On this 4th birthday of Ochuk’s Blog I offer you my memories and chronicles of the O’Connell Family Funeral Home Murders which happened 5 years ago on February 5th. This post has been in me for some time. Though it is long and detailed it has been one of the easiest things for me to write. Many of the following events were covered at large in the news media save my perspective. I would be content if this were the last post I were to write.

As I drove eastward on I-94 I came upon the exit signs for Afton, MN. One of them, a brown colored sign, sent a warm memory through me as I was reminded that there was a ski area near by called Afton Alps. I spent many evenings alone and with friends on the slopes in my childhood through my school’s ski club, but that was not the reason for my nostalgia. No, it was because skiing at Afton Alps was the first suggestion brought to me by a new relative—an uncle who recently married my mom’s sister Jennie—Dan O’Connell.

It’s funny to think that Dan was only 25 years old when I met him. I was only 10 when Jennie and Dan were married in 1988. I don’t think we talked about skiing until a few years later. After all, it’s a little weird to have a stranger quickly come into your family, though Dan would not feel like a stranger for long. But I do remember I danced wildly at their wedding, especially when the song “La Bamba” came on. I think there is some video tape somewhere to prove that (unfortunately that would not be the last of my wild wedding dancing, though thankfully it is a rare occurrence). I even remember dancing with the bride, and not surprisingly Jennie was all smiles. It was truly the happiest day of her life.

This time I was not making my way to Hudson, WI to pay a family visit. The purpose of this journey was to access the public records of the St. Croix County Courthouse surrounding the events of my uncle’s murder. It was a trip that was long overdue and one that I felt I needed to make. I had recently found myself telling the story to a curious listener who was filled with questions. To my dismay I could not remember many of the details and wasn’t even sure I had the date right (I didn’t), so I felt that I needed to make a pilgrimage of remembrance if you will. I promised myself I would never forget.

I share this story for my benefit and those who read. These are my memories.

Fear and Trembling
On February 5, 2002 I was on a camping trip. It was the first time I went winter camping and I remember clearly not ever wanting to wake up in single digit temperatures again. The experience, however, was strangely refreshing even though I had an odd dream about my cousin Kyle in relation to his father. Like all of my dreams I didn’t know what it was about. The following day was spent hiking around the Superior trail north of Duluth. It was a beautiful day and the lake was unusually calm. My friend Dave and I hadn’t connected in a while so it was for the most part the stuff good memories are made of.

I got home after dusk excited to tell my parents about my travails and adventures, but mom and dad were abnormally unexcited about my return. Before I could say anything my father somberly told me the news, “Hey Adam, I have some bad news. Dan O’Connell was murdered.”

You might be able to imagine what my response was to hearing news like that, but I can assure you it was not what you would expect. After the obligatory, “What!” it was explained to me that he died via gunshot wound to the head. No witnesses. No leads. Dan’s assistant named James Ellison was killed too. My reaction was stunned silence. When you are told something like that you feel strangely blank. Words fail. All that can be uttered are cliché exclamations like, “Oh my God.” Life always moves faster than your emotional state in those situations, and my feelings took a while to sprint the marathon distance between a happy reality and one of incredible sorrow. After a few questions about the situation I went to my room to unpack. I didn’t shed any tears until a few hours later.

The wake and funeral were a blur of tears and fuzzy images that didn’t seem to fit reality. Dan always smiled when I saw him. He had a warm look to him that could put you at ease. The person lying in the casket was not him, or at least the way I knew him. Eyes closed. Expressionless face. Lifeless. It is a hard memory.

However, as strange it is to say, the funeral did have its pleasantries. In a paradoxical way it was nice to see everyone. The whole family from far and wide came to grieve and offer support. My family on my mom’s side is pretty close so it had a balming effect on the gaping wound that we all felt.

