STEARNS COUNTY

Man killed in police response to domestic dispute in west-central Minnesota

Staff reports — Tue, 03 Jun 2025 16:34:08 GMT

PAYNESVILLE, Minn. — A man is dead after an officer-involved shooting Monday night in Paynesville, where police responded to a report of a domestic dispute.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension shared in a post on social media early Tuesday morning that BCA agents were at the scene to investigate.

According to a news release from Paynesville Chief of Police Paul Wegner, a male suspect reported to be armed had locked himself in the basement of the home. Shots were fired as police were attempting to take him into custody.

Upon arrival at the 600 block of Stearns Avenue at around 9:05 p.m. Monday, June 2, officers from the Paynesville and Cold Spring police departments and the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office were able to safely evacuate an adult female from the residence.

Officers entered the house and attempted to make verbal contact with the male, according to the news release. Officers reportedly told the male to come to the basement stairs with his hands visible. They also advised him that he was under arrest and that he needed to show himself.

The news release did not describe the ensuing shooting in any more detail.

Officers and medical personnel at the scene immediately administered life-saving measures, but the man died from his injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Wegner. A firearm was also located at the scene.

The woman who reported being assaulted had suffered minor injuries to her head and neck area, according to the news release.

Chief Wegner said body-worn cameras were in use at the time of the shooting, and the BCA is currently investigating the incident.

Paynesville Mayor Shawn Reinke issued a written statement around 1 p.m. Tuesday, stating that Wegner had kept him apprised of the events overnight and Tuesday morning.

“This tragic occurrence leaves our community in a state of shock that we were not planning to wake up to today. My thoughts and prayers are with everyone involved during this tremendously sad day,” he said.

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She always locked her doors, fearing an attack. One night her worst fears came true

Trent Abrego — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 12:05:00 GMT

FAIRHAVEN, Minn. — Myrtle Vera Cole was a worrier.

The 81-year-old woman had a fear of someone breaking into her rural Stearns County home and harming her.

A series of recent crimes had Cole and her neighbors in tiny Fairhaven concerned in 1981. A mother and three children were shot and killed in the township a few years earlier, and the assistant postmaster died in a bombing in nearby Kimball in 1976.

Cole's husband, Roy, died in 1970, according to a 1981 Star Tribune article, and she lived by herself in a two-story house with peeling paint and no plumbing. She was a stranger to most in the community but was part of a Bible group and known to some for her love of stray animals, according to news reports at the time.

Myrtle Cole religiously locked her doors whether she was home or away.

“Back in the '80s, people who knew her, who were close to her, that she might’ve talked about that she had a fear of (someone breaking in) or was just very cautious, if you will,” Stearns County Sheriff's Office investigator Anthony Kotschevar told St. Cloud LIVE in March.

Somehow, her worst fears were made manifest sometime overnight between Dec. 11 and Dec. 12, 1981. Someone broke into Cole's home and stabbed and killed her in an act that authorities called "vicious."

For more than 43 years, Cole’s death has remained unsolved despite the ongoing efforts of Stearns County detectives.

'Homicidal violence'

Myrtle Cole’s nephew and closest family member, Milo Cole, called her at about 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 12, 1981, according to a St. Cloud Times article.

She never answered, so he headed over to her house at about 9:30 a.m.

The area just had a fresh snowfall, but Cole noticed there were no footprints as he shoveled the steps. At the back of the house, he discovered a shattered glass pane and found broken glass throughout the home.

Cole entered the bedroom, where he found Myrtle Cole motionless, lying face down on the bed, naked from the waist down, her legs dangling over the edge, with a quilt over her head, he told the St. Cloud Times in 1981.

Authorities identified the cause of death as strangulation, but later explained the truth: Myrtle Cole was found stabbed in her sexual organs. Authorities refused to confirm whether she was mutilated or sexually assaulted, according to a 1981 Star Tribune article.

Investigator Kotschevar said the death was eventually identified as “homicidal violence.”

Numerous leads, but still unsolved

Investigators found some evidence at the scene of the crime, including a rusty knife and a bloody thumb or palm print, according to news reports at the time.

Authorities over the years have identified multiple suspects, but none have led to a conviction.

In 1983, 18-year-old Steve Berry claimed responsibility for the slaying. He told investigators he broke into the home and killed Cole. He later retracted the statement, telling reporters that he “never seen the lady” and knew nothing about her.

Authorities looked at convicted murderer Henry Lee Lucas, also known as the "Confession Killer," who claimed to have killed 100 women in at least 16 states, including Minnesota. He was later ruled out as a suspect.

Despite the case being unsolved for nearly 45 years, Kotschevar remains optimistic that authorities will track down Cole's killer.

In 2018, the Stearns County Sheriff's Office made a "big push" and focused on finding who killed Cole, Kotschevar said. Three years later, during the 40th anniversary, billboards advertising a $1,000 reward for tips leading to an arrest were placed along major roadways.

"Every year, there are advancements in technology, where there's something new that could help discover evidence that might have been missed last time. So whether it's resubmitting evidence that's been there already or talking to new people or people that we've already talked to," Kotschevar said. "Different things like that."

He said while the case remains ongoing, he often thinks about the killing.

