SUNBURG

Man convicted of 1970 mass murder in rural home later met his own violent end

Mark Wasson — Mon, 02 Dec 2024 18:45:00 GMT

Editor's note: This archival Vault story was first published Nov. 30, 2021.

SUNBURG, Minn. — Forty-one-year-old Neil Pladson was found strangled to death with his hands and feet bound June 26, 1988, in a blood-splattered St. Paul apartment.

His killer, 24-year-old Douglas Tank, told a Ramsey County court that Pladson had threatened to kill his family and was brandishing a knife.

“He had a knife and I knocked it out of his hand and started strangling him, choking him,” Tank said in court.

Tank was sentenced to a little over nine years after pleading guilty to first-degree manslaughter.

Tank had good reason to believe Pladson’s threats.

Pladson had been convicted of the 1970 shotgun slayings of a Sunburg family of five. The youngest victim of the mass murderer was a 4-year-old.

Tank, who had served time in prison with Pladson during his 16-year stint for his crimes, would know all too well what Pladson was capable of.

Suspect Charged in Death of... by Mark Wasson

Every piece of investigative information gleaned from the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office file on Pladson points to an unbalanced and odd character.

Someone who bragged about the killings while in pretrial detention.

Someone who killed his dog on the same November day when he murdered an entire family.

Pladson, an U.S. Air Force veteran, had been committed on at least one occasion and sought treatment through the Veterans Administration.

Friends and family would describe him as an unhinged guy who often did off-putting things, like randomly dig holes throughout the yard with a pitchfork or violently lash out at people.

Robert Rathburn, a friend of Pladson's, told law enforcement that Pladson was a loner who "wanted to be loved."

The rural Sunburg scene

Dilbert Peterson, the milkman, was the first person to discover James Fremberg’s body in the barn around 10:30 a.m. Nov. 15, 1970.

Peterson could hear the milk machines running and went into the barn to find James lying on the floor with blood near his head.

Peterson then went to the house and shouted to see if anyone was home.

Finding no answer, he rushed to his milk truck and raced across the road to Harold Mithaugen’s house to get help.

Mithaugen, his wife, Jean, and his brother-in-law then accompanied Peterson back to the farm.

Peterson followed Mrs. Mithaugen into the house while the other men went into the barn.

Inside the house, they would find the bodies of Gloria Fremberg, 29, Patricia Ann Fremberg, 8, David James Fremberg, 7, and Douglas Mark Fremberg, 4.

All were dead and their faces had been covered.

When Kandiyohi County Sheriff Harvey M. Spaulding walked into the Fremberg farm the morning of Nov. 15, 1970, he first saw the body of Gloria Fremberg in the dining room with her head almost completely shot off, lying on her right side with her knees pulled up, dressed in a white sweatshirt and blue jeans, blue socks and no shoes.

He then walked upstairs to a bedroom to find the bodies of the three children — Patricia in a bed by herself and brothers David and Douglas in a bed together.

All three had been shot in the face.

The patriarch of the family, James Fremberg, 40, was found shot in the face lying in a vestibule between the cattle in a barn on the property.

All five had been killed by 12-gauge shotgun slugs the day prior.

The autopsy photos show the brutality of what a shotgun can do at close range.

Read more:

Sunburg family of five found slain

The investigation

Investigators quickly zeroed in on Pladson — a 23-year-old from St. Cloud — and arrested him shortly after the killings.

Multiple witnesses interviewed by Spaulding and Agent John Barry of the Minnesota Crime Bureau said they saw Pladson in the woods in the area that day.

It was the deer hunting opener and the land was well tracked by those looking to bag a deer.

Investigators would learn during these interviews that the Pladson family had once lived in the Frembergs' home.

According to Arnold Pladson, Neil’s father, the house was sold to the Frembergs a decade prior with the Pladson family moving to St. Cloud.

A neighbor of the Frembergs would tell law enforcement that Gloria Fremberg had unexpectedly been forced to confront Neil and several other people going through the home about a year prior.

Pladson denied any involvement in the killings during the initial interview.

His father, Arnold, told investigators that he and Neil had driven together to Pope County to hunt on Nov. 14, arriving at about 6:30 a.m.

Neil then left around 6:50 a.m. with a 12-gauge shotgun and his dog in a 1967 dark blue Chevrolet that Arnold owned. Neil would not come back until a few minutes after 10 a.m.

