Crime alert, hourly update. Breaking Crime News now. I'm Drew Nelson. A Minnesota man accused of strangling a mother of two was already out on bail and unsupervised for a prior strangulation charge when this new crime occurred. Christopher Neal, age 45, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of 38-year-old Victoria Gamble, who was a mother of two, found dead in her Sok Rapids apartment.

An autopsy last month confirmed that Gamble died from strangulation and ruled her death a homicide.

Investigators say Neil met Gamble at a bar the night before her death.

Her boys were her center of her universe.

It's like months of waiting.

It's been really difficult. I'm just

extremely sad and mad. The victim's friend Melissa Stover on KSTP. Surveillance footage from that night

showed Gamble and Neal interacting before the two left together in Gamble's black Chevy Equinox.

They went to her apartment building, got there about 1.15 a.m. according to electronic key

logs. About two hours later, Neal was seen leaving alone, attempting to avoid the camera.

When officers arrived later that day, Gamble's car, keys, and other belongings were missing.

Less than a week later, police found Neal at a Louisiana hotel where he was arrested with

Gamble's stolen vehicle. He allegedly admitted to taking her car and being in her apartment

but claimed limited memory of the events. At the time of the crime, Neil was free on bail for a

domestic assault case, less than two weeks earlier in Aitken County, where he had allegedly

strangled another woman while a child was present.

Despite the violent nature of that case, Neil was released without monitoring or strict conditions.

Advocates for Gamble's family are expressing frustration at what they call a failure in the system.

Loved ones wrote on a fundraising page for her children, quote,

Our Justice System failed, Victoria. Gamble, who was a

devoted mother, was described as a loving and bubbly person who cherished her two sons.

The fundraising effort is underway to help support her children and preserve her memory.

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