Somber town remembers one of six slain deer hunters

RICE LAKE, Wis. - In a close-knit town where many families gather this time of year to hunt deer, residents instead are attending funerals for six hunters shot and killed in Wisconsin's northwoods.

Blaze-orange ribbons tied around the lampposts along Rice Lake's Main Street pay tribute to the hunters, as do bows adorning some business signs and car antennas in this northwestern Wisconsin town of about 8,500.

The deaths have saddened virtually the entire community, said Bob Stanonik, who was selling Christmas trees Friday on Main Street as 100 to 200 people gathered at a church for the first funeral.

Authorities said the six were killed and two others wounded after a confrontation with a hunter who was trespassing on private land. Chai Vang, 36, of St. Paul, Minn., remained in the Sawyer County Jail in lieu of $2.5 million bail pending formal charges.

Three Milwaukee attorneys said Friday that Vang had retained them to represent him. Steven Kohn, Jonathan Smith and James Mentkowski planned to speak to the media about the case Sunday.

At a snowy cemetery Friday outside Rice Lake, small groups of people hugged after the funeral service for Mark Roidt, 28, of Rice Lake - the first funeral held for a victim of Sunday's shooting.

Jodi Anderson, a cook at an area restaurant, Dobie's BWR, where Roidt often ate meals, said the deaths have left many in the community speechless.

Visitations for three other victims were scheduled for later in the day and the remaining funerals for Saturday or Monday.

Friends described Roidt as an outgoing man who loved hunting, motorcycling and other motor sports and was a jack-of-all-trades in carpentry and construction work.

Many at the funeral wore orange ribbons on their coats. The mourners included friends who knew Roidt through his car-racing hobby and people who drove for hours to attend the service.

A Roidt family friend, Pat Malesa of Presque Isle, said the victim's mother, Karen Roidt, told mourners that at least her son died doing something he loved. Many in the area consider the deer hunting season, which ends Sunday night, a holiday.

"The hunting week up here is called holy week," Stanonik said. "Families get together, father, son, grandson."

Many in Rice Lake were born and raised there, go to the same churches and like the same hobbies such as hunting and bowling, Stanonik said.

Burnell Hanson of Rice Lake, who employed Roidt for a few months doing some carpentry work, said the town now just needs time to heal. Some hunters he knows did not return to the woods after the shootings.

"Unfortunately these guys ran into a bad apple," Hanson said after the funeral, which was closed to reporters.

Court records show Vang, a Hmong immigrant, told authorities the others surrounded him and used racial slurs before one fired a shot at him. One of the survivors gave a different account, saying Vang started shooting first.

The town seems to have banded together after the shootings, said Denise Warner, who drove from Sheboygan for the funeral. She was staying overnight at a Rice Lake golf resort, which was letting out-of-town mourners stay there for free.

Orlen Eidahl of Rice Lake doesn't think the shootings will keep people from the hobby they love.

The other funerals planned are: father and son Robert and Joey Crotteau Saturday at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Rice Lake; Allan Laski Saturday at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Haugen; Dennis Drew Monday at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church; and Jessica Willers Monday at St. Joseph's.

Willers' father, Terry Willers, was released from the hospital late Wednesday after suffering gunshot wounds to the neck and shoulder in the shooting spree. Lauren Hesebeck was released from the hospital Tuesday after treatment of his wounds.

Sorry Ladysmith I had already posted the other article

Wis. Town Grieves for Slain Deer Hunters

By XIAO ZHANG

Associated Press Writer

RICE LAKE, Wis. (AP) -- In a close-knit town where many families gather this time of year to hunt deer, residents instead are attending funerals for six hunters shot and killed in Wisconsin's northwoods.

The deaths have saddened virtually the entire community, said Bob Stanonik, who was selling Christmas trees Friday on Main Street as 100 to 200 people gathered at a church for the first funeral.

"There's nobody that's not touched in town," he said.