When Neil came back, he grabbed a 16-gauge shotgun out of the vehicle, telling his father he was out of shells for the 12-gauge because he had done some shooting while he was gone.

During Neil’s initial interview with police, he told them he saw a nice buck and shot at it once. When asked what happened to the other six shells he had, Neil looked surprised and said that he fired them into the air.

He would later tell police during an interview in the Kandiyohi County Jail that he shot seven times at that buck.

When law enforcement asked for and received the clothes Neil was wearing that day, blood was immediately noticeable.

The reason for the blood, Neil Pladson told investigators, was that he had shot his dog that afternoon because the two were getting too close. He then said he gutted the dog with a hunting knife and then carried him to a spot to be buried in Pope County.

When asked, Pladson could not explain why he cut the dog though he did tell them where it was buried.

An autopsy of the dog showed the dog had indeed been cut in the stomach and had been shot.

Blood group testing on the clothes Pladson gave police found the same blood groups of the Frembergs.

Autopsies of the Frembergs would show the parents had empty bladders while the children’s were full, indicating that the children had not gotten out of bed before being shot at close range.

David Fremberg’s autopsy revealed gas impression from the gun powder on the right side of his face and charring around the mouth, indicating the gun had been placed in his mouth prior to firing.

About 800 people would attend the family’s funeral.

Read more:

Interview transcripts The trial and commitment

Pladson appeared in November 1970 in a Kandiyohi County District courtroom where he pleaded not guilty to five counts of first-degree murder.

In December, his defense attorney would ask the court to have Pladson undergo a psychiatric evaluation, which Judge Leif R. Langsjoen would grant later that month.

During his time in jail awaiting trial, Pladson would tell an inmate and a jailer that he shot the family.

By March of 1971, Pladson was ruled insane and in need of treatment.

During Pladson’s sanity hearing, Dr. Glenn Lewis, a Minneapolis psychiatrist who evaluated Pladson, told the court that Pladson was suffering from a mental disorder under which he had grandiose thinking and believed there was an alleged conspiracy against him and had thought about killing other people.

"I could kill children, go home and take my own children out for a walk and be perfectly trustworthy," Pladson told evaluators.

Pladson had received care from the VA for his psychosis about a year prior to the murders.

Lewis would testify in court that Pladson told him there were “too many people on the land,” as the reason why he killed the Frembergs.

Lewis also told the court that Pladson told him he killed his dog because he believed the dog had superpowers and might kill him after witnessing Pladson kill other humans.

Pladson also did not understand all of the proceedings against him, according to Lewis.

Following the testimony and the judge’s ruling that Pladson be committed to a state security hospital, Pladson asked Lewis if he really thought he was confused.

Lewis told him yes due to the testing that had been done.

“I guess there are 13 different ways you can kill a man with your hands,” Pladson replied.

Following that hearing, Pladson would tell a jailer that he killed the family, according to an investigative report.

“It was a bloody mess,” Pladson said.

He would also confess to fellow inmates and even to law enforcement.

On Dec. 31, 1970, Pladson would tell law enforcement "I am guilty of the five counts," and that he "wanted to get out."

Pladson spent a little over a year in the Minnesota Security Hospital at St. Peter before he was deemed competent to stand trial.

Facing a potential trial with a mountain of evidence against him, Pladson pleaded guilty Nov. 8, 1972, to five counts of third-degree murder.

Judge Langsjoen would sentence Pladson to 25 years for each count, though the sentences would run concurrently. The prosecution had requested they run consecutively.

Langsjoen would say during sentencing that further treatment at the state hospital would be preferable.

Pladson would later appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court that he was promised that he would spend his entire time in the state hospital but that appeal was rejected. He also sought to reduce his prison sentence for time served. That was also denied.

He would spend the next 16 years shifting from Stillwater State Penitentiary and the St. Peter State Security Hospital before being released to a halfway house in January of 1987.

By June 1988, Pladson would be bound and strangled to death by his roommate.

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Second New London boy involved in fatal UTV crash dies from injuries

Dale Morin — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 18:57:39 GMT

WILLMAR — The second of three New London brothers involved in a UTV crash earlier this month has died.

Harrison Jeffrey Dahl, 11, has died, according to a Wednesday morning update from the Minnesota State Patrol.

