportunity to back out of the threat. Therefore, I refuse to prosecute Miss Donahue in connection with the death of Mr. Bragg.”

However, this decision is revisited after Donahue is accused of murdering another romantic partner, her current husband. The Chambers County Sheriff’s Office in Texas announced this week that Donahue, now known as Sarah Hartsfield, has been charged with the murder of Joseph Hartsfield.

An investigation into the death in the Houston area began in January when deputies were called to a local hospital due to a “suspicious illness” in an emergency room patient. Investigators say “inconsistencies, as well as other defining factors, have made the disease more suspicious in nature.”

Ultimately, the patient, identified as Joseph Hartsfield, died from circumstances that deputies said involved “foul play”.

“I appreciate the hard work of the deputies and detectives who followed their instincts and uncovered the suspicious circumstances of Mr. Hartsfield’s death that could be called ‘death by disease’ rather than murder,” Sheriff Hawthorne wrote in a press release.

After the death, Texas prosecutors say they delved into Donahue’s past, which includes several names. Chambers County District Attorney Sheryl Swope Henry asked anyone with information about Sarah Hartsfield, who was Sarah Smith, Sarah Knornschild, Sarah Traxler and Sarah George, along with Sarah Donahue, to contact the prosecutor’s office.

“We are putting together a puzzle and we need all the pieces,” Henry said, adding that she had never seen anything like it in her 30-year career.

That being said, Minnesota prosecutors are also revisiting their case involving Donahue, adding that they have new information about the 2018 shooting.

In a press release Thursday, Douglas County Attorney Chad Larson wrote, “Our investigation is once again considered ‘active’ because we are monitoring new information received by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday regarding the 2018 shooting. For this reason, we are unable to process data requests from the media, and I am currently unable to comment further under Minnesota law.”