"Is there a week, at minimum, that I'm not at least thinking about it or doing something with it? Probably not," said Kotschevar, who was assigned to the case in 2014, early in his investigative career. "There are times where we might be doing another case and all of a sudden, that jogs my memory as to something we've talked about in the Myrtle Cole homicide that we just write a note and go back and revisit it when we get time."

Can you help?

If you have any tips or information about the killing of Myrtle Vera Cole in 1981, contact the Stearns County Sheriff's Office at 320-251-4240, investigator Anthony Kotschevar at 320-259-3733 or Lt. Zach Sorenson at 320-259-3732.

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Native plants, lots of patience: How a Stearns County couple restored a damaged lakeshore

Kirsti Marohn / MPR News — Sun, 01 Sep 2024 11:58:00 GMT

COLD SPRING, Minn — Mary and Richard Gallea can still remember the former owner of their lakeside cabin telling them he spent six or seven hours a week mowing the lawn.

The Galleas understood quickly that wouldn’t work for them. They’d bought the cabin on Great Northern Lake as a weekend getaway and had zero interest in cutting more grass.

“For a weekend guy, that was like, ‘Nope,’” Richard Gallea recalled.

So, the next question was what do you do with all that lawn? The answer came when they applied for a permit to replace a crumbling retaining wall, and a Stearns County official asked if they’d ever thought about restoring their lakeshore to a more natural state.

Twenty years later, the Galleas’ property is a lush sweep of native plants that help slow and absorb water running off the house and driveway, keeping phosphorus and other pollutants out of the lake. A few mowed paths remain, but they take only about 45 minutes to cut.

It’s the kind of transformation environmentalists say is vital to saving Minnesota’s impaired lakeshores. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources estimates nearly half the state’s natural shorelines are gone.

Observers say much of that loss is due to the building of large homes with manicured lawns, patios, rock riprap and trees cleared to provide a better view of the water — a suburbanization of lake life that took hold over the past few decades and is polluting many lakes.

As the Galleas showed, the damage can be repaired, but it takes time for the efforts to fully bloom. It also requires the will to do it.

“A lot of people, frankly, their ideal vision of shoreline property is Pebble Beach,” Richard Gallea said, referring to the famed California golf course on the Pacific Ocean. “It’s a mowed golf course-quality lawn, a fire pit right down on shore, which always makes me cringe.”

‘What can I do about this?’

When the Galleas decided to go natural, they hired a landscaping company in 2006 to remove the retaining wall built from old railroad ties, restore their lakeshore’s original slope, and fill it with native plants.

“It was kind of exciting, because we got a list of plants that we could choose from,” Mary Gallea said.

They made some rookie mistakes the first few years. They overwatered the drought-tolerant plants and sometimes struggled to distinguish native plants from invasive weeds. But they kept expanding their native plantings, which now encompass almost their entire property.

Now, their yard is covered with flowering plants and prairie grasses that explode with color and change with the seasons. In 2015, they retired to their lake place year-round and spend time puttering in the gardens and taking evening walks along the winding paths.

“The birds are very happy,” Mary Gallea said. “We’ve got lots of pollinators. We grow milkweed. We’ve got monarch butterflies and lots of bees. So there are a lot more benefits to it than not.”

The Galleas are fierce advocates now for natural shorelines. Mary Gallea became a master gardener. Richard Gallea is active in the Sauk River Chain of Lakes Association and tries to convince others to follow their lead. He’s had mixed success.

He said he tries to help homeowners see how what they do on their shoreline impacts the health of the lake, including nutrient runoff, water quality and algae growth.

“They don’t always make that connection between the choices they’re making on shore and that” pollution, he said. “And that’s where we can jump in and try to connect that dot.”

Most restoration efforts are less ambitious than the Galleas’, said Greg Berg, a shoreland specialist with the Stearns County Soil and Water Conservation District. But combined, they have helped improve the water quality of the Sauk River Chain of Lakes, he said.

Many people think what they do with their small lot doesn’t matter to the lake’s overall health, Berg said, but the nutrient runoff from all those properties adds up.

“It’s cumulative, and it makes a difference,” he said.

Native plants also provide critical habitat for pollinators and other species. And their deeper roots help hold the soil in place, and reduce erosion — a problem that gets homeowners’ attention, Berg said.

“People start to lose their land, and that’s value to them. That’s tax dollars they’re paying on that property,” Berg said. “That’s where they maybe will call me and say, ‘What can I do about this?’”

Not everyone’s a convert

Cost-share funding for homeowners who want to restore shoreland is available from soil and water conservation districts in most Minnesota counties, usually passed down from the state Board of Water and Soil Resources. Some watershed districts and lake associations also offer financial help.

The Stearns County Soil and Water Conservation District paid 75 percent of the $24,000 cost of the Galleas’ restoration project, leaving them to pay just $6,000.

Since the Galleas’ restoration, Stearns County has added a requirement that owners who receive funding for a project must agree to a permanent deed restriction, to ensure that the natural shoreline remains intact. Not many other Minnesota counties have that requirement, Berg said.

After a project is complete, Berg said his staff checks on the property periodically to answer questions and help the homeowners with any issues. Usually they’re satisfied with the results, he said.