Lara Dahl, the boy’s mother, wrote in a CaringBridge post dated Jan. 16: “Harrison went to be with Jesus at 2:10 this afternoon. He fought so hard but his little body couldn’t handle all the stress and trauma … We love you Harry so very much and are so proud of you. I know Jesus and Will were there to greet you into heaven.”

In a post dated Jan. 12, Lara Dahl wrote that Harrison Dahl needed more time to heal. She said he was a fighter and the family was “waiting and praying for him to show us when he’s ready to wake up.” She said Harrison’s classmates sent him letters and that they had decorated his room with them.

Drew Wayne Dahl, 10, was discharged over the past two days, according to the same post by Lara Dahl. She said his laceration is healing up well, and he was able to see his entire class via Zoom.

“He needs to take it easy for the next month,” Lara Dahl wrote, “so after his FaceTime with his buddy they made a plan that he can be the ref of the football game.”

Lara Dahl continued in her Jan. 12 post that it was also William Dahl’s honor walk. “To see all the family, close family friends and nurses in the hallway honoring him was something he so much deserved,” she said.

She went on to state that she and her husband, Mike Dahl, were at a loss for words over all the love and support the family had been receiving from the community. “We are just blown away by the love that our boys and family are receiving. We cannot thank everyone enough.”

In addition to the CaringBridge site, a GoFundMe has also been set up to help the Dahl family. So far, more than $166,000 has been raised.

According to the Minnesota State Patrol, the crash was reported at 3:49 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 7, after the UTV collided with a pickup truck at the intersection of 95th Street Northwest and Minnesota Highway 9 in Norway Lake Township.

The 15-year-old brother, William John Dahl, was the UTV driver, according to the accident report. William died on Jan. 9.

The driver of the pickup truck, Matthew Leroy Anderson, 40, of Sunburg, was not injured in the crash. He was wearing a seat belt, as were the two younger boys in the UTV.

Alcohol was not involved in the crash, according to the State Patrol. Road conditions were reported as snowy and icy at the time.

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UPDATE: New London, Minnesota, teen in UTV crash dies; brothers remain hospitalized

Dale Morin — Wed, 10 Jan 2024 20:48:20 GMT

WILLMAR, Minn.— One of three New London boys in a UTV that collided with a pickup truck Sunday has died, and the others remain hospitalized.

The 15-year-old UTV driver, William John Dahl, died of his injuries, according to an update made Wednesday morning, Jan. 10 to the Minnesota State Patrol accident report. The other two boys have since been identified as well. Drew Wayne Dahl, 10, and Harrison Jeffrey Dahl, 11, were passengers in the Polaris Ranger driven by their brother.

According to a Caring Bridge site for the family, the younger boys remain hospitalized.

The boys' mother Lara Dahl wrote in a post dated Jan. 9 that “William went to be with Jesus at 5:26 this morning. He was surrounded by so much love. I truly believe he was treated at the gates of heaven with open arms. This kid, one we are so proud of. … He was the best son, best brother, best friend anyone could ever have.”

According to another post, the family decided to donate Will’s organs.

According to the Caring Bridge journal, a CT scan showed Drew had suffered a bruise and two small lacerations to his liver. He had his first round of physical therapy and was sitting up and eating.

“He walked on his own to say his goodbyes to William and check on and hold Harry’s hand,” Lara wrote.

She also stated that Harrison is still being monitored by nurses and doctors, writing that he is a fighter. After a decrease in his sedation medicine led to some unwanted movement and increased swelling, he was put back under sedation and will have an MRI on Thursday morning.

In a Caring Bridge update, Lara went on to say that she and her husband, Mike Dahl, have “sobbed over the loss of our son and our family not ever being the same.”

They also asked for prayers for their other son, Gage, who "has lost a brother and his best friend, his hunting and fishing partner."

She continued, “We live for those four boys. We have made it a point from day one that our family is always number one. We do everything together, and going forward this is going to be hard with our Will missing.”

The family has been set up with temporary housing at a Ronald McDonald house as they wait for Harrison’s recovery, according to Lara.

An online fundraiser through GoFundMe has been started to help support the Dahl family and their medical expenses. So far, more than $117,000 has been raised for the family within two days.

