The February 5, 2002 murders of Dan O'Connell and James Ellison in a funeral home in Hudson, WI have now been pinned on Roman Catholic priest Fr. Ryan Erickson, who presided over O'Connell's funeral.
Erickson, who committed suicide this year after investigators started questioning him about involvement with O'Connell and Ellison's deaths, apparently had knowledge of those murders that had not been publicly disclosed.
The current theory is that a teenage boy in trouble with the law went to Erickson, a youth pastor, who on at least three occasions served that boy alcohol and molested him. Unnamed sources say that O'Connell, whose father is on the church council, learned of the charges and confronted Erickson, who killed him and his intern, University of Minnesota student Ellison.
While Erickson's parents said the evidence is "weak" and "our son had nothing to do with this awful crime"; a judge and DA considered it fairly conclusive, including a reported confession from Erickson to a deacon at the church.
Ryan Erickson was not convicted of anything because he wasn't put on trial for anything, and he wasn't put on trial because he was already dead.
ReplyDeleteThe testimony of the deacon, Russell Lundgren, in a court hearing is not what you say, according to this news article:
http://www.rivertowns.net/daily/hso/c051003/
I don't understand your point about Mary Pagel and Dan O'Connell. Mary Pagel stated that Dan O'Connell told her he was going to confront Erickson, that she told him to go to the police, and he said he could handle it. He was murdered that day. When police interviewed Erickson, he knew details that the police had not disclosed to the public, including that O'Connell had been shot once in the back of the head while seated at his desk and Ellison had also been shot in the head. How did Erickson know these things if he wasn't the killer?
The material on his computer was photos of boys sleeping, in a folder named "my pictures/boys." If you think he was framed, who is the suspect, and why did Erickson kill himself?
Bishop Fliss has apologized for the actions of Erickson--he's apparently persuaded that Erickson committed these murders.
http://209.236.225.83/54848LN/LadysmithNews.taf?function=detail&Layout1_uid2=14406
Another summary:
http://www.planethuff.com/darkside/archives/001104.html