Three Milwaukee attorneys said Friday that Vang had retained them to represent him. Steven Kohn, Jonathan Smith and James Mentkowski planned to speak to the media about the case Sunday.

At a snowy cemetery Friday outside Rice Lake, small groups of people hugged after the funeral service for Mark Roidt, 28, of Rice Lake - the first funeral held for a victim of Sunday's shooting.

Jodi Anderson, a cook at an area restaurant, Dobie's BWR, where Roidt often ate meals, said the deaths have left many in the community speechless.

"I'm very angry. This is so wrong," she said.

Visitations for three other victims were held just three blocks apart in Rice Lake later in the day. Friends and relatives of father and son Robert and Joey Crotteau filled the sanctuary of St. Joseph's Catholic Church 500 at a time. Hundreds more waited inside the building and out in the snow.

Mourners also gathered at Appleyard's Home for Funerals to remember Allan Laski, 43, and share memories.

Mementos of his passion for the outdoors were everywhere, including a photo album with Laski on its cover, smiling as he posed with an elk he shot during a hunting trip. The lining on the inside lid of his casket featured a scene of a whitetail buck standing at attention.

"This kind of thing is going to change hunting," said Anthony Wendt, 46, who got to know Laski when their sons were in the Boy Scouts together. Still, Wendt said the tragedy would not stop him from going back out into the woods.

At the funeral earlier Friday, friends described Roidt as an outgoing man who loved hunting, motorcycling and other motor sports and was a jack-of-all-trades in carpentry and construction work.

Many at the funeral wore orange ribbons on their coats. The mourners included friends who knew Roidt through his car-racing hobby and people who drove for hours to attend the service.

Family friend, Pat Malesa of Presque Isle, said the victim's mother, Karen Roidt, told mourners that at least her son died doing something he loved. Many in the area consider the deer hunting season, which ends Sunday night, a holiday.

"The hunting week up here is called holy week," Stanonik said. "Families get together, father, son, grandson."

Many in Rice Lake were born and raised there, go to the same churches and like the same hobbies such as hunting and bowling, Stanonik said.

"Unfortunately these guys ran into a bad apple," Hanson said after the funeral, which was closed to reporters.

Orlen Eidahl of Rice Lake doesn't think the shootings will keep people from the hobby they love.

"We all are saddened, but things will go on," he said.

The other funerals planned are: the Crotteaus Saturday at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Rice Lake; Laski Saturday at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Haugen; Dennis Drew Monday at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church; and Jessica Willers Monday at St. Joseph's.

The caskets of the father and son were lined up end-to-end inside the church and flanked by countless bouquets of flowers, according to some of the hundreds of friends and relatives who attended. A black-and-red racing cap that Joey Crotteau often wore was tucked into his casket, according to family friend Sandy Barney.

Those who waited to visit with family members could look at photos of the two men while they were hunting and snowmobiling and spending time at the family cabin.

"It's too much right now," said Dan Crotteau, 40, a cousin of the victims. "A lot of people are angry."

---

Associated Press writer Jenny Price contributed to this story from Rice Lake.

Chai Soua Vang's military record

According to the public portion of Chai Soua Vang's military record on file at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis:

Jan. 11, 1989: He entered the California Army National Guard as a trainee with the 246th Medical Detachment in Sacramento.

Jan. 24, 1989: Basic training at Fort Dix, N.J., followed by patient administration specialist training at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. A patient administration specialist does hospital admissions and dispositions of patients but is not trained to provide medical treatment.

May 26, 1989: Returned to the 246th Medical Detachment of the California Army National Guard.

Dec. 1, 1991: Completed two-week medical specialist course in Dublin, Calif.

Sept. 5, 1992: Completed two-week Primary Leadership Development Course, 6th Army Noncommissioned Officer Academy.