“We are amazed at all the support we are getting from our family, our close friends who are family, our community that we live in, our community that we work in, and complete strangers,” Lara Dahl wrote on the Caring Bridge page. “We can’t thank you enough for all the prayers, love and support people are showing our boys.”

She also thanked first responders who were dispatched to the accident Sunday and the doctors and nurses who have been caring for the boys since they arrived at Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis.

“The Children’s nurses and doctors are some of the best I have ever seen,” she wrote. “We have had the best care here, so compassionate, caring, and gentle to our babies. Answering all our questions, talking to us about each step and what we do next.”

Lara Dahl wrote in a post dated Jan. 8 that the entire family had gone out to pick up trail cameras and deer stands and walk some trails on Sunday. Once they were done, William, Harrison and Drew asked if they could drive the UTV back home, “something they had done dozens of times before,” Lara said. The three brothers got in the UTV while she, Mike, and Gage traveled back home in their truck.

The crash was reported at 3:49 p.m. Sunday, after the UTV collided with a pickup truck at the intersection of 95th Street Northwest and Minnesota Highway 9, in Norway Lake Township.

The driver of the pickup truck, Matthew Leroy Anderson, 40, of Sunburg, was not injured in the crash. He was wearing a seat belt as were the two younger boys in the UTV.

Alcohol was not involved in the crash, according to the State Patrol. Road conditions were reported as snowy and icy at the time.

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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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Sisters plead guilty to theft from township, church in Kandiyohi County

Dale Morin — Wed, 06 Sep 2023 00:27:15 GMT

WILLMAR, Minn. — Two sisters alleged to have stolen nearly $100,000 from a church and a township in Kandiyohi County each pleaded guilty to four counts of felony theft.

Debra Kaye Hamborg, 61, of Sunburg, and Annette Marie Dingmann, 60, of Benson, each pleaded guilty in back-to-back hearings Sept. 1 in Kandiyohi County District Court. In exchange, several remaining theft counts against each of them will be dismissed.

According to the plea petitions for both Hamborg and Dingmann, there will be no more than 30 days in executed jail time, and an additional 60-day staggered sentence may be waived if they remain compliant with pending conditions.

Per court records, $99,641.88 will be paid in restitution to both the Sunburg Free Lutheran Church and Norway Lake Township.

Hamborg pleaded guilty to two counts of theft by swindle and theft by taking transferable or movable property without consent. She admitted to knowingly taking funds and then attempting to cover it up while she was treasurer for both the church and township.

Dingmann also pleaded to two counts of theft by swindle and two counts of taking property without consent. When questioned by the judge, she admitted knowing the checks Hamborg wrote to her and other family members were from the accounts of both the church and township.

Dingmann also admitted to working with her sister in order to get money into accounts owned by her and two other family members. She maintained, as outlined in the complaint, that she was the only one in her family who knew the source of the funds.

Hamborg and Dingmann were both represented by Theresa Patock. Both agreed on the record, before they waived their rights to a trial, that they were sufficiently represented by Patock and had discussed at length the issues, including potential pitfalls and conflicts, that come from being represented by the same attorney.

Both women are currently on conditional release, including having no contact with the Sunburg Free Lutheran Church leadership or Norway Lake Township board members. They are also excluded from the church and Norway Lake Township building.

Hamborg is not allowed to leave Minnesota without court written approval.

Both women are currently scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 26 in Kandiyohi County District Court.

According to the criminal complaint, the alleged theft from Sunburg Free Lutheran Church totals more than $81,000 over five years from 2018 to 2022. It states there were fraudulent checks or charges totaling more than $18,000 from Norway Lake Township over two years, from 2020 to 2022, times at which Hamborg had access to both organizations’ funds.

A deputy met with a member of the church in February 2022 after Benson Bank notified him of suspicious checks being cashed.

The following day, deputies spoke with Hamborg at her residence. She said she knew law enforcement was there because she had been writing checks that she shouldn’t have. According to the complaint, she mentioned that her sister had been having financial problems after being the victim of identity theft and that she had written a couple checks to help her and her family out.

Hamborg eventually provided carbon copies of the checks and the checkbook for the church.

Upon review, it was found that a total of $47,000 worth of checks had been written out to three family members and a dairy farm owned by the family from May 2, 2021, to May 2, 2022.