“There’s very few that we hear grumbling from,” Berg said. “I would say that it’s probably the first couple of years, just getting on top of it and keeping the weeds at bay. But beyond that, once it establishes, that’s OK.”

The Galleas used both native seeds and plant seedlings, known as plugs. A restoration project can be successful using either one, although the seedlings will bloom faster, Berg said.

“We generally put some plugs into the plantings in the areas where it’s going to be the most visual, so people get more instant gratification,” he said. “Then if somebody comes by or a friend is over, they might not ask quite as strongly, ‘What did you do to your place?’”

Not everyone on Great Northern Lake shares the Galleas’ perspective. Two houses down, the shoreline is a stark contrast, lined with a manicured lawn and rock retaining wall.

Richard Gallea described the varied reactions of people who cruise by their place in a boat.

“I’d say half of them, or two-thirds maybe, are captivated by what they see,” he said. “The other third are kind of like, ‘What a sloppy shoreline that is.’”

On the other hand, people who drive or walk by often ask if they can see their yard. And the Galleas have hosted tours of their property for hundreds of people interested in shoreline restoration.

“People are intrigued by it,” Mary Gallea said. “Some might be turned off by it. But it takes all kinds.”

Just like growing native plants, the couple says changing people’s attitudes toward natural lakeshore takes time. They plan to keep spreading the message that native landscaping is good for lakes.

“We’re pretty evangelical about it,” Richard Gallea said.

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The Reker sisters' 1974 deaths remain a mystery 50 years later

Lauren Breunig — Fri, 23 Aug 2024 12:10:00 GMT

ST. CLOUD, Minn. — Rita Reker lives alone, but she is surrounded by family.

Her home in St. Cloud, Minnesota — where she has lived for nearly 60 years — is overflowing with reminders of her husband, Fred, six children, 11 grandchildren and a growing number of great-grandchildren.

Framed photos, Christmas cards, and wedding invitations cover the white walls, a testament to her love. On the wall near her front door are two framed cross-stitch prayers with the names of all of her family members. Each time someone gets married or gives birth, Rita sews a new name on the list.

“I have held a lot of offices in a lot of organizations, I'm a church musician, I still sing in the choir, but I'm proudest of being a mother of a family,” said Rita, 88, during a visit with St. Cloud LIVE this summer. “My family is my life.”

She brightened as she pointed out each of her children and grandchildren, gesturing to the cluster of family photos hanging on the wall in the corner of her dining room. At the top are photos of Mary, her oldest child, and Susanne, her third daughter.

Their pictures are frozen in time, taken some 50 years ago.

The last time Rita saw Mary and Susanne was on Labor Day, Sept. 2, 1974, when the girls left to buy school supplies. They never returned.

Their bodies were found 26 days later in a quarry near St. Cloud. Two local boys spotted Susanne's body in a boggy area above the quarry, and Mary's body was found later in the water below. Mary was found in a state of undress, and her bra was cut up. Both girls had multiple stab wounds.

“That was the most frightening and frustrating time that we ever experienced,” Rita recalled. “We never imagined anything like that would ever happen to our family.”

For 50 years, Rita Reker and her family have wanted justice for Mary and Susanne. But no one has ever been arrested for their killings.

A parent’s worst nightmare

Through the decades, and the twists and turns in the case, the Reker family has sought answers to what the case investigator calls "one of the crimes of the century in Minnesota.”

The nightmare began on Labor Day in 1974.

At about 10 a.m. on Sept. 2, Mary, then 15, and her 12-year-old sister, Susanne (sometimes referred to as "Susan"), left their home at 224 18th Ave. N in St. Cloud to go to Zayre Discount Store (last home to a Save-A-Lot Grocery and Liquor store on West Division Street) to buy school supplies. It's a nearly 40-minute walk from the house to the store.

Their mother did not want them to go, but the girls promised to be back early because Mary needed to catch a ride with friends later that day.

Rita became busy cleaning the house after a family gathering the day before, and watching her other four children. She lost track of time.

Their daughters did not come home by 5 p.m., the family's usual dinner time. Rita and Fred became worried.

“That’s when the panic set in,” Rita said.

In those days, everyone in their neighborhood knew everyone else, and Mary was one of the go-to babysitters in the area. Mary wanted to be a teacher and loved watching after children, both her siblings and other neighborhood kids, Rita said.

The Rekers started calling around to check if anyone had seen the girls.

When Mary and Susanne were not found, the Rekers reported them missing to St. Cloud police around 7 p.m. However, officers told the family that the girls had likely run away, Rita said.

“It felt like we had to prove we had these children,” Rita said, remembering how she and Fred had to convince law enforcement that Mary and Susanne even existed before they would take the case seriously.

The next morning, Fred and Rita went down to the police station to ask for help again. Before this, Rita's only knowledge about law enforcement came from crime shows such as “Columbo” and “Hawaii Five-O.”

“There were a lot of television programs about mysteries and police departments and things like that, and all of them had homicide squads,” Rita said. “And I said to one of the policemen, ‘Don't you have a homicide squad?’ He said, ‘Lady, you watch too much TV.’”