Jan. 10, 1995: Left the National Guard as a private first class and transferred to Individual Ready Reserve until completion of his eight-year obligation in January 1997. (Individual Ready Reserve is the final two years of military service when a solider is not on active duty and does not have to attend annual drills, but can be called to active duty.) Honorably discharged.

Chai Soua Vang received the Army Service Ribbon, the Expert Qualification Badge (hand grenade), the California Good Conduct Medal and the Sharpshooter Qualification Badge (Rifle M-16). Sharpshooter is the middle of three rankings, with marksman being the lowest and expert the highest.

— Charles Laszewski

Sunday's shooting has similarities to a 2001 killing 80 miles away

By JOHN DIEDRICH

jdiedrich@journalsentinel.com

Posted: Nov. 23, 2004

Law enforcement agencies are investigating if the man suspected of killing six deer hunters and injuring two others was involved in the unsolved slaying of a deer hunter three years ago in a nearby Wisconsin county, a detective said Tuesday.

Jim Southworth was found shot to death on Nov. 23, 2001, as he hunted on family land 10 miles east of Neillsville in Clark County.

Clark County Sheriff's Department Detective Kerry Kirn said he has exchanged frequent calls with investigators in Sawyer County since Monday morning.

"I can tell you we have been in contact with authorities from Sawyer County to address that," Kirn said. "It is premature to speculate if there is a connection."

On Nov. 23, 2001, Jim Southworth was shot to death as he hunted on family land 10 miles east of Neillsville in one of the only other homicides ever to be linked to Wisconsin's deer hunting season.

Southworth was shot twice in the back and both bullets exited his chest, an autopsy found.

Witnesses reported a pickup truck with three men inside on a road near where Southworth's body was found, about 80 miles south of Sunday's shooting.

The three men were described as Asian from 5-foot-4-inches to 6-feet. They were driving a silver or gray Nissan or Chevrolet pickup truck, possibly a late 1980s model with a light-colored fiberglass topper.

Chai Soua Vang, 36, of St. Paul, Minn., who is suspected of shooting eight hunters Sunday, is 5-foot-4-inches, according to a court document. Vang has owned a 1987 Nissan pickup, according to an online search service. According to court records, Vang allegedly shot several of Sunday's victims in the back.

The Sawyer County rampage was allegedly sparked by a dispute over Vang using a deer stand on private property. One of the theories Clark County authorities have been pursuing is that Southworth was shot after confronting a trespasser.

Officials said that Vang was hunting with two other people on Sunday, before he became lost and wandered onto the private property. Police are looking for those other people.

Vang did have an out-of-state license to hunt in Wisconsin in 2001, said Mike Bartz, a Department of Natural Resources warden manager. He also had a license in 2000, 2002 and this year, he said.

Kirn called the three people being sought in Southworth's murder "persons of interest."

"To our knowledge, those are the only three people who we haven't identified who were in that area that day," Kirn said.

Kirn said he could not comment on whether Vang has been or will be questioned in the Southworth case. Investigators from the state Department of Justice are investigating both cases, he said.

"They need to do their investigation and when all facts come out, and they will relay that to me, and we'll make the comparison," Kirn said.

The Sawyer County Sheriff's Department, the first to respond to Sunday's shooting, referred questions to the Department of Justice. A spokesman there declined to comment on whether a connection was being investigated between the two cases.

Told of the two cases, a retired FBI agent said his experience tells him that they could very well be related.

"The odds of the two being unrelated are astronomical, I would say," said Bob Dwyer, who now works as a private investigator in Florida.

But an absence of physical evidence in the 2001 case could make it difficult to prove such a connection, Dwyer said. The best way to tie two crimes together is to match weapons or bullets, he said.

Kirn declined to comment on what kind of gun was used to kill Southworth or if they recovered bullets in the woods where he was shot. A warden said last year that investigators were looking for casings.

The hunting rifle Southworth was carrying - a Ruger model 77 bolt action .03-06-caliber - was missing.

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