Attendance to the funeral was huge. I do not have the actual numbers but the seating at St. Patrick’s church was filled to capacity. The wake, I believe, boasted over some 5,000 visitors (this number is not verified). People lined out the door in the cold all day to pay their respects.

Dan was an EMT ambulance driver for over ten years and afterwards took up the family business of undertaking. As a mortician he developed deep ties to the city of Hudson and was considered a pillar of the community. At the funeral 200 or so EMTs paid the family a solute while a Scottish bag pipe band played Amazing Grace as we exited. The procession was followed by 3 fire engines, a few police cars and, as I recall counting, 23 ambulances from around the metro area (one news paper said more than 64 emergency vehicles were present). When we arrived at the cemetery a Medical One helicopter did a low flyover as the pallbearers carried the casket to the grave site. Several people from the news media, who were not allowed access, lined up at a distance taking photographs. It was a very dramatic and meaningful experience.

The clearest memory I have of the event was during the burial rites. They had shuffled us under a dimly lit tent into padded seats reserved for family members. I sat off to the right and observed the cryptic and methodical process the Catholic priest went through in sanctifying the body. As he finished, a fireman’s bell tolled and the unearthly silence was shattered by a deafening siren blast from one of the fire engines. Jennie let out a wail. I, and everyone around me, trembled. It all sunk in at that moment.

Dan was gone.

The Investigation
It is a gross understatement to say whole incident was a total mystery. Dan and his assistant James were victims of an apparently motiveless crime. Several crackpot theories buzzed around the case. Two that stand out are the ones that postulated drug crazed potheads wanting a supply of formaldehyde to smoke “wet sticks,” and anti-embalming zealots religiously motivated by desecration of the body (my personal favorite). But those were quickly dismissed and a despairing wonder lingered. Who could do such a thing? What did Dan and James do to deserve this? I secretly speculated the possibility that Dan had a life no one new about. I never shared this, but after the John Doe ruling I wasn’t surprised to find out others felt the same curiosity. Thankfully we were relieved of that burden.

The Official Story
The following is based on the Hudson Police Department’s Assessment of the double homicides at the O’Connell Family Funeral Home. The findings in this document were judged to establish probable cause by the St. Croix County Court in a John Doe hearing on October 3, 2005. It is acknowledged by this author that the ruling does not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Ryan Erickson committed the murders. The author does, however, concur with the Judge who said, “I conclude that Ryan Erickson probably committed these crimes in question. On a scale of 1 to 10 as far as strength of evidence, I’d consider this a 10.” Anyone who wishes to dispute the evidence is politely asked to bring it up with the Court who accepted it.

The Crime Scene
On Tuesday, February 5, 2002 Dan O’Connell and James Ellison expired from head trauma caused by separate single shots from a 9mm handgun. They were found by a St. Croix Medical Examiner who had arrived to sign a death certificate. Both bodies were found in the office at the O’Connell Family Funeral Home. The homicides are believed to have happened between 1:08 and 1:22 PM. Dan was found sitting on the floor behind his desk in an upright position. James was slumped over a desk chair. Based on an analysis of the crime scene photos Dan was shot when he tried to get up from his chair, and James was probably not in the room during the time of the murder. It is thought that the gunman left the office which James subsequently entered and noticed Dan on the floor. At this point the gunman re-entered the office and fired two rounds. One missed and hit the wall causing James to drop his stack of papers and the other struck him in the head. Both victims died instantly.

Initial investigations revealed neither forced entry nor any personal belongings missing. Burglary and robbery were quickly ruled out. To this day the murder weapon has not been found.

The Prime Suspect
For years there was little evidence that pointed to any one suspect. Detectives had many “persons of interest” on their list but very few leads. Yet one person in particular kept accumulating circumstantial evidence that lead investigators to follow up on multiple occasions. Fr. Ryan Erickson, a priest at St. Patrick’s Church where Dan attended Mass was observed to have a history of sexual abuse, inconsistencies concerning his whereabouts during the time of the murders, unusual knowledge of the crime scene, easy access to multiple firearms, a reason for motive, incriminating statements and behavior, a confession to the killings by a confidant, and problematic arguments in a Last Will & Testament.