The Rekers decided to take matters into their own hands. The family and some friends formed small search parties to scour the St. Cloud area. This included driving out to Little Falls, a small town nearly 40 minutes north of St. Cloud: The family received tips that the girls may have taken a bus there because Mary’s high school St. Francis was there, according to newspaper reports at the time.

While the girls were missing, Reker said her other children — Marty, Betsy, Matthew and Leah — would hear rumors at school that their sisters’ bodies were in the quarry.

The search ended on Saturday, Sept. 28, 1974.

I said to one of the policemen, ‘Don't you have a homicide squad?’ He said, ‘Lady, you watch too much TV.'

The girls’ bodies were found in the quarry 3 miles outside of St. Cloud, 26 days after they went missing on their shopping trip. Susanne was found on top of the quarry stabbed 13 times. Mary, who was stabbed six times, was found unclothed 40 feet below the surface of the water, according to newspaper accounts in Stearns History Museum archives.

The family learned the tragic news in church the next morning, when their pastor announced at Mass that the girls had been found, Rita said.

“When they made the announcement that the girls had been found, everybody burst into tears,” said Rita, who is a devout Catholic. Fred was an ordained deacon. “People from church really supported us during that time. We wouldn’t have made it without our faith.”

County investigation

Since the girls were found outside of St. Cloud city limits, the case fell under the jurisdiction of the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office.

Since 1974, the case has been overseen by six sheriffs — Peter Lahr, Jim Ellering, Charlie Grafft, Jim Kostreba, John Sanner and current Sheriff Steve Soyka. Lahr was in the hospital being treated for cancer in 1974 and was not involved in the case, according to Reker.

Ellering was elected in November 1974, weeks after the girls were found. He took office in January 1975.

Brian Bohlig has been the lead investigator on the case for the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office since 2017. In his opinion, the first major break in the case came after the 1976 kidnapping and stabbing of 14-year-old Susan Dukowitz in St. Cloud.

On Sept. 25, 1976, Dukowitz was kidnapped by two men at the Dairy Barn, near where Dairy Queen at 4101 W. Division St. is located today.

Kidnappers Herb Notch and James A. Wagner, both 17, drove Dukowitz to a gravel pit near Luxemburg, where Notch stabbed her, Bohlig said. Notch sexually assaulted Dukowitz and cut up her clothes before stabbing her twice, according to a Feb. 27, 1988, St. Cloud Daily Times article.

Dukowitz was covered in brush and left for dead. However, after Notch and Wagner left, Dukowitz made her way to a nearby house, and the owner called law enforcement.

The girl survived. She told law enforcement that, as he was leaving, Notch said, "They won't find that bitch until the spring."

Hours later, law enforcement found Notch and Wagner, and Notch admitted to stabbing Dukowitz. Notch pleaded guilty to robbery and kidnapping, but the charges of attempted murder and sexual assault were dropped in a plea, according to a Fox 9 KSMP report. Notch served seven of the 40 years of his original sentence.

Dukowitz's case bore similarities to the Reker killings, but law enforcement could find no connection between the two cases, Bohlig said.

Susan Dukowitz died of cancer at age 33 in 1995.

Investigation challenges

At first, the Reker sisters' disappearance was treated as a runaway case, which means investigators lost time and potential witnesses by the time the girls' bodies were found on Sept. 28, according to Bohlig.

“It might seem counterintuitive now to treat it as a runaway case — but that was in 1974 when it was standard police procedure,” Bohlig told St. Cloud LIVE during a phone interview on June 24. “That is not the way we handle things now."

Investigators used interview techniques to take witnesses back in time to try to help them remember details from Sept. 2. Since DNA testing was not around in 1974, evidence was not properly collected, Bohlig added. Newspaper reports in 1974 noted the mishandling or loss of evidence in the case.

Newspaper accounts at the time say that Ellering did not consider the case to be a sex crime, though evidence pointed that direction. Sex crime experts were not heavily consulted during the investigation at this time.

“The sex offender registry was not a thing yet, so investigators had less to work off,” Bohlig said.

Almost a month went by between when the girls were last seen alive, by a neighbor at about 1:30 p.m. on Sept. 2, 1974. This meant potential witnesses may have forgotten helpful bits of information or that they saw anything at all, Bohlig said.

Authorities released details about the sisters: Mary was wearing green wire-rimmed glasses, a green Army fatigue shirt with "Reker" on the front pockets and blue jeans. Susanne was wearing gold wire-rimmed glasses, a white cotton short jacket and blue corduroy jeans.

In September 1977, the St. Cloud Daily Times reported that "The list of suspects has reached double figures, according to published reports." At one point, even notorious serial killer Ted Bundy was a potential suspect because the Reker killings were similar to some of the murders he confessed to committing. However, he was later ruled out because he was in the Pacific Northwest at the time of the Rekers' deaths.

In 1977, three years after the girls were killed, Ellering took over the case from lead investigator Lawrence “Brownie” Kritzeck after no major discoveries in the investigation, according to an article in the Aug. 18, 1977, St. Cloud Daily Times.

In 1978, Waite Park Police Chief Charlie Grafft ousted Ellering in a rematch for sheriff, partially due to the sheriff’s office's inability to solve the Reker case, according to contemporaneous reporting.

