KANDIYOHI COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE

Minnesota sheriff’s deputy faces DWI after crashing squad vehicle

Dale Morin — Fri, 09 Aug 2024 20:02:07 GMT

WILLMAR — A Kandiyohi County sheriff's deputy is facing drunken driving charges related to a July 18 crash while driving his squad vehicle.

Christopher Todd Flatten, 39, of Atwater, has been summoned to appear in Kandiyohi County District Court on a gross misdemeanor charge of third-degree driving while impaired — refusal to test and a misdemeanor charge of fourth-degree DWI.

He was not arrested and is not in custody. His first appearance is set for Sept. 4.

Flatten is also the former Willmar police officer named alongside the city of Willmar in a lawsuit alleging a man was arrested for “walking while Black.” A hearing in the civil suit filed earlier this year, which is not related to the criminal case, is set for Dec. 19.

According to the criminal complaint filed Aug. 7 in Kandiyohi County District Court, Flatten is identified as the deputy who was injured after his squad vehicle rolled on July 18 at the intersection of County Road 4 and First Avenue East in Gennessee Township. Flatten suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the crash south of Atwater and was in stable condition after being transported to the CentraCare — St. Cloud Hospital.

The complaint alleges that Flatten was operating his squad vehicle — a 2018 Ford Explorer — under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash. He was in uniform when the crash was reported around 6:21 p.m. July 18.

According to the complaint, an adult male driving a semitractor eastbound on U.S. Highway 12 had been following Flatten and said he saw the squad vehicle turn eastbound onto Highway 12 without stopping at a stop sign on the Minnesota Highway 23 bypass.

The semi driver said the squad car was “all over the road,” crossing over the center and fog lines and driving onto the grass shoulder of the road. He told Minnesota State Patrol troopers the squad vehicle was continuously swerving and traveling at speeds faster than 60 mph before turning southbound onto County Road 4.

A second adult male, who witnessed the crash, told State Patrol troopers he was traveling east on First Avenue toward County Road 4 when he saw the squad car go across the intersection and roll five or six times in the ditch. No other vehicles were on the road at the time of the crash, according to the complaint.

Evidence observed on the roadway was consistent with statements both of the witnesses had given law enforcement. As a result, a state trooper applied for and obtained a search warrant for Flatten’s blood.

Another state trooper later went to the St. Cloud hospital, where Flatten was being treated, in order to obtain a blood sample. Flatten was advised of the warrant, but refused to provide either a blood or urine sample, according to the complaint.

Flatten also refused to provide a statement after being read his Miranda warning.

According to the complaint, the trooper smelt an odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from Flatten and observed he had slurred speech and bloodshot eyes at the hospital.

The unrelated lawsuit — filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota on behalf of Derrick Gilbert, 39, of Willmar — claims that Gilbert was stopped illegally in June of 2022 as he was walking to his workplace in Willmar. The lawsuit accuses Flatten of discrimination, false arrest and false imprisonment.

According to the lawsuit, Flatten arrested Gilbert in June of 2022, after Gilbert was misidentified as a different Black man for whom an arrest warrant had been issued. The misidentification was eventually determined, but Gilbert was arrested for obstruction. The charge was later dismissed.

The city and Flatten have denied the allegations of discrimination, saying in court documents that Flatten reasonably believed Gilbert to be the man named in the warrant.

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Family reports recovery of kayaker missing from west-central Minnesota lake

Staff reports — Tue, 14 May 2024 00:22:43 GMT

WILLMAR, Minn. — The body of missing kayaker Shane White of Overland Park, Kansas, has been found, his wife reported Tuesday morning in a Facebook post.

"Shane has been found and is with our Lord and Savior," Kim White wrote in a Facebook post at 9:29 a.m. Tuesday.

The Kandiyohi County Sheriff's Office had been leading a search for Shane White since Sunday when his kayak was found. He was staying on Nest Lake in rural Spicer and had not returned after leaving alone in a kayak Saturday night, according to initial reports.