A partner in the dairy farm told the investigating detective that he noticed numerous checks over the past few years had been written from their farm checking account to two of his family members, including Dingmann. He said large deposits going into the farm account were comparable to the checks written out to the two relatives, according to the complaint.

Another bank provided copies of checks from the Sunburg Free Church account from 2016 to 2018. Bank staff estimated that the amount the church lost was higher than the one provided on the copies, according to the complaint.

Court records indicate a detective made contact with a Norway Lake Township Board member, who reported that a review of the township’s financial records had begun due to suspicions that Hamborg, the treasurer at the time, was embezzling money.

The board member reported to law enforcement that checks had been written out to several of Hamborg’s family members.

He explained the township signs checks only at monthly meetings and that checks issued on other dates would be suspect, according to the complaint.

He said the Norway Lake Township account is set up to require signatures of both the chairperson and the treasurer on checks and he suspected that Hamborg had been forging the chairperson’s signature in order for the checks to clear.

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West central Minnesota Syttende Mai celebrations fill a weekend with Norwegian culture

Shelby Lindrud — Sat, 13 May 2023 12:11:00 GMT

SUNBURG — Whether you have a drop of Norwegian blood or not, everyone can celebrate Norwegian Constitution Day, better known as Syttende Mai.

Starting May 19, there will be three Syttende Mai celebrations taking place in the area. All will include food, entertainment and a love for Norwegian culture.

It starts at 6:30 p.m. May 19 at First Lutheran Church of Norway Lake, 9 miles east of New London on Kandiyohi County Road 40. The Norway Lake Lutheran Historical Association is holding its annual Syttende Mai celebration. The event includes a catered meatball supper that includes rommegrot, lefse, krumkakke, lemon bars and other tasty treats.

The entertainment for the evening will be Custom Made Band, featuring Kris Nelson-Jenson and Steve Mahlum.

Everyone is welcome and the association urges people to spread the word about the supper to their friends and neighbors. While not required, those planning to attend can RSVP on the event's Facebook page, to give planners a general count.

Next up on is A Taste of Syttende Mai on Saturday, May 20, in Milan. This year is the 17th annual celebration.

Highlights include the Kviteseid Smorgaas Tea at the Kviteseid Church from 10 a.m. to 1p.m., musicians playing in downtown Milan from noon to 2 p.m. and the Uff-da Parade starting at 2 p.m. Visitors will be able to enjoy traditional Norwegian arts, crafts and food throughout the day. There will also be vendors and children's activities.

The most Norwegian of weekends wraps up on May 21 with the 18th Sunburg Syttende Mai festival. The activities include a tractor pull, car show, baseball, a parade and a fiddling performance.

The fun begins with the pancake breakfast starting at 7:30 a.m. at Hope Lutheran Church followed by a 9:30 a.m. non-denominational service at the church. Those wanting to take part in the tractor pull can begin registering at 9 a.m. at Glacial Plains Co-op, with the event to begin at 10:45 a.m. Spectators should bring their own chairs.

A boutique will open up at 11 a.m. in the Sunburg Community Center with various vendors and the Sunburg Troll Car Club will open its display in downtown Sunburg at noon.

First pitch is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. at Reigstad Park for the baseball game between the Norway Lake-Sunburg Lakers and the New London-Spicer Twins. After the final out, spectators can line up to watch the Grande Day Parade at 3 p.m.

Starting at 4 p.m. behind the community center there will be a fiddle program with the Sunburg Community Fiddlers. Joining the fiddlers will be special guests Dempsey Schroeder and Maggie Harp. Spectators should bring a chair to sit on.

Also starting at 4 p.m. is the firemen's supper at the fire hall. The kids pedal tractor pull will start at 4:30 p.m. behind the fire hall.

The celebration wraps up with the 5:30 p.m. Troll Car Club raffle drawing and the 6 p.m. quilt raffle drawing, both at the fire hall.

Syttende Mai, literally the "seventeenth of May," is Constitution Day, to celebrate the signing of the Constitution of Norway on May 17, 1814. It declared Norway an independent kingdom following the Napoleonic Wars, though there was an official union between Sweden and Norway until 1905. The day is celebrated across the nation and internationally where Norwegian migrants have settled.

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Man convicted of 1970 mass murder in Sunburg, Minnesota, was strangled to death in 1988 by his roommate in their St. Paul apartment

Mark Wasson — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 15:05:00 GMT