Ellering moved to Arizona in 1978, shortly after losing the sheriff's office.

Cold case, active investigation

Despite Mary's and Susanne’s murders being labeled a cold case, the investigation is still active and ongoing, Bohlig said.

“There are still victims, and they still deserve justice,” Bohlig said. “No one should be able to kill two young girls and get away with it. This is one of the crimes of the century in Minnesota.”

Bohlig frequently checks in with Rita to update her on the investigation because he believes it is important for the family to know that the case is still a priority for the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office.

He even keeps Rita on his Christmas card list; the 2023 card with a picture of Bohlig’s family on the front is displayed on her fridge among cards from family members, pictures from her grandchildren's weddings and a newspaper about her youngest granddaughter Theresa's academic success.

Investigators are looking into a few people of interest, but Bohlig would not comment further on the status of the case.

Fred Reker died on New Year's Eve, Dec. 31, 2012. Rita, meanwhile, kept searching for answers.

In 2018, she received a tip that a man who was being treated at a St. Cloud hospital for liver failure could be a potential suspect. Law enforcement investigated, but no arrests were made.

A 2005 investigation from the Vidocq Society, a members-only crime-solving club, determined that there was no usable DNA evidence in the Reker case. However, the organization — whose members include retired FBI criminal profilers and other law enforcement officers — created a profile of the perpetrator, and the potential suspect matched the profile perfectly, Rita said.

“I visited him when he was on his deathbed and looked him in the eye,” Rita said. “I asked him if he had anything to tell me, and he said no, but in my heart, the case was solved.”

Before he died, the man denied killing Mary and Susanne.

A mother’s mission

Rita found comfort in talking about her experience with others. It started as a tactic to keep the case in the media and keep people’s attention on her daughters, but it grew into a form of catharsis.

“I did a lot of public speaking [over the years], and for me, it was very healing just to share it with other people,” Rita said. “So it changed me a lot from the kind of person I was when I was young because I used to be incredibly shy.”

She especially found it helpful to speak with others at the Central Minnesota chapter of Parents of Murdered Children, a support group for survivors of homicide victims. She was even one of the chapter leaders and helped guide discussion.

As a parent, Rita had experienced the unthinkable — the killing of two children — and she decided to use her experience to help others. Her pain and catharsis became a call to action. She was a founding member of Tri-County Crime Stoppers.

Founded in 1981, the group aims to reduce crime in Stearns, Benton, and Sherburne counties, according to the organization’s website. The original funding for the group came from the reward money for those responsible for the deaths of Mary and Susanne Reker.

Rita Reker retired from the board in 2020 after 39 years.

Upon her retirement, the Tri-County Crime Stoppers gave her a plaque commemorating her service, which she displays proudly on a counter in her living room. Another plaque thanking Rita for her contributions hangs on a door frame in the kitchen.

“I am proud of my time there because we were trying to help others,” Rita said.

She also finds comfort in her family.

"My Susie always wanted to be a doctor, and now I have a few in a family," Rita said, laughing, as she talked with St. Cloud LIVE about her grandchildren. "I like to think she lives on through them in that."

How to help

To report tips in the Mary and Susanne Reker case, contact:

Tri-County Crime Stoppers: www.p3tips.com/TipForm.aspx?ID=513 Stearns County Sheriff’s Office: 320-251-4240 or mn-stearnscounty-gettingstarted.app.transform.civicplus.com/forms/28531 Timeline

1974

Sept. 2: Mary, 15, and Susanne “Susan/Susie,” 12, Reker went to Zayre Discount Store (now home to Save-a-Lot Grocery and Liquor) to buy school supplies but never returned home. Parents Fred and Rita Reker report them missing that evening. Sept. 3-27: Rekers, family and friends formed small search parties and looked for the girls. This included driving out to Little Falls, a small town nearly 40 minutes north of St. Cloud. The family received tips that the girls may have taken a bus to the town because Mary’s high school St. Francis was there, according to Stearns History Museum archives. Sept. 28: Susanne’s body was found by two teenage boys in the granite quarry in Waite Park. Mary’s body was found later that day by law enforcement. Nov. 6: Sheriff James “Jim” Ellering elected to his first term. He served as sheriff from 1975 to 1979.

1976-78

Sept. 25, 1976: Herb Notch and James A. Wagner kidnapped and stabbed Susan Dukowitz, 14, before leaving her for dead. The case had multiple similarities to the Reker killings and led law enforcement to look at Notch and Wagner. Aug. 18, 1977: Ellering takes over the case from Lawrence “Brownie” Kritack after no major discoveries in the investigation. Nov. 7, 1978: Charlie Grafft, Waite Park police chief, is elected sheriff, ousting Ellering.

2000s

2005: The case is presented to the Vidocq Society. Experts created a psychological profile of the perpetrator. 2006: Evidence was DNA tested, but this produced no new leads. Dec. 31, 2012: Fred Reker died at age 84. 2018: Reker received a tip that a man who was being treated at a St. Cloud hospital could be a suspect. Law enforcement investigated the tip, but no arrests were made.]]>

Advocates for Health in Minnesota try to save lives — one outdoor AED at a time

Leo Pomerenke — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 22:22:00 GMT

WILLMAR — Rich Feneis has a litany of stories about someone’s life being saved by an automated external defibrillator.