White works as an electrical lineman, according to social media posts of his wife, and was in Minnesota on a lineman job. He was a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

The sheriff's office last issued an update at 6 p.m. Monday "requesting that property owners in the vicinity (of Nest Lake) check shorelines and outbuildings for the missing man identified as Shane White, 39 of Overland Park, Kansas."

White was reported missing at 10:37 a.m. Sunday after he had failed to return to his vacation rental on the south side of Nest Lake. According to an initial news release from the Kandiyohi County Sheriff's Office, White reportedly left the rental alone in a kayak around 11:30 p.m. Saturday.

Law enforcement began an open water and shoreline search for White shortly after his kayak was found around 1:15 p.m. Sunday. The search continued Monday and early Tuesday.

At the scene Monday, the West Central Tribune observed vehicles from the Kandiyohi County Sheriff's Office, Stearns County Sheriff's Office, Kandiyohi County Rescue Squad and Spicer and New London fire departments parked at the boat access.

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Two killed, another injured in crash near Pennock, Minnesota

Dale Morin — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 19:35:07 GMT

PENNOCK, Minn. — Two people died and another was injured Tuesday night after a crash on U.S. Highway 12 near Pennock.

According to a crash report from the Minnesota State Patrol, Joyce Larayne Nokleby, 69, and Llewellyn Reynold Nokleby, 83, both of Benson, died in the crash reported around 7:03 p.m. Tuesday, April 23.

Another driver, Douglas Claire Robinson, 45, of Waseca, suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was transported to the CentraCare — St. Cloud Hospital for treatment. Robinson was the only occupant in his vehicle.

According to the State Patrol, Robinson was driving a 2013 Jeep Wrangler eastbound on Highway 12 as Joyce Nokelby was driving herself and passenger Llewellyn Nokelby westbound in a 2017 Ford Explorer. The two vehicles collided near mile marker 67 on the highway.

Airbags in both vehicles deployed, and all parties were wearing their seat belts. Alcohol was not involved, according to the crash report.

Road conditions were reported dry at the time of the collision.

Pennock is located in central Minnesota, roughly 7.5 miles northeast of Willmar.

The Minnesota State Patrol was assisted at the scene by the Kandiyohi County Rescue Squad, Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office, Kerkhoven Fire Department, Willmar Police Department and CentraCare Ambulance.

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The boy who went missing after his first day of school in 1944

Jennifer Kotila — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 13:31:00 GMT

PAYNESVILLE, Minn. — Victor John “Jackie” Theel would have turned 86 years old on Feb. 15, 2024. On Sept. 5, 2024, Jackie will have been missing from Paynesville, Minnesota, for 80 years, having disappeared on the way home from his first day of school.

News accounts of the disappearance described a nice fall day in Paynesville on Sept. 5, 1944, as an excited 6-year-old Jackie walked with his two older brothers to his first day of school. He was wearing a blue sailor suit shirt, long pants and brand new shoes and was toting his new school supplies.

Being so excited, Jackie couldn’t eat his breakfast that morning and carried a bag of chips with him to school. Throughout the morning’s first-day-of-school activities of singing and games, Jackie snacked on some of the chips.

It was only a half-day of school for the first-grader, who was to walk home with his brothers at lunchtime, according to the note his mother Bernice sent with him to school.

After class was dismissed at 11:30 a.m., Jackie's teacher, Miss Dorothy Gladke, neglected to have him wait for his older brother to walk with him. Jackie left school with his teacher and a group of classmates.

They walked together for a short distance before going their separate ways, the teacher asking Jackie if he knew his way home and him pointing in the direction in which he thought he lived.

However, Jackie would end up going in the wrong direction and that was the last time anybody definitively saw the boy. He disappeared, apparently without a trace, carrying the bag of chips and a school registration card. He had left his new school supplies at his desk.

Sources for this article come from the Paynesville Historical Society, which has a file of old newspaper clippings from the days after Theel disappeared. Newspaper sources include the Paynesville Press, St. Cloud Times and the Minneapolis Star.