Clergy Sexual Abuse
On April 8, 2003 the HPD received a report from the Bismarck, ND Police that alleged the sexual assault by Ryan Erickson against a teen-aged boy. Upon being interviewed, the victim indicated that he and a friend were given a lot of alcohol at St. Patrick’s rectory while they visited Erickson and that he was sexually assaulted. The victim was re-interviewed a year later and stated he was assaulted 5-10 times throughout the course of two years and was provided with copious amounts of alcohol. He also stated that Erickson stored two hand guns in the bedroom closet in the rectory. The other boy alleged that Erickson was “grooming” him sexually, and on one occasion witnessed him toy with a BB gun aimed at parishioners he did not like at the St. Patrick’s School.

Inconsistencies
When interviewed on November 11, 2004 Ryan Erickson indicated that he remembered the day of the murders and said that he was on his way to a tobacco shop to buy cigars at about 1:30 PM. When he returned he said he was informed of the murders by his church secretary and drove up to the funeral home at about 1:45 – 2:00 PM and met up with another priest. They were denied access to the crime scene and left after five minutes. Erickson then stated he proceeded to Jennie O’Connell’s home to visit with her and Dan’s parents Tom and Janet O’Connell (who were in Florida at the time). He was given a ride to her home by an “unknown person” at about 2:45-3:00 PM. The alibi Erickson gave for this “unknown person” was later proven false.

Erickson was asked about the specifics of the crime and stated that Dan and James were shot once. Then he added, “James was going through the door and out a door? And Dan was behind his desk? But I, of course, have not, I wouldn’t even know where his office is.” He was also reported to have said that the victims were shot in the “back of the head” on the day of the murders. This was unusual since details of the crime scene had not been made public, particularly about the movement of the victims and the placement of their bodies.

On December 7, 2004 Erickson was re-interviewed and admitted to giving alcohol to the boy who had alleged sexual abuse and a number of other boys, but denied any further illegal action occurred. When questioned about the homicides he stated that he first heard of them from his church secretary after he returned from buying pipe tobacco, and later stated that he did not recall where he was between 12:30 and 3:00 PM that day. This contradicted his earlier story about buying cigars, and conspicuously left out his contact with the other priest and the victim’s loved ones during this time.

Details are sketchy with conflicting accounts from witnesses about the whereabouts of Erickson between 2:30 and 6:30 PM. When the church secretary was interviewed she was told that she did not first hear of the murders until 2:00 PM (2:11 by the phone records) and attempted to call Erickson on his cell phone to no avail. According to her, Erickson was informed of the murders between 2:30 – 3:00 PM and retired to his office not to be seen again the rest of the day. Another witness was told by Erickson that he received a phone call to “ID the bodies” and another reported that he was summoned to “anoint the bodies” contradicting his testimony that he was not allowed in the vicinity of the crime scene. Afterwards he is said to have visited Jennie’s home during “the hours of darkness” (at dusk between 5:00 – 6:00 PM) and was reported by Jennie’s mother Helen to have “blessed the funeral home with Dan in it.”

Perhaps the strangest part of Ryan Erickson’s timeline is that he never once cited an alibi who claimed that he asked her take a nap at her home. According to her testimony, she claimed to have seen Erickson sleeping on her couch at 1:30 PM. Erickson’s lack of mentioning of this event and a claim from a witness who said he saw Erickson get into a vehicle at the funeral home at 1:55 PM severely undercut her story.

