A Minot man was arrested and charged with Class AA felony murder Tuesday morning after an investigation by the Minot Police Department.

Friling Hadley, 35, Minot, made his initial appearance on the charge in North Central District Court on Tuesday.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, Minot Police responded to a northwest Minot apartment after receiving a report of an unresponsive female at 12:22 a.m. on Tuesday. Officers arrived on scene and discovered a man performing CPR on the victim. The man, who identified himself as the victim’s brother-in-law, said Hadley was a household family member to the victim and was supposed to be waiting outside to meet the responding officers.

The brother-in-law told investigators he and his mother-in-law had gone to the apartment after Hadley contacted them and said the victim was not breathing. He said Hadley told them the victim had stopped breathing and fell out of a chair onto the floor, but when he arrived, he started performing CPR while Hadley watched.

Responding officers observed marks on the victim that were indicative of manual strangulation and scratch marks and broken fingernails.

It was determined Hadley fled the scene on foot before the officers arrived. Hadley was tracked through footprints in the snow by K9 Caspian and was located about a block away from the apartment.

According to the affidavit, officers observed a small scratch on Hadley and marks on his upper arm when they photographed him at the Ward County Jail.

The alleged victim was transported to a Minot hospital, where she was later pronounced dead. A City of Minot news release said the victim’s information would be released upon the completion of notification of next of kin.

According to court records, Hadley was charged in February with Class C felony domestic violence-serious bodily injury and entered into a plea agreement on May 6, after which he entered a change of plea to guilty. Hadley was sentenced to serve five days of a 360-day sentence in the Ward County Jail and was given credit for time served.

Hadley was given one year of supervised probation, but based on court records, his probation was in the process of being revoked due to his failure to be in compliance with a court ordered domestic violence course. A hearing regarding Hadley’s alleged failure to comply with his probation conditions was scheduled for Jan. 10.