When Jackie did not arrive home for lunch on Sept. 5, 1944, his mother first called friends for help. When Jackie had not been found by 3 p.m., she notified Paynesville Mayor Russel Portinga.

Portinga and several businessmen started searching for Jackie under the direction of Stearns County Deputy Sheriff Ike Lunde and Constable Martin Kobberdahl. After not being able to find him, soon the whole town was involved in the search.

Jackie’s father, Harold, was an over-the-road truck driver. He was called home from St. Paul when Jackie went missing.

There were two reports of the boy being seen along Minnesota Highway 23 on the west side of town. Mrs. Pete Thompson, who was returning from a fishing trip at Long Lake with her husband, reported seeing a boy at about 1:30 p.m. fitting Jackie’s description along the highway. He was carrying a piece of paper and walking along the ditch about a block out of town.

Later that day, two boys, Robert Burr, 16, and William Johnson, 14, reported seeing a boy at about 4:45 p.m. getting into a light brown or gray car at about the same spot.

The car was traced to Willmar, Minnesota, where law enforcement discovered it was being driven by a 24-year-old combat veteran who stopped at three different garages in Willmar attempting to have the starter repaired.

News reports state the soldier was accompanied by his younger brother who was wearing a sailor suit. It is unclear how it was verified that the young boy was indeed related to the soldier or whether it could have been Jackie. A news report on Thursday, Sept. 7, 1944, stated, “The car has not been seen or heard of since.”

Stearns County Sheriff Art McIntee was called into the case and he called Kandiyohi County Sheriff Paul Anderson to assist. Later in the evening, the Willmar Police Department was also called to assist with the search efforts.

Searches continued until 1 a.m. Wednesday and then resumed at 6 a.m. News accounts at the time described the investigators called in to join the case as being Jack Burns of the Willmar State Crime Bureau and William Conley, an investigator with the St. Paul Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

One of Jackie’s sisters, Annabelle (Theel) Krupke, who was 16 years old when he disappeared, told the Paynesville Press in 2004 that the day of Jackie’s disappearance was nice, but the following days were rainy and cold.

But that didn’t stop local townspeople and others from thoroughly searching the town and countryside. Farmers searched buildings, fields, pastures, grain shocks, pits, wells and swamps.

The North Fork Crow River bed and its banks were searched several times. If Jackie had drowned, his body would likely have been found due to how shallow the river is in the fall.

The Civil Air Patrol stationed out of St. Cloud searched for Jackie by air on Wednesday and Thursday. The plane was piloted by Ray Ubracken, and Paynesville barber Les Spaeth was the observer.

Boys from Paynesville High �� were dismissed Wednesday and Thursday afternoons to help with the search efforts and Paynesville businessmen closed up their shops Thursday afternoon to help.

Newspapers and radio stations statewide covered Jackie’s disappearance, writing about the case and airing descriptions of Jackie, the blue-eyed, strawberry blond 6-year-old who was just getting two new bottom front teeth. He was 37 inches tall and weighed 45 pounds and had a fresh scratch under his right eye and a one-inch scar on the back of his head.

On Saturday, Boy Scouts from Cold Spring joined local Boy Scouts in the search. Also sometime in the first week, an old cistern that was no longer in use had been searched.

The following Wednesday, bloodhounds were brought in by Raymond Huelskamp (spelled Hulscamp and Hulskamp in media reports) of New Ulm. Despite the rainy weather that had occurred since Jackie went missing, the dogs were able to pick up his trail near the school and followed it to Schwartz Drug Store and then to the North American Creamery (now AMPI).

The trail led to the edge of the river where faint, small footprints were located, and then to the Evangelical Church and west to the William Johnson filling station in west Paynesville. Here the scent was really strong, but Johnson didn’t recall seeing a boy matching Jackie’s description.

The scent grew weaker as it traveled west to Highway 23 and then vanished near the location in which the boy was spotted by the couple returning from a fishing trip. The hounds were brought to Hawick to search the ditches on both sides of the highway going north, but Jackie’s scent was never picked up again.

