North Dakota man fatally beat wife while kids were home, left her in bathtub to die: police

A North Dakota man was charged Monday with murder in the death of his wife after initially telling police she “face planted” while drunk, then never woke up after deciding to sleep in the bathtub.

Spencer Moen, 31, is being held on murder charges and contributing to the deprivation or delinquency of a minor, according to Cass County Court records. It is unclear whether he has entered a plea since he was arrested at the home he shared with his wife, Sonja Moen. 

Moen told officers responding to his 911 call around 7:38 a.m. that Sonja had fallen asleep in the bathtub the night before and was unresponsive when he woke up, per an arrest affidavit obtained by Fox News Digital. 

Sonja’s mother arrived at the home shortly after police, per the affidavit, and asked police if her daughter was still breathing.

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When West Fargo officers shepherded Moen and Sonja’s mother into another room while they examined the bathroom, the mother reportedly told her daughter’s husband to “get the f— out of my house,” according to the affidavit.

Sonja’s body was found fully clothed in a bathtub, police said. Her eyes were swollen shut, and she had bruising on the back of her hands consistent with defensive injuries. The left side of her face and forehead were significantly bruised, per court documents.

Investigators noted that a trail of blood droplets led from the left side of the couple’s bed to the bathroom.

After Sonja Moen was declared dead, Spencer Moen told detectives he and his wife had gotten into an argument while intoxicated after she had picked him up from a golf course in the evening. 

When they stumbled inside, Spencer Moen told police, Sonja tripped coming up the steps from the garage into the house and “face planted.” 

After the alleged fall, Moen told police, he put the children to bed. Afterward, the couple argued outside over a cigarette, and Spencer claimed Sonja smacked him on the back of the head, then jumped onto him and punched him in their bed after he fell asleep. 

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The pair wrestled to the ground, where Moen said he punched Sonja three to four times with a closed fist. Two of the couples’ three children, interviewed by police later, said they were home when their parents were “wrestling,” according to the affidavidt.

Other than a “superficial scratch” on his right arm, police noted in the document, “Spencer did not have any marks indicative of being punched by Sonja.”

Police also said they found a video on Spencer’s phone of Sonja in the same tub facing the opposite way around 11:30 p.m. the night before they arrived. The woman was “having extreme difficulty breathing” and posed in an “abnormal sleeping position.” Moen, they wrote, did nothing to assist.

An autopsy showed Moen died of blunt force trauma to the head and had at least one broken rib. Her injuries were determined to be consistent with homicide.

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The couple’s former neighbor, Brady Zins, told Valley News he never had “one normal, civil conversation” with Moen, although the “kids were always out playing and … the wife was always super nice.”

When he heard of Sonja’s death, he said, he was “shocked, but not super surprised.”

“[I] waved to her all the time when I’d come home, but my interactions with him were never great,” the neighbor told the outlet. 

Spencer Moen was arrested on a felony assault charge in 2019. He pleaded not guilty, and that case was dismissed, per North Dakota District Court records.

An investigation into Sonja’s death is ongoing, and West Fargo Police Chief Denis Otterness wrote in a press release that this was an “isolated incident” and that there is “no further threat to the public.”

A GoFundMe benefiting Sonja’s funeral expenses and the continued care of her children has raised nearly $45,000 since it was launched Aug. 12. 

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Sister Elise Smith told InForum Sonja put herself through nursing school as a young, single mother to provide her daughter with a good life before marrying Moen. She worked in endoscopy at Sanford Health after she graduated, eventually becoming a unit supervisor.

More recently, she worked at Valley Oral Surgery. Former coworkers told the outlet that the mother of three’s bubbly personality made them laugh and enjoy their work. Her patients, they said, would always receive the best care.

“She was always smiling, but what I remember most is how much she loved her children,” a coworker told InForum. “She talked about them all the time, and it was clear they were her world.”