bloodrayne
10-03-2005, 01:16 AM
Sources: Priest Killed Hudson Funeral Home Workers
Hudson, Wisconsin - Prosecutors said they will present evidence showing that a Fr. Ryan Erickson, a Roman Catholic priest, murdered Dan O'Connell and James Ellison in a funeral home more than three years ago.
Since Feb. 5, 2002, the motive behind the shootings of O'Connell, 39, and Ellison, 22, has been an unsolved puzzle, until now.
Eric Johnson, the St. Croix County District Attorney said, "If the information comes out and the objective facts are there and people can look at those facts and make their own decisions, then I think justice is served."
Sources said Erickson was trying to cover up allegations of molesting a teenager at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Hudson.
Sources said that sometime before February 2002, a teenage boy was sent to the church. He had gotten in trouble with the law and was assigned to do community service at the church.
The boy was placed under the care of Father Ryan Erickson, sources said. Erickson, 31, was a youth pastor, but sources said on at least three occasions, Erickson took the boy into the rectory of the church, served him alcohol and molested him.
Hudson Police have launched a separate investigation into those allegations.
The murders are tied to those allegations because O'Connell and his family are very well connected in the church. O'Connell’s father serves on the church council and Erickson presided over O'Connell's funeral.
Sources said O'Connell found out something about these allegations against Erickson. It is unknown what O'Connell found out, or if anyone will ever know what O'Connell found out, but sources said O'Connell told at least one person he was going to confront Erickson about what he was told.
Sources said that shortly after O'Connell confronted Erickson about the allegations, he and his intern were shot dead inside the O'Connell Family Funeral Home.
Prosecutors will present information to a judge showing Erickson was trying to cover up his trail of molestation by killing O'Connell and that University of Minnesota student Ellison was also killed because he was at the wrong place at the wrong time, sources said.
Hudson Police started questioning Erickson about the shootings and investigators have said Erickson did know information about the crime scene nobody else could have known. Shortly after investigators began questioning him, Erickson committed suicide.
Sources said police have solid evidence against Erickson, but police have never found the murder weapon.
Either way, police believe this puzzle is now solved.
The evidence will be presented during John Doe hearings next week. The hearings will take place behind closed doors before Circuit Judge Eric Lundell.
Lundell will rule whether evidence gathered by police provides enough probable cause that Erickson could have been charged with the crime, if he were still alive.
The hearings are expected to last three days and could include up to 15 witnesses.
Only the victims' and the priest's families will be allowed to attend the hearing, but transcripts of the testimony and other police documents will be released afterward.
Erickson's parents released a statement Friday calling the evidence in the case "very weak."
"We know in our hearts that our son had nothing to do with this awful crime and feel tremendous sympathy for the families of Mr. O'Connell and Mr. Ellison," the statement said.
Neither the O'Connell family nor the Ellison family wanted to comment on camera for the story. The families did say they look forward to next week’s court hearing, so the truth will finally come out.
In A Related Story: Questioned Priest Commits Suicide
Hurley, Wisconsin - A young priest questioned by police about a double murder has killed himself in the hallway between his church and rectory in northern Wisconsin, church officials said Monday.
The Rev. Ryan Erickson, 31, was found dead Sunday morning at St. Mary of the Seven Dolors in Hurley. Police were investigating the death, but declined to release any information or details.
The Rev. Philip Heslin, moderator of the Curia for the Catholic Diocese of Superior, the equivalent of the diocese's chief operating officer, said Erickson hung himself.
Police in Hudson recently questioned Erickson about the murders of Dan O'Connell and James Ellison, but the priest denied any involvement, Heslin said.
Heslin said he wasn't sure when police last talked to Erickson.
"We knew he was being investigated," Heslin said during a telephone interview Monday with The Associated Press. "But that's all we knew. I talked to him two days before this happened and he seemed in good spirits."
Heslin said he wasn't aware detectives had any conclusive evidence tying Erickson to the shootings.
"They told us not to say anything about this," he said, noting the investigation was still ongoing.
In Hurley, St. Mary had to cancel Masses on Sunday because they no longer had a priest, Heslin said.
"People were in dismay," he said. "Terrible."
"He was just the ultimate priest," Helen Kasper of Hurley, one of Erickson's parishioners, told the Daily Globe of Ironwood, Mich. "He was very strict in what he wanted done. He was very faithful to his religion."
Erickson told the Daily Globe in an interview when he arrived in Hurley he was nervous. He said he discouraged gum chewing during church and encouraged parishioners to attend confession often. He added that priests should go as well, because they are men who struggle with temptations like everyone else.