Firearm Findings
According to the Police Assessment Fr. Ryan was a man who possessed a considerable amount of firearms. He voluntarily turned over two 9mm firearms for testing to the HPD detectives, both of which tested negative for a match. Upon their return he said, “I’m glad they came back okay. I was worried someone may have broken into the rectory, used them for the crime, and returned them back to the rectory.” Upon his re-interview Erickson consented to a search of his vehicle where a fully loaded uncased semi-automatic 9mm handgun was found under the seat. When asked why he carried the uncased weapon, a violation of Wisconsin law, he said, “You just never know when you might hit a deer.” On another occasion previous to the interviews, Erickson’s church secretary witnessed him holding a long gun pretending to “shoot parishioners he did not like as they exited the St. Patrick’s Church parking lot.” During the time of the homicides the rectory housekeeper stated she was aware of several guns owned by Erickson, and was told after being shown one in the trunk of his car that one “never knows when they may need one.”

Motive
On January 29, 2004 a personal friend of Erickson’s was interviewed in regards to a conversation he had with Erickson about the homicides. According to this witness Erickson is reported to have said in the spring/summer of 2002 that he and O’Connell had a “big argument” the day before the murders. The witness also described an utterance by Erickson shortly after the murders to be directed towards Dan that “the devil is gone” (or “the demon is gone”).

On March 11, 2005 a school bus driver who serviced St. Patrick’s School told investigators she met with Dan O’Connell around 9:30 AM at the local Wal-Mart on the day of the murders. Dan offered to buy her coffee and proceeded to ask her if she saw Fr. Ryan often. She advised that she saw him everyday. Dan asked if he saw him mainly with girls or boys, and she said she saw him mainly with boys. Dan then said that he had a meeting with Erickson between 12:30 – 1:30 PM the time when Dan and James were killed. At Dan’s funeral she told his parents Tom and Janet she had spoken with him the morning of his murder. Tom and Janet advised that she contact the police with any information. She did not come forward immediately because she believed Erickson to be above reproach by virtue of his priesthood.

With motives of financial gain ruled out and in light of these testimonies, the HPD concluded that the possible motive for Dan and James’ homicides pertained to the parallel investigation that Ryan Erickson had been confronted by O’Connell and acted criminally to protect his reputation as a priest.

Statement of Admissions
On December 19, 2004 Ryan Erickson committed suicide via hanging in the parish of St. Mary’s of the Seven Dolors in Hurley, WI. Following up on the suicide, it came to investigators attention that Erickson had dinner with two of his friends before his suicide. Erickson uttered the following during a conversation about the murders, “Well what if I went and admitted and said that you were my accomplices?” It is not clear from the Police Assessment if he was serious or joking.

On December 20, 2004 HPD detectives interviewed a Deacon that co-labored with Fr. Ryan at the parish of St. Mary’s, and stated that after his November 11, 2004 interview Erickson made a “spontaneous utterance” to the effect of, “My God I done it and they’re gonna catch me” in reference to the homicides. The Deacon asked if he had realized what he said and Erickson did not respond, but a few days later said he did not mean what he said. Later the Deacon mailed a statement regarding Erickson’s utterance to the HPD that remained consistent with above account except that it may have been said after Erickson’s December 7, 2004 interview in Ladysmith, WI. The letter further indicated that after clarification was asked for his utterance Erickson said, “Do you know what they do to priests in prison; I don’t even want to think about it; I’m not going to prison.”

Problems in the Last Will & Testament
Ryan Erickson left behind a Last Will & Testament that contained the following remarks denying any involvement with the murders: “None of my guns matched, no DNA was found, no one saw me leaving from the funeral parlor, and I have cooperated with the investigators. Prove that I did it… Produce hard evidence… You cannot.” Hudson Police read this to offer the legal argument ‘What proof do you have’ vs. an actual argument ‘I didn’t do it.’ This was found to exhibit the tendency of deception rather than innocence. Furthermore, the statement ‘no one saw me leaving’ does not deny he was not there. The Police argued that an innocent person is more likely to say something like ‘I wasn’t there.’

