Left: Raymond Jones (Hennepin County Jail). Right: Desirae Argueta-Joj (Bradshaw Funeral Home).
A 66-year-old Minnesota man will spend more than a decade behind bars after fatally shooting a woman he had recently met during an argument over $30. The bullet struck her in the heart.
Raymond Jones was found guilty of second-degree unintentional murder in the death of 43-year-old Desirae Argueta-Joj. Jurors acquitted him of second-degree intentional murder. A judge sentenced Jones to more than 10 years in prison, according to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office.
The shooting happened Nov. 5, 2025, inside an apartment in the 2600 block of West Broadway in Minneapolis. According to a probable cause arrest affidavit, police found Argueta-Joj inside with a knife in her hand and a gunshot wound. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Jones was the one who called 911. During the initial call, he told authorities that Argueta-Joj had a gun and that it fired during a struggle.
“I had help pulling the trigger,” Jones told investigators.
However, Jones could not clearly describe how the firearm supposedly discharged accidentally. Investigators also noted that he had no defensive injuries.
Jones told police that he had met Argueta-Joj earlier that day and planned to pay her for sex. The two went to his apartment, but when things “weren’t working,” she decided to leave.
Jones said he stopped her after realizing that the $30 he had brought was missing. He told investigators that Argueta-Joj then pulled out a knife.
“She just flipped the whole script,” he said.
Jones then retrieved his firearm, leading to what he described as a struggle between the two.
Prosecutors rejected Jones’ account that the gun discharged unintentionally. They argued that he held the weapon over Argueta-Joj’s heart and fired because he was angry about the missing $30. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said the evidence supported a conviction for second-degree intentional murder.
“My thoughts are with Ms. Argueta-Joj’s loved ones. She should still be alive,” the prosecutor stated.
She said prosecutors were asking for 15 years behind bars but got just over a decade, instead.
“Mr. Jones is a 66-year-old man who does not take responsibility for his actions. Because of a dispute over $30, he fired his gun at contact range into Ms. Argueta-Joj’s heart,” Moriarty said. “The facts of this case make the verdict, the sentence, and the ways in which blame was apportioned to the victim in court minimize Mr. Jones’ culpability for his actions.”
Argueta-Joj was a mother of nine, her obituary said.
The post Man who blasted woman he just met with shot directly to the heart after dispute over $30 is headed to prison first appeared on Law & Crime.