One such story involved his brother, Bob Feneis, and his friend, Marv Erickson, in 2016. Both were volunteering at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota, during the Ryder Cup.

As the two were walking down a trail, Erickson stopped talking and fell over, going into sudden cardiac arrest.

“It’s like somebody turns off an electric switch,” said Rich Feneis.

Thankfully, paramedics were there just in time with an AED.

“It ended up saving his life,” said Feneis. “Now he’s back golfing, and he got to see his daughter have their grandchild. I mean, what a change.”

There’s a reason why Rich Feneis has stories like this. They’re common ever since he and his longtime friend Joel Vogel started Advocates for Health, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to make AEDs accessible in as many communities as possible.

Vogel started volunteering for heart health organizations after he suffered a heart attack in 2004. He started a golf tournament in 2010 to raise money for AEDs, which inspired Feneis to approach Vogel to start the nonprofit.

What is an AED?

An automated external defibrillator shocks a heart back to normal rhythm for those experiencing cardiac arrest.

They’re important, lifesaving and very expensive.

Most paramedics have AEDs on hand, but in some communities, waiting for paramedics isn’t a viable option.

“Where I live in Pine Point (Minnesota), EMS response time is 30 minutes,” Feneis said. “If somebody goes into sudden cardiac arrest, you’ve got to do something within the first 10 minutes or they just won’t survive.”

Sudden cardiac arrests can be much more lethal than something like a heart attack, according to Feneis.

"A heart attack is a plumbing problem, a sudden cardiac arrest is an electrical problem," he said. "The survival rate from a heart attack is 90%. Sudden cardiac arrest, if you don't have an AED, your chance of survival is less than 5%. And yet, if you have an AED, it's 75% to 85%. That's why they're so important."

Feneis added that sudden cardiac arrests aren't just for old people.

“(About) 370,000 people a year die of sudden cardiac arrest just in the United States, and 23,000 of them are kids 18 and under,” he said. "We've seen every age group. Sudden cardiac arrests doesn't discriminate."

That’s why having AEDs in public places is so important in the eyes of Vogel and Feneis.

Storing outdoor AEDs

Vogel and Feneis both started their work in 2018 with the Pilot Program, which supplied AED cabinets in local parks around Stearns County. After the program, the two officially founded the organization in 2019.

An AED can’t be stored in areas where temperatures get below freezing, a problem in Minnesota winters. According to Advocates for Health, for an AED to be available outdoors, it costs $6,605 for the outdoor cabinet, $895 for the AED itself and $600 a year for annual maintenance costs plus electricity.

For such an important life-saving device, the cost can be covered by donations from the public, local businesses, service clubs and more.

Their work doesn’t stop there. Four years ago, Stearns County became the first county in the state to map AEDs for 911 callers with help from Advocates for Health. This provides 911 operators rapid information they can relay to the callers about the closest AED to them.

“It’s been a phenomenal success,” said Bob Knutson of Advocates for Health.

Since then, the project has expanded into Kandiyohi and Meeker counties, with more on the way.

Yet Feneis emphasized that the education to use an AED “is just as important as getting the product out there.”

Spreading the word

Knutson, from Spicer, knows people who buy an AED but aren’t curious enough to know how to use it. It can be frustrating, he says.

“I know people that don’t want to come to the (AED) meeting. They don’t care,” he said. “‘Oh, we bought the machine, that’s good enough.’ No, it’s not. You gotta know how to use it.”

AED training is done across Minnesota high schools. Students are required to have CPR and AED education before graduating, one of 41 states to do so.

Advocates for Health also holds classes for those who need AED education across the state.

Social media has been great for getting the word out, according to Feneis, but spokespeople have been an enormous help to the organization.

Caitlin Gilk won a gold award for the Girl Scouts thanks to her efforts helping Advocates for Health, raising $22,000 for the devices in the Paynesville area.

"She installed over 160 AEDs in Stearns County alone," Knutson said. "She's just incredible."

2024 Miss Minnesota Emily Schumacher has also been helpful to the organization as well, raising money for the organization and is set to make an appearance at this year’s golf tournament.

“She wants to be an open heart surgeon,” Feneis said. “She teaches CPR and AED classes in Rochester, so this is very important to her.”

Saving lives

On July 11, Bob Knutson oversaw another outdoor AED installed, this time at Robbins Island Park in Willmar, a week before the start of the Rockin' Robbins concert series.

Members of the Rotary Club of Willmar, Willmar city staff, Advocates for Health volunteers and other members of the community helped or witnessed the installation.

"It's very important to me because it saved my life," said Tim Rehn of Willmar.

Rehn was playing in an adult hockey league in December 2023 when he went into cardiac arrest on the ice at the Willmar Civic Center. Quick-thinking retired emergency medical technician Heather Coleman grabbed an AED at the rink and used it on him, which ended up saving his life.

Stories like that are inspiring, but in Rehn's case, Coleman knew what the AED was and how to use it.

For Knutson, Feneis and the rest of Advocates for Health, educating the public is just as important as getting AEDs out there.

“We’re just trying to make people aware,” said Knutson. “From 10 years old to 100 years old.”

