A Minnesota man pleaded guilty this week to killing and dismembering two women he had been dating.

Joseph Jorgenson, 41, has admitted to killing Manijeh “Mani” Starren, 34, and Fanta Zayavong, 33, according to a report by KSTP. He is set to receive two 40-year prison sentences, to be served at the same time, during his upcoming sentencing.

Jorgenson was initially accused in June 2023 of Starren’s murder, after she went missing in April. CrimeOnline stated that her body was later discovered in a storage unit located in Woodbury.

During the investigation into Starren’s disappearance, it was revealed that another former partner of Jorgenson, Xayavong, had also vanished. She was last seen with Jorgenson in 2021, but her disappearance was not reported until May 2023. Xayavong’s remains were found in a Coon Rapids storage unit in July 2023.

At the hearing on Thursday, Jorgenson described how he murdered the women. He said that he and Starren got into an argument at her apartment, and he started hitting her. Then he choked her until she died. He admitted he wanted to kill her. Then, he said, he dismembered her and brought the body to his apartment in Maplewood before moving it to the storage unit.

As for Xayavong, he told similar story. They were living together in a townhome in Shoreview, he said, and in September 2021, they got into an argument and he beat her to death. He said he thought she was only unconscious but found out otherwise when he checked her pulse. But, he said, he had been trying to kill her.

“I felt bad about [the murder] immediately afterward, but it was my intent at the time to kill her,” he told the judge.

After the murder, he deposite Xayavong’s body in a different storage unit.

The plea deal included the dismissal of charges of arson, threats of violence, and disarming an officer when police executed a search warrant in connection with Starren’s disappearance.

Both women were mothers. Starren had three children and Xayavong two.