Nicolae Miu learns his fate after being convicted in Apple River stabbings, as victim's mother calls him a 'monster'

Nicolae Miu, the man who fatally stabbed a teenager in July 2022 at Apple River a Wisconsinhe has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Miu, 54 years old, was found guilty on April 11 of first-degree reckless homicide of 17-year-old Isaac Schuman.

The convicted killer was also found guilty of lesser charges of stabbing and injuring four teenagers – three boys and a girl.

Miu – who was sentenced a day after the two year anniversary of the tragic incident – he bowed his head and cried in the courtroom.

“He stole Isaac's life, and he stole my life,” said Isaac's mother, Alina Hernandez. “Justice to me is getting my son back… I'm thankful the jury got it right and the monster will die in prison. He has no soul… he's evil.

Isaac Schuman, 17, died after Miu stabbed him in the chest in the river on July 30, 2022. Miu was sentenced a day after the two-year anniversary of his death.

'He has no remorse. He plays the victim. It makes me nauseous. Judge, I ask you to sentence him to the maximum,” he added.

Before her sentencing, Miu turned to Isaac's parents and said: 'My soul is broken; my heart is very heavy. I never wanted this tragedy to happen.

“I pray to God for forgiveness, compassion and love for all those affected directly and indirectly by the outcome of this tragic event,” he added.

Miu's rampage came after he was surrounded by a large group of rowdy teenagers as he made his way down the river and several of them pushed him while accusing him of 'looking at a girl'.

Video of the interaction showed the teenagers interjecting Miu before he pulled out a Swiss Army knife and began stabbing them.

When Isaac was attacked by Miu, Owen Peloquinhis friend, said he did not see him stabbed, but rushed to the teenager and took him to shore with his other friend Alex after they noticed.

“I did everything I could to stop the bleeding,” Peloquin said as he became visibly emotional on the stand during his testimony.

Miu of Prior Lake, Minn., claimed her fatal stabbing was “self-defense” after the tuber group claimed she was “looking for girls” and “taking pictures of girls” in the area.

Isaac was taken by ambulance to Lakeview Hospital in Stillwater where he was pronounced dead.

Ryhley Mattinson, AJ Martin, Dante Carlson and Tony Carlson were the other four teenagers stabbed that day.

Mattinson had to undergo emergency surgery and when she arrived her blood alcohol level was 0.09.

Carlson suffered penetrating trauma from his stab wounds and had to have a hernia repaired. His blood alcohol level was also 0.09.

Peloquin said that Miu “the way she gave us a weird sprint, it made us all very uncomfortable.”

The Romanian-American engineer had claimed he acted in self-defense.

On the day of her sentencing, jurors were sent out of the courtroom to deliberate on Miu's fate as prosecutors and defense attorneys argued over whether it was self-defense.

“Nicolae Miu is a killer who did not act in self-defense,” DA Karl Anderson told jurors in his closing arguments, saying video of Isaac's July 2022 killing proved his point.

“One of the things the defense said at the beginning of the trial and in their opening was that they're glad there's a video,” he said. “We too”.

Anderson also rejected claims that Miu was scared when he stabbed Shuman, saying his behavior was the result of a bad temper.

Before her sentencing, Miu turned to Isaac's parents and said: 'My soul is broken; my heart is very heavy. I never wanted this tragedy to happen'

“Nicolae was not afraid, he escaped.” Anderson said.

Anderson added that Miu could have brandished the knife as a threat and scared off Shuman and his friends without resorting to horrific violence.

Corey Chirafisi, Miu's lawyer, insisted his client had been rounded up and threatened by a fearless mob and that the stabbings were justified.

He said: “They got in his face, shouted at him, insulted him, swore at him.

'They put their hands on him and the group of six got brave.

“The group of six grew bold to the point where they surrounded him and started taunting him.

“They do this to a man who has done nothing to them, absolutely nothing.

“Then when this man, Mr. Miu, tries to create space between himself and Madison Coen, he pounces.

'They punch him. They push him. They slap him. They hit him again.

'They drowned him. From, all directions. And Nic Miu acts in self-defense.'

Chirafisi highlighted how unafraid the boys appeared during the attack, his lies about being a pedophile and being heard telling Miu “You have 10 seconds”.

“In your everyday experiences in life, when someone tells you you have 10 seconds, what usually comes after that?” Chirafisi continued. 'Nothing good will come after that. It is reasonable in our experiences as adults to take it as a threat.

When shown pictures and videos from that day during her trial, Miu said Madison Coen and Mattison touched her before pulling out the knife.

'They were very close, they were very close to me. I could feel and hear them,” Miu said.

Miu described how she grabbed her pocketknife as her fear became “very high” just before Madison put her hand on her upper arm.

In taped interviews, Miu said: “Suddenly, they were like wolves all around me and they were attacking me from every direction and I was really, really scared for my life.

'They got to me. They beat me, they put me on top of me, and after that I don't remember anything.”

The three-inch Swiss Army Knife that Miu used to stab the youth in 2022

Miu on the stand, crying and smiling as she spoke about her dog during her eight-day trial as more than three dozen witnesses took the stand

During her testimony, she said she didn't know how many people were attacking her but knew there were “more than I could handle” and has had “nightmares” ever since.

A witness, Larrion Davis, later told investigators he saw the attacker “taking pictures of little girls” in the area.

However, when he took the stand, Davis appeared confused by the claim and admitted he wasn't sure what he saw because “there was a lot going on.”

Miu's then-wife Sondra told detectives the violent altercation began after Miu, whose group was further upriver, returned to a “phone that got lost” while carrying equipment of diving

As he watched, Sondra said a “group of guys came down the tubes and started hitting on him.”

The trial lasted eight days, as more than three dozen witnesses took the stand.

Miu pleaded not guilty to the charges in September 2022.

He was He was born in Romania and immigrated to the USA when I was a teenager

Sondra and Miu divorced after the incident and he was “living a quiet, peaceful life in Minnesota” and had “never been in trouble before.”