By Thursday, Sept. 21, 1944, the Paynesville Press was reporting that hope of finding Jackie alive was waning, but that the search would continue until Jackie was found dead or alive. It also reported that the Civil Air Patrol had again searched by air the previous Friday.

The report also shared speculations of what may have happened to Jackie, including wandering off into thicker woods or swamps and perishing, having been kidnapped from the side of the highway or becoming the victim of a “sex maniac.”

Spiritual faith healers and fortune tellers had been contacted by Jackie's father Harold and were certain Jackie was still in the area and alive, according to the report. However, within the first week of his disappearance, a faith healer had given the opinion he was in a nearby mud hole, which was searched to no avail.

McIntee and Conley told the Paynesville Press that in all their experiences, they had never seen anyone cooperate as well as the people of Paynesville in searching for Jackie. “Everyone from the school age boy to the farmer has done a magnificent job. (McIntee and Conley) said that everyone seemed to think it was their boy that they were searching for. A more thorough and efficient search has never been carried on,” stated the article.

Jackie never has been found. The Paynesville Press interviewed Jackie’s siblings Fay and Annabelle for an article that was published Sept. 22, 2004. KARE 11 News interviewed Jackie’s sister Judy Espelund for a news piece that aired Feb. 4, 2016.

Annabelle and Fay, who was 5 years old when Jackie disappeared, told the Paynesville Press that there have been numerous rumors that circulated throughout the years that Jackie has been missing.

"I tend to believe that someone saw him wandering and picked him up," Annabelle said in 2004. "I don't see how it could have been anything else."

Fay said that he also believed that the most likely scenario was that Jackie was kidnapped. This was at the height of World War II and soldiers could get out of the army if they had dependents, which could have been a motive.

Both Annabelle and Fay told the Paynesville Press they thought the story about the car that was spotted picking up a boy dressed in a sailor’s suit and later located in Willmar was quite a coincidence. They wondered how the Willmar police identified that the “brother” was not Jackie.

The Willmar Police Department does not have records dating back to the 1940s, according to the 2004 article in the Paynesville Press. Stearns County records go back only to 1960 and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension does not have records of the case, according to the KARE 11 report.

A former Paynesville school teacher in the 1960s wrote Annabelle a letter stating she had seen a man getting off a Navy ship in California that resembled a Theel and signed his name “Jackie Theel.” He told the teacher he had been adopted.

Then in the 1980s, Fay was told a man came into Tuck’s Cafe in Paynesville looking for family, but could not find the name Theel in the phonebook. Fay reported the incident to the FBI, but doubted the story since there were Theels that lived in town and had their names listed in the phonebook.

"It's impossible to know," Fay told the Paynesville Press in 2004. "You don't know if he's dead or alive."

Jackie's mother Bernice was traumatized by his disappearance, Annabelle and Fay told the Paynesville Press. "Ma turned gray overnight," said Fay. "She had salt-and-pepper hair, but she turned white practically overnight."

The Minneapolis Star in September of 1945 reported, “A sobbing mother sent a five-year-old son for the first time here today, recalling the tragedy in a similar experience a year ago.” This was in reference to Fay’s first day of school. “I hope it doesn’t turn out the same way with him,” Bernice said, according to the report.

It stated that Bernice had several theories about Jackie’s disappearance, but would not disclose what they were. “I can’t prove any of them.”

It also stated that McIntee theorized that Jackie had been taken by someone, which was investigated by the FBI. “There is something in the community we haven’t figured out,” the Star reported McIntee saying.

In a Websleuths forum thread about Jackie’s disappearance, Gary L. Theel joined the conversation. He stated he was the son of Jackie’s brother, Tom, who was supposed to walk with Jackie home from school.

He shared that each time his family would come to visit his grandparents in Paynesville, his father would talk about the day his brother disappeared and the cloud that hung over the family.

“When he would speak his voice would sometimes break, and you could hear the sadness in his tone,” Gary wrote. “... I guess, looking back in retrospect, this could be why we were so guarded as children.”

