Detectives find murder weapon in gas station dumpster

A detective found the pocket knife reportedly used to kill Brenda Hansen in a gas station Dumpster Thursday afternoon, police spokesman Sam Clemens said.

The detective had narrowed the search for the knife and gloves to a handful of locations between Hansen's home at 5605 W. Misty Glen Place and suspect John Senn's home on the 2800 block of Theodore Ave., Clemens said.

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The southwest area homes are less than three miles apart.

Senn was apprehended at his home less than a half hour after Hansen's roommates called police to report the altercation and stabbing that took her life.

Someone inside Hansen's home called police as Senn drove away in his own roommate's white Kia. Another roommate of Hansen's jotted down the license plate number and offered it to police.

On Thursday, the knife and gloves was found at a service station on the northwest corner of 41st Street and Sertoma Avenue, just across the street from Roosevelt High School.

"We figured that there wasn't a whole lot of time for him to stop between the victim's home and his own," Clemens said.

The folding pocket knife and gloves will be tested to determine if the victim or suspect's blood is on it, Clemens said. Detectives also plan to look for surveillance footage from the business.

Senn is charged with alternate counts of first-degree premeditated murder, first-degree felony murder and second-degree murder, along with counts of robbery and burglary.

Senn was found in his home with Hansen's prescription Oxycontin pills, Clemens said.

He was an acquaintance of Hansen's, Clemens said, who'd been seen at her house, but officers are uncertain as to how the two knew one another.

Friends and family told police they weren't sure who he was or how he'd met Hansen.

At a vigil for Hansen last night at her home, friend Mike Kottman said he wasn't clear what the relationship with the victim and the Boston native actually was.

FRIDAY POLICE BRIEFING: