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Post by LadyBlue on May 8, 2004 21:41:03 GMT -5
A missing Lignite, North Dakota man has been found near Jamestown. The car driven by 52-year-old Donavan Ellis was found about 16 miles south of Jamestown Tuesday morning. Family members say Ellis was locked in the trunk, suffering from hypothermia. Stutsman County Sheriff Dave Orr believes it may have been a suicide attempt. Ellis was reported missing on Sunday. He was supposed to be going to see his daughter, then to Rochester, Minnesota for medical treatment. Hospital officials say Ellis is in stable but guarded condition in the intensive care unit. www.kvlytv11.com/news.shtml
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Post by LadyBlue on Nov 25, 2004 16:27:53 GMT -5
A gun and a body believed to be that of Norman Olson have been found in the same building where the body of the Alzheimer's-stricken man's wife was found nearly three weeks ago.
Adams County Sheriff Eugene Molbert said the latest discovery came Tuesday afternoon, in the abandoned building where the remains of Olson's wife, Yvonne, were found Nov. 5. Authorities said autopsy results were expected Friday to make a positive identification,
"I can't say for sure it's Norman, but I'm pretty sure it's him," Molbert said.
The gun found was "similar" to a handgun that has been missing from the Olsons' home in Hettinger, the sheriff said.
The body found Tuesday was in the attic of an abandoned home that was falling apart, Molbert said.
Searchers earlier had looked up through the ceiling and the attic appeared to be empty except for a barrel, he said. "The upper part of the body was inside the barrel," he said.
Norman Olson, 73, and Yvonne, 69, disappeared from their Hettinger home on Aug. 14. Authorities said Yvonne Olson was shot to death, and Norman Olson has been presumed dead.
Relatives said Norman Olson was suffering from Alzheimer's disease, but authorities were unsure if the condition was a factor in the couple's disappearance.
Search efforts intensified earlier this month after the Olsons' car was found parked in a farm building near Hettinger. Yvonne Olson's body was found two days later.
Blake Olson, the couple's son, said the remains discovered Tuesday were found by Tami Bulik, a member of an Aberdeen, S.D., volunteer search-and-rescue team that had helped in the search earlier this month.
Bulik was searching on her own Tuesday afternoon. She said her bloodhound, Lilly, had repeatedly led her to the abandoned farmhouse.
"We owe her a debt of gratitude," Blake Olson said. "That would have been the last place we would have thought to go back and check again.
"We're grateful that Dad was found, but we're a little upset that it didn't happen three weeks ago."
Molbert said Bulik, a dog handler, had been in the abandoned house before. "I think the difference was, this time there was no wind," he said.
"I apologize to everyone in the family that this happened the way it did, but it did," Molbert said. Blake Olson said the family does not blame the sheriff.
Investigators said Yvonne Olson's death is being treated as a homicide, but said they did not have enough evidence to determine whether someone other than the couple was involved.
Blake Olson said family members still think a third person might have been involved, because they do not believe Norman was capable of planning or carrying out a crime.
"It makes no sense. It makes no sense that the car was a mile and a half away" from where the remains were found, he said.
Molbert refused to speculate. "There are hundreds of theories out there, but I'm keeping an open mind yet," he said.
"There is a sense of relief," Blake Olson said. "At least we'll have them both home now, and we can lay them to rest. As far as why this happened, or who is responsible, we don't know any more today than we did three weeks ago. There's a lot of investigating to be done."
The funeral for Yvonne Olson was held last Saturday. Jackie Muggerud, the couple's daughter, said relatives who came from Arizona were still in town.
"We're just hoping to get closure to this," she said.
Jim Hanley, a founding member of the Aberdeen-based 911-SAR volunteer group, said he was glad the body was found.
"If the snow would have flown, and there was a foot of snow on the ground, (the search) would have drug on through the holidays, and that's not a good deal," Hanley said. "I'm very pleased."
Molbert said he had been planning another search of every vacant house in the area, starting with the house where Yvonne's body was found.
"Everything we did was well worth it," he said. "I'm relieved. I just wish it could have come sooner."
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Post by LadyBlue on Nov 26, 2004 11:02:39 GMT -5
Human remains, believed to be those of Norman Olson, were found Tuesday afternoon in the same abandoned farmhouse northwest of Hettinger where his wife's remains were found nearly three weeks ago, the Adams County sheriff said.
A handgun found near the remains was a "similar type" to the .22 caliber that disappeared along with the Alzheimer's-striken Hettinger man and his wife, Yvonne Olson, Adams County Sheriff Eugene Molbert said. The gun was sent to the state crime lab in Bismarck for analysis.
The human remains also went to Bismarck -- to the state medical examiner's office, for an autopsy. Authorities said autopsy results were expected Friday to make a positive identification.
"I can't say for sure it's Norman, but I'm pretty sure it's him," Molbert said.
The autopsy results are also expected to reveal the cause of death and an approximate time of death.
Yvonne, 69, and Norman Olson, 73, disappeared from their Hettinger home in August. Search efforts intensified earlier this month when the couple's car was found in a Quonset about seven miles northwest of town.
A lone dog handler from Aberdeen, S.D., and her bloodhound made the discovery at about 3 p.m. Tuesday. A state Bureau of Criminal Investigation agent found Yvonne Olson's body in the same farmhouse Nov. 4. Yvonne Olson had been shot to death and investigators are treating her death as a homicide.