Hudson, Wisconsin - Prosecutors said they will present evidence showing that a Fr. Ryan Erickson, a Roman Catholic priest, murdered Dan O'Connell and James Ellison in a funeral home more than three years ago.
Since Feb. 5, 2002, the motive behind the shootings of O'Connell, 39, and Ellison, 22, has been an unsolved puzzle, until now.
Eric Johnson, the St. Croix County District Attorney said, "If the information comes out and the objective facts are there and people can look at those facts and make their own decisions, then I think justice is served."
Sources said Erickson was trying to cover up allegations of molesting a teenager at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Hudson.
Sources said that sometime before February 2002, a teenage boy was sent to the church. He had gotten in trouble with the law and was assigned to do community service at the church.
The boy was placed under the care of Father Ryan Erickson, sources said. Erickson, 31, was a youth pastor, but sources said on at least three occasions, Erickson took the boy into the rectory of the church, served him alcohol and molested him.
Hudson Police have launched a separate investigation into those allegations.
The murders are tied to those allegations because O'Connell and his family are very well connected in the church. O'Connell’s father serves on the church council and Erickson presided over O'Connell's funeral.
Sources said O'Connell found out something about these allegations against Erickson. It is unknown what O'Connell found out, or if anyone will ever know what O'Connell found out, but sources said O'Connell told at least one person he was going to confront Erickson about what he was told.
Sources said that shortly after O'Connell confronted Erickson about the allegations, he and his intern were shot dead inside the O'Connell Family Funeral Home.
Prosecutors will present information to a judge showing Erickson was trying to cover up his trail of molestation by killing O'Connell and that University of Minnesota student Ellison was also killed because he was at the wrong place at the wrong time, sources said.
Hudson Police started questioning Erickson about the shootings and investigators have said Erickson did know information about the crime scene nobody else could have known. Shortly after investigators began questioning him, Erickson committed suicide.
Sources said police have solid evidence against Erickson, but police have never found the murder weapon.
Either way, police believe this puzzle is now solved.
The evidence will be presented during John Doe hearings next week. The hearings will take place behind closed doors before Circuit Judge Eric Lundell.
Lundell will rule whether evidence gathered by police provides enough probable cause that Erickson could have been charged with the crime, if he were still alive.
The hearings are expected to last three days and could include up to 15 witnesses.
Only the victims' and the priest's families will be allowed to attend the hearing, but transcripts of the testimony and other police documents will be released afterward.
Erickson's parents released a statement Friday calling the evidence in the case "very weak."
"We know in our hearts that our son had nothing to do with this awful crime and feel tremendous sympathy for the families of Mr. O'Connell and Mr. Ellison," the statement said.
Neither the O'Connell family nor the Ellison family wanted to comment on camera for the story. The families did say they look forward to next week’s court hearing, so the truth will finally come out.
In A Related Story: Questioned Priest Commits Suicide
Hurley, Wisconsin - A young priest questioned by police about a double murder has killed himself in the hallway between his church and rectory in northern Wisconsin, church officials said Monday.
The Rev. Ryan Erickson, 31, was found dead Sunday morning at St. Mary of the Seven Dolors in Hurley. Police were investigating the death, but declined to release any information or details.
The Rev. Philip Heslin, moderator of the Curia for the Catholic Diocese of Superior, the equivalent of the diocese's chief operating officer, said Erickson hung himself.
Police in Hudson recently questioned Erickson about the murders of Dan O'Connell and James Ellison, but the priest denied any involvement, Heslin said.
Heslin said he wasn't sure when police last talked to Erickson.
"We knew he was being investigated," Heslin said during a telephone interview Monday with The Associated Press. "But that's all we knew. I talked to him two days before this happened and he seemed in good spirits."
Heslin said he wasn't aware detectives had any conclusive evidence tying Erickson to the shootings.
"They told us not to say anything about this," he said, noting the investigation was still ongoing.
In Hurley, St. Mary had to cancel Masses on Sunday because they no longer had a priest, Heslin said.
"People were in dismay," he said. "Terrible."
"He was just the ultimate priest," Helen Kasper of Hurley, one of Erickson's parishioners, told the Daily Globe of Ironwood, Mich. "He was very strict in what he wanted done. He was very faithful to his religion."
Erickson told the Daily Globe in an interview when he arrived in Hurley he was nervous. He said he discouraged gum chewing during church and encouraged parishioners to attend confession often. He added that priests should go as well, because they are men who struggle with temptations like everyone else.