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Former Minnesota Sen. Calvin Larson dies at 93

News Staff — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 21:31:21 GMT

DETROIT LAKES — Calvin Larson, who served a total of 28 years in the Minnesota Legislature, died on Monday, April 1, at an assisted living facility in Detroit Lakes.

Born in Glyndon, Larson served in the Navy before making his home in Fergus Falls. That's where he was first elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 1966 with a Nonpartisan Election-Conservative Caucus party affiliation, serving District 55 from 1967-72 and District 11 A from 1973-74.

After his time in the Minnesota House, Larson took a break from politics, during which time he grew an insurance company and a family.

He re-entered the state Legislature in 1987 as an Independent Republican after being elected to the Minnesota Senate. He'd remain in that office for two decades before being defeated in 2006 by DFL challenger Dan Skogen.

Throughout his time in office, Larson served Becker, Douglas, Grant, Otter Tail, Pope, Stearns, Traverse and Wadena counties.

Larson and his family shared their time between Fergus Falls and their cottage outside Pelican Rapids.

On April 4, the Minnesota Senate held a moment of silence for Larson, with Sen. Jordan Rasmusson of Fergus Falls talking about the big impact Larson had in Otter Tail County and his community.

"He helped establish the Fergus Falls Veterans Home and Glendalough State Park, and he was instrumental in opening the door to the first Minnesota High �� League girls sports," said Rasmusson, who said Larson was known for his bipartisan work and lasting friendships with his colleagues.

"Cal Larson was a wonderful senator," agreed Sen. John Marty, a Democrat out of Roseville. "I think members of both parties saw him as fair and honorable ... somebody we all trusted and loved."

Former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman posted a message on social media, saying Larson was an inspiration and mentor to him.

"He set a shining example for what a public servant should be — good common sense, humility, a deeply rooted commitment to do good — and an ability to work with folks on both sides of the aisle to better serve the community he represented," Coleman wrote.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. June 7, with an ice cream social to follow at Zion Lutheran Church on Franklin Lake in Pelican Rapids.

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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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Why no criminal charges in $3 million wage theft case?

Mark Wasson — Fri, 12 Jan 2024 00:29:10 GMT

ST. CLOUD — Owners of a Minnesota dairy farm accused of stealing millions of dollars from employees, in the form of unpaid wages, face a civil lawsuit, but not criminal charges.

Why? It seemingly comes down to the way certain offenses are customarily handled in courts in Minnesota and the U.S. It also reflects a situation in which the local and state government agencies involved can't agree about who is responsible.

The lawsuit, brought this week by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison against Evergreen Acres, alleges the dairy farm failed to pay at least $3 million of vulnerable workers’ earned wages, illegally charged rent for squalid housing, and maintained a culture of fear and violence.

What the owners are accused of meets the definition of theft in Minnesota statute, and they would potentially face up to 20 years in prison if convicted in a criminal court.

But criminal prosecutions for wage theft are rare at both the federal and state levels, said Judd Legum, a journalist and lawyer who recently wrote about the dueling systems for dealing with theft.

"When someone steals a six-pack of beer from a grocery store or a sweater from a boutique, it is generally treated as a criminal matter. The billions of dollars in wages stolen from workers, however, are almost always treated as a civil offense," he wrote.

Wage theft is not uncommon in the U.S., according to the Department of Labor, which says employers owe workers about $163.3 million in back pay, and that doesn't include the wage theft that goes unreported.

"In most cases, employers know that they're not really going to get caught," Legum said, adding that the cost for an individual to pursue back wages might outweigh what was stolen by the employer.

The lawsuit against Evergreen Acres alleges that over about three years, the Minnesota dairy farm shaved 12 to 32 hours from employee timecards for each two-week pay period. According to Ellison, the dairy farm also failed to provide employees with written information on how they are paid, something that's required by law. The attorney general also alleges the business falsified pay stubs and destroyed time cards.

Evergreen Acres Dairy, Evergreen Estates, Morgan Feedlots and owners Keith Schaefer and Megan Hill are named in the lawsuit, which was filed in Stearns County. In the lawsuit, Ellison alleges that the dairy farm exploited the vulnerability of its workforce, which is made up of unauthorized workers largely from the Oaxaca region of Mexico.

A crime without a prosecutor

The handling of the Evergreen Acres case reveals a shortcoming in U.S. legal practice — namely how certain crimes are handled if they are committed by individuals or privately owned businesses.

"We have different systems for how we deal with theft," Legum said. "I think that's fundamentally inequitable and unjust."

While prosecutions for shoplifting are straightforward, finding who is responsible for a criminal prosecution regarding this case has led to agencies pointing the finger at each other.

Stearns County Attorney Janelle Kendall said that nothing has been submitted for consideration of prosecution to her office, meaning her office can't charge the case criminally without another agency submitting evidence of a crime.

Stearns County Sheriff Steve Soyka pointed to the attorney general's office and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension as the agencies responsible for filing or recommending charges regarding the case.

"Our office was not part of this investigation. We have no knowledge of what occurred here as it was all investigated by state agents including BCA and AG’s office and they can submit anything criminally," he wrote in an email. "Further, we have never been contacted by any victim wishing to report anything to us."