Molbert said they didn't find the remains earlier because they were located in a space near the ceiling of the dilapidated house, and high winds had hampered previous dog searches. There were no stairs or a ladder leading up to what Molbert described as an "enclosed ceiling."
"The building was so rotten we couldn't climb," Molbert said.
Searchers earlier had looked up through the ceiling and the attic appeared to be empty except for a barrel, he said. "The upper part of the body was inside the barrel," he said.
Molbert said the body was partially covered with garbage, building material and "real old stuff." He declined to comment on whether anything besides the gun was found nearby.
The Olson's son, Blake, said the family was upset that the remains weren't "found a few weeks ago when mom was. Somebody didn't do their job."
Blake Olson and other family members returned to Hettinger for Yvonne Olson's funeral Saturday and Harold Olson's funeral Nov. 12. Harold Olson was Norman Olson's 84-year-old brother, who died Nov. 8 of an apparent heart attack while deer hunting.
"We would've liked to have their (mom's and dad's) funerals together," he said.
Blake Olson said that although the sheriff has taken full responsibility for not thoroughly searching the house, the blame lies elsewhere.
"He (Molbert) did the right thing. He called BCI, and I think they dropped the ball," Blake Olson said. "He's a small-town sheriff. He's not a kidnap, murder expert. That's why he has them (BCI), I assume."
BCI assisted the county sheriff with the investigation. About nine agents were sent to Hettinger after the Olsons' car was found.
Phone calls to BCI were referred to the attorney general's office. A spokesperson there said the office wasn't commenting on the case and referred all questions to Molbert.
When asked if the incident appeared to be a murder-suicide or if a third party may have been involved, Molbert said "we're not making any judgment on that yet."
Blake Olson said he believes "now more than ever" that a third party was involved. He said things like the car being parked a mile and a half away from the where the remains were found just don't add up.
Blake Olson gave special thanks to the dog handler who went out of her way to assist in the search.
"We owe her a debt of gratitude that we can never repay because if it wasn't for her, we probably never would have found him," he said. "We would've never went back to a house that was supposedly searched by experts."
The remains were found by Tami Bulik, a member of an Aberdeen, S.D., volunteer search-and-rescue team that had helped in the search earlier this month. Bulik was searching on her own Tuesday.
Molbert said he was glad the remains were found, but "I just wish it could've been sooner." The investigation into the case is ongoing.
"We're not done yet," Molbert said.
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Post by LadyBlue on Jan 2, 2005 7:17:27 GMT -5
A body believed to be that of a missing Dilworth man was found Friday night in North Dakota, authorities said.
David Hinojosa, 22, disappeared this week. Clay County Sheriff Bill Bergquist said someone involved in the case led authorities to a ravine near Casselton, N.D., where the body was found about 8:20 p.m.
"We would have never found it without him showing us," Bergquist said. He declined to identify the person who led authorities to the body.
Investigators can't positively identify the body because IDs were missing. The body will be taken to Bismarck, N.D., for an autopsy, Bergquist said.
Three men in their 20s are in custody in Hinojosa's death and face murder charges. According to court records, one of the suspects told police Hinojosa was struck in the head with an ax in a dispute over a drug debt.
Authorities believe Hinojosa was killed Tuesday near Glyndon.
Earlier Friday, authorities said residents of Casselton should check their garbage for clothes that could be linked to the Hinojosa's disappearance. Bergquist said anyone who finds clothing in their garbage should contact the Cass County, N.D., Sheriff's Department. He did not provide other information.
The men charged in the death were expected to be charged on Monday.
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Post by LadyBlue on Apr 4, 2005 12:15:19 GMT -5
A brother of a missing Wahpeton woman said his family believes a body found in a river in southeast North Dakota is that of his sister.
Marv Haugen, brother of Mina Kay Breker, said The Rev. Dale Lagodinski of St. John's Catholic Church in Wahpeton assured the family that the body was Breker.
"He said it's her glasses, it's her jacket. It's Mina," Haugen said. "We can trust Father Dale."
Wahpeton Police said the body appeared to match the physical and clothing description of Breker, 48, who disappeared Nov. 11.
The body was discovered by two fishermen Friday afternoon in the Bois de Sioux River in Wahpeton. Haugen said Lagodinski rushed to the scene once he heard a body was found in the river.
Wahpeton Police said that the medical examiner's office in Bismarck has not confirmed the woman's identity or cause of death.
Haugen said the family started making funeral arrangements.
"We know (the medical examiner) will tell us what we already know," he said. "We wish it was a different outcome."
Breker didn't take her purse or vehicle with her when she disappeared, after leaving the house she shares with two daughters. A third daughter is a sophomore at North Dakota State University.
Authorities said Breker was being treated for depression days before she was last seen.
Before her disappearance, Breker worked six years as an executive secretary and financial assistant at St. John's.
Previous searches of the Wahpeton area turned up no new information, including searches of the Red and Bois de Sioux rivers.
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Post by LadyBlue on Jul 17, 2005 9:08:41 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]Mina Kay Breker[/glow] Breker was located deceased in 2005. She had been missing since November 11, 2004 from Wahpeton, North Dakota.
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