Donald Blom Cause of Death

Donald Blom, the man convicted in the 1999 killing of convenience store clerk Katie Poirier, died in the state’s maximum security prison at Oak Park Heights on Tuesday, January 10, 2023.

According to department spokesman Aaron Swanum, his death was “an expected natural causes death due to illness.”

Donald Blom was transferred to a Pennsylvania prison for his safety shortly after his conviction for first-degree murder in 2000. He later served time in both Oak Park Heights and a Faribault medium-security prison.

Kaie Poirier, 19, of Barnum, was abducted from DJ’s Expressway Conoco on Interstate 35 in Moose Lake, where she was working alone.

The kidnapping was captured on a terrifying security video that aired on Minnesota TV stations at the time.

Blom, a convicted sex offender, admitted to strangling her and burning her body on his Moose Lake vacation property. Authorities determined that the charred bone fragments and tooth found in his fire pit belonged to Poirier.