Soyka added that his office would provide assistance if asked, but no agency has contacted them to do so.

The attorney general's office maintains that it does not have the authority to file criminal charges, which falls to Minnesota's county attorney offices, per state statute. However, the attorney general may help with or take over a prosecution at the request of local prosecutors or the Minnesota governor. A spokesman for the attorney general's office was not able to say whether the office would recommend criminal charges.

A spokeswoman for the BCA said the agency would look into whether it would recommend criminal charges, but she did not reply with an answer before this story's publication deadline.

"Prosecutors have come to view (wage theft) as a problem that is dealt with by the agencies in charge of employee wage and labor issues," Legum said, adding that it's understandable considering prosecutors don't have a lot of free time.

What's needed, according to Legum, are investments in prosecutors who are dedicated to prosecuting these types of crimes.

"Absent that, I don't think it's necessarily fair to say 'Oh, well the prosecutors have to take on this massive systemic problem that's happening at so many different employers, investigate all of that and prosecute it criminally,' " he said.

Trent Abrego contributed to this story
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AG Ellison sues Stearns County dairy farm for millions in wage theft

Trent Abrego — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 23:00:26 GMT

STEARNS COUNTY — A dairy operation north of Paynesville is being sued for wage theft and substandard housing, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced on Monday, Jan. 8.

The civil lawsuit against Evergreen Acres alleges the dairy farm failed to pay at least $3 million of vulnerable workers’ earned wages, illegally charging rent for squalid housing and maintaining a culture of fear and violence.

“We have a cost estimate in the restitution area, which is in the realm of $3 million,” Ellison said during a news conference Monday. “Again, that’s an estimate. We’ll learn more as (the litigation) moves forward.”

Evergreen owns and operates five facilities in Stearns County, and another in Redwood County. Evergreen operates 13 additional facilities, which are owned by third parties, according to the lawsuit.

"Many of its workers find their roots in Mexico and some of them don't speak very much English at all," Ellison said. "Evergreen has exploited the vulnerabilities of these workers to deny them their wages by systematically underreporting the number of hours that workers work on their pay stubs."

Ellison alleges the dairy farm shaved off 12 to 32 hours for each two-week pay period. According to Ellison, the dairy farm also failed to provide employees with written information on how they are paid, something that's required by law. The attorney general also alleges the business falsified pay stubs and destroyed time cards.

"I could stop there. That's egregious enough. But this sad reality doesn't stop there," Ellison said. "It continues on because Evergreen isn't just the boss. It's also a landlord, and the substandard housing they provided workers, who in a rural area had few to no other options for housing, was simply shocking."

The lawsuit alleges some workers live in housing with no on-site toilet, some in windowless bedrooms with plywood walls, while others have lived in garages, haphazardly converted barns, or other buildings not fit for human habitation, according to a news release.

"They are frankly, not within the bounds of human decency," Ellison said about the housing. "... Evergreen also violated the law by making unauthorized deductions from workers' paychecks for this substandard and unsafe housing. That's just another form of wage theft."

Numerous Evergreen employees live at a minimum of five different properties owned by the company, according to the lawsuit.

Ellison claims Evergreen also discouraged workers from complaining about the conditions by instilling a culture of fear, intimidation, threats and outright violence.

"It's hard to describe exactly how I feel about how Evergreen has treated these people, these Minnesotans. But I can tell you one thing: I'm outraged, and I'm upset that they've gotten along with it for so long," Ellison said.

As part of the enforcement action, the office also asked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to make deferred action relief available, Ellison said.

In 2019, Ellison announced a new Wage Theft Unit dedicated to investigating and enforcing cases of wage theft.

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1 killed in 3-vehicle crash in Stearns County

Staff reports — Sun, 24 Dec 2023 21:36:21 GMT

MAINE PRAIRIE TOWNSHIP, Minn. — An 80-year-old Watkins man was killed on Friday, Dec. 22, in a three-vehicle crash just north of Kimball in south Stearns County.

The incident occurred at about 4 p.m. Friday on Minnesota Highway 15 near Power Ridge Road in Maine Prairie Township, according to a Minnesota State Patrol report.

According to the report:

A 2022 Honda Accord, driven by a 17-year-old male, was traveling eastbound on Power Ridge Road. Meanwhile, a 2019 Nissan Murano, driven by Kari Ann Fischer, 41, of Kimball, was heading southbound on Highway 15, when the two vehicles collided.

A 2013 Dodge Avenger, driven by Elton Keith Hatcher, 80, of Watkins, was northbound on Highway 15 when it collided with the Honda Accord at Powder Ridge Road.

Hatcher was killed in the crash. He was not wearing a seat belt.

The 17-year-old driver of the Honda Accord was not identified in the report. A passenger in the Honda, Hannah Ruth Ehlers, 16, of St. Michael, suffered non-life-threatening injuries, according to the report. Both the driver and Ehlers were wearing seat belts.

The Nissan driver, Fischer, suffered non-life-threatening injuries. She was wearing a seat belt, according to the report.

Alcohol is not believed to be a factor in the crash. The road conditions were wet.

The Stearns County Sheriff's Office and the Kimball Fire Department also responded.

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