Conclusions
From this accumulation of circumstantial evidence the St. Croix County Court ruled that the probability of the following scenario was a “10 out of 10.” Dan O’Connell had certain knowledge of Ryan Erickson’s illegal activities with young boys and confronted him about it the evening before resulting in a “big argument.” Dan had set up an afternoon meeting the following day with Erickson to further address the matter. This is consistent with Dan’s associates testifying that meetings were “pushed back” because “something came up” which concurred with the school bus driver’s testimony that Dan had planned to meet with Ryan Erickson. Erickson entered the funeral home office shortly after 1:00 PM and shot O’Connell and quickly exited. To his alarm he discovered James Ellison was present during the murder and re-entered the office and dispensed with the witness. This was done to protect his reputation as a priest.

The Aftermath
It is not an overstatement to say that the news of this information rocked the Hudson community as well as the on looking media frenzy that surround the case. Nor is it surprising to say that it was not well received by many ardent Erickson supporters who testified to his impeccable character. Still, the weight of the evidence pointed to no one else and the ruling so far as I know has not been rebuffed with any serious merit.

Dan’s parents Tom and Janet have appealed to no less than the Pope himself for accountability and disciplinary action to be taken against the Diocese. Unfortunately, I have not kept up with the aftermath of the Church’s response, though I think it has offered an apology for not taking serious action against Fr. Ryan on troubling habits that were noticed as early as 1992 and throughout his seminary career.

Some Catholic commentators seeking reform of the Church’s policies have noted that Dan O’Connell was a true father exposing a masquerading one.

I myself along with everyone else was shocked by the events. The front page of the local newspaper had a picture of my mother and grandmother sitting in the court room supporting Jennie with stern faces as each brutal fact was revealed and entered into public record. Later I got the opportunity to ask Jennie how she received the ruling and of course she was very pleased. Apparently she knew all along of the status of the investigation as sordid detail after detail poured in. She was finally free to let the truth be known. It was a vindicating day as she was rewarded for her amazing ability to keep silent about the investigation as to not compromise it in any way. Today she is the proud mother of two flourishing children that exhibit the characteristics of their generous father. She is the strongest woman—nay—person I know. I am deeply proud of her and cannot express enough how much I admire her character.

It would be a travesty to forget the Ellison family in all of this. What the media naturally dubbed the “O’Connell slayings” often forgot the diligent intern was close to graduating from the University of Minnesota with his degree in mortuary science. Classmates put together a scrapbook remembering the young man as good-natured and hard-working. His family too is to be lauded for their courage and integrity in not divulging the facts as they continually received briefs from investigators leading up to the hearing. His family was kind and amicable even during their grief. I surmised after meeting them that they were probably very jovial people under normal circumstances as was our family. But sometimes you meet people under the most unbearable of circumstances. Even more disquieting is that those circumstances contained the murderer of your loved one assisting in the functions of their funeral ceremonies. Yes it is true: he was there.

Some have asked me where I thought God was in all of this. There is only one answer I can come up with: He was present. I can’t say for sure that this experience has strengthened everyone’s faith, but for me the 23rd Psalm has made more sense when I read, “As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” Mostly, I thought of these passages in relation to others, especially Jesus’ words in the book of Matthew, “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory.” And, “Do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.” Somehow, through these and other passages I came to trust that God would see justice done if not in this life then the next.

I have written this in memory of Dan. I know that I have chronicled many details and have been comprehensive in my descriptions. I thank the reader for laboring this far in my summary. I hope that you will come away from this with a deeper appreciation for life and a greater sense of the suddenness of death. Life can end at any moment and what we do with the moments we have make all the difference. If this has blessed you, I encourage you with the same words written on a note given to me by my uncle Terry: “When alone or with friends raise one to Dan.” Live life and love people.

Blessings to you,

Adam

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 20th, 2007 at 9:16 am and is filed under The Best of Ochuk, P.S. You Rock My World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.