Gary also shared that his father died in 2004, and would have wanted answers to what happened to his brother. However, Gary and the people on the Websleuth forum have not gotten any closer to solving the mystery of Jackie’s disappearance.

He attempted to track Federal Bureau of Investigation records regarding the case, contacting the Minnesota office of the FBI, the Washington, D.C., offices and the FBI national archives in Maryland and was told there were no records.

He also checked with the federal Department of Justice and was told there are no records of the case there.

It is not unreasonable to think that Jackie could possibly still be alive if he were kidnapped, as several family members have been long-lived. Fay is 85 years old. Annabelle died in December of 2023 at the age of 96.

Jackie’s father and mother lived to 86 and 83, respectively. Cross-referencing a photo of the Theel children from 1944 and Annabelle’s obituary, brothers Carl and Denton are still alive and in their 90s and a brother Norman is alive in his early 80s. A sister, Judy Espelund, born five years after Jackie disappeared, is in her 70s.

Eight other siblings, Donald, Lloyd, Floyd, Milton, Tom, Andrea Calendar, Dorothy and Myron, are all deceased. Dorothy died as an infant and Myron died just six months after Jackie went missing at a little over a year old.

Many online mystery sleuths have written about or created videos about Jackie’s disappearance and there is also a chapter about it in the book “Cold Cases of Stearns County, Minnesota” by Robert M. Dudley.

Those who have information regarding the case should contact the Stearns County Sheriff's Office at 320-259-3700.

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UPDATE: Willmar man who died and deputy who used Taser named

Dale Morin — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 20:22:09 GMT

WILLMAR, Minn. — Authorities have identified both the man who died and the sheriff's deputy who deployed a stun gun during an attempted eviction Monday at a residence in Willmar.

According to a news release issued Wednesday afternoon by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Michael James Yanacheak, 75, of Willmar, has been identified by the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office as the man who died at a hospital after being shocked with a Taser. The cause of death is undetermined pending further investigation.

The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating the incident, and identified Kandiyohi County Sheriff's Deputy Riley Kampsen as the officer who deployed his Taser during the attempted eviction on Jan. 29. Kampsen has five years of law enforcement experience, according to the BCA.

In an initial news release, Kandiyohi County Sheriff Eric Tollefson said Yanacheak had brandished a weapon, causing Kampsen to deploy his Taser. Tollefson's news release issued Monday gave no further details about the weapon or other circumstances of the incident, and Yanacheak's death was not reported at that time.

According to the BCA news release, two Kandiyohi County sheriff’s deputies and two Willmar police officers went to Yanacheak’s apartment the morning of Jan. 29 to perform a court-ordered eviction. Law enforcement tried to get Yanacheak to open his door, but he did not respond.

After about an hour, the property manager pried the door open and officers entered to find Yanacheak in a bedroom, where he had picked up a kitchen knife and began to walk toward them, according to the release.

Officers then tried to retreat from the apartment, but “at one point, Kampsen deployed his Taser, striking Yanacheak,” according to the BCA.

Officers provided medical care at the scene — described earlier by Tollefson as "life-saving measures" — until Yanacheak could be taken to a hospital by ambulance.

No officers involved in the matter discharged a firearm, according to the release.

Willmar police recovered a knife at the scene, which was later turned over to crime scene personnel.

Kampsen and the two Willmar police officers were wearing body cameras, and all available video will be reviewed as part of the ongoing investigation, according to the news release.

The Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office requested the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigate the incident. The findings of the investigation will be presented without recommendation to the Kandiyohi County Attorney’s Office for review.

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Ignition at Kandiyohi County LEC sends two officers to the hospital

Jennifer Kotila — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 21:24:42 GMT

WILLMAR — Officers at the Kandiyohi County Law Enforcement Center at approximately 12:30 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 11 were testing an unknown powder that was suspected to be a controlled substance when the substance ignited, according to a new release by Kandiyohi County Sheriff Eric Tollefson.

Both officers were transported to CentraCare-Rice Memorial Hospital, treated and released.

The substance was picked up in an unrelated drug investigation in an unmarked bag, according to Tollefson.

This incident is unrelated to the threats from Joseph Mark Rongstad, 41, of Watson, who early Thursday morning made threats against law enforcement officers in Chippewa County and the University of Minnesota.

The incident is currently under investigation and no further threat to law enforcement or the public is suspected at this time, according to the news release.

"This is a stark reminder of the many potential dangers our officers face every day," the release stated.

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2 children suffer life-threatening injuries in crash near Sunburg

Staff reports — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 18:14:58 GMT

NORWAY LAKE TOWNSHIP, Minn. — Two child passengers from New London suffered life-threatening injuries after the utility vehicle in which they were riding and a pickup crashed Sunday afternoon in Norway Lake Township east of Sunburg.

The injury status of the 15-year-old driver of the UTV was not described in the Minnesota State Patrol crash report, but all three juveniles were reported to have been transported to Children's Hospital in Minneapolis.

According to the Minnesota State Patrol, the three juveniles, who were not named, were traveling southbound in a 2021 Polaris Ranger on 95th Street Northwest while a Chevrolet Silverado was eastbound on Minnesota Highway 9. The two vehicles collided at the intersection.

The driver of the Silverado, Matthew Leroy Anderson, 40, of Sunburg, was not injured in the crash. He was wearing a seat belt at the time of the collision. Alcohol was not involved, according to the report.

The two male passengers in the Ranger, aged 11 and 10, were wearing seat belts, according to the report, but the driver was not.

Roads were reported to be covered in snow and ice at the time of the crash, reported at 3:49 p.m. Sunday.

In an email, Sgt. Jesse Grabow of the Minnesota State Patrol told the West Central Tribune there were no new updates as of Monday morning, but the crash remains under investigation.

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New London, Minnesota, crash involving semi leaves at least one dead

Staff reports — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 00:08:46 GMT

NEW LONDON, Minn. — Law enforcement responded on Wednesday morning to a fatal two-vehicle crash that temporarily shut down traffic on U.S. Highway 71 west of New London.

The driver of a semitractor suffered non-life-threatening injuries. The Minnesota State Patrol has not yet released complete information about who suffered a fatal injury in the crash at the intersection of Highway 71 and Minnesota Highway 9.

According to the crash report from the State Patrol, a 2016 Ford Escape driven by an 80-year-old male from Cambridge was eastbound on Highway 9 while a 2023 Freightliner was northbound on Highway 71 when the vehicles collided at the intersection in Kandiyohi County.

The driver of the Freightliner was identified as Bruce John Feldman, 67, of Renville, according to the Minnesota State Patrol. No treating health care facility was listed in the report.

The driver of the Ford Escape and a 76-year-old female passenger, also from Cambridge, were not named in the report. Information on both is expected to be released on Thursday.

Feldman was wearing his seat belt and alcohol was not involved, the report said. Road conditions were reported as wet at the time of the crash, reported at approximately 11:08 a.m. Wednesday.

The Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office, New London Ambulance and Fire and Lakes Area Responders assisted the Minnesota State Patrol at the scene.

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UPDATE: 2 killed, 1 injured in crash in Kandiyohi County

Dale Morin — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 16:47:33 GMT

WILLMAR — Two people died in a crash Wednesday in Whitefield Township east of Raymond in Kandiyohi County.

According to the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office, Ronald Lundquist, 83, and Betty Lundquist 76, both of Blomkest, suffered fatal injuries in the accident. They were in a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica.

The other driver, in a 2022 Ford Edge, 75-year-old Beverly Retzlaff of Clara City, suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries, according to the news release. Retzlaff was transported to CentraCare — Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar for treatment.

According to Cpl. Riley Kampsen, law enforcement was notified of a crash at the intersection of County Road 5 Southwest and County Road 3 around 11:38 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 29.

Deputies at the scene found both vehicles in the west ditch of County Road 5, north of County Road 3. They determined the Ford Edge was westbound on County Road 3 and the Chrysler Pacifica was northbound on County Road 5.

The crash remains under investigation, according to the sheriff’s office.

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