Posted on 11/24/2004 7:45:29 AM PST by whodeani
Homicide connection explored 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.
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.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/nov04/278124.asp
A psycho with two psycho friends.
Wisconsin has no death Penalty
bttp
Only whites can be charged with hate crimes, since they are the only ones who hate......
A guy took some shots at President Franklin Roosevelt and Anton Cermak, Chicago mayor, who he killed. He was tried and executed in less than 40 days. That's the kind of justice we need for perps like this Vang
Guiseppe Zangara
... He climbed on top of an old unstable wooden chair and started to fire. One bullet
hit Anton Cermak the major of Chicago who was with Roosevelt. ...
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAzangara.htm - 14k -Cached - Similar pages
[ More results from www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk ]
LOL
Doesn't work on the natives, but this guy is from out of state.
Is there any possibility of a Federal crime here? With a death penalty?
Shame. Society needs to be shed of pukes like him, not forced to coddle them for years.
Bet he and his friends got their non-residnt liscenses at the same time and place. A check of tags issued before and after his will lead to the two other 'persons of interest.' IMO
Going to be a bit like OJ due to the racial action which is already gearing up. Based on what Vang's initial claims are, why he gunned down these hunters. He claimed they were racially insulting and threatening him. There must be a death penalty in multiple murder cases like this. It's an insult to the victims not to. It's an outrage.
Wow. I didn't keep a ping list of our likeminded friends. Can you ping them?
Hmmm....good question. I'm not a lawyer (thank you, Jesus), but I'll bet if it is a possibility, some Federal prosecutor will jump on it about two nanoseconds after the investigation is over.
Judging by some of the previous threats this poor guy should be released and the surviving two victims charged with hate crimes. It is just sick how some are trying to blame the victim here.
fyi bump
There is a lot of tension with Hmongs in Wisconsin. I'm thinking the Dahmer solution is likely.
Deer hunt has deadliest start in years
By Ed Hoskins of the Tribune Staff
The opening days of Wisconsin's gun-deer hunt season were the worst for hunting accidents in more than a decade, the state Department of Natural Resources said Monday.
At least four hunters were killed in accidental shootings - three of them in western Wisconsin - and two men died in other hunting-related incidents. It was the most deaths for the season since 1988.
"It's been a real poor start to the season and I don't know what to attribute it to," said Tom Bokelman, DNR safety warden for the west central region in Eau Claire. "It's just sheer bad luck that the accidents are as severe as this."
Six fatalities were reported, four as a result of accidental shootings in Vernon, Trempealeau, Buffalo and Adams counties, one from a fall from a tree stand in West Salem and one from natural causes in Waupaca County, authorities said.
The La Crosse County Sheriff's Department identified 38-year-old Alan D. Taylor, of West Salem, as Saturday's tree stand fatality. A cause of death will be determined after an autopsy, investigators said.
"He was in the tree stand by himself," Capt. Mike Horstman said. "His brother and father radioed for assistance with a downed deer and he didn't show up. They found him unresponsive at the foot of the tree."
In Buffalo County, a man died Sunday after being shot in the chest by another hunter during a deer drive near Fountain City, Bokelman said. The man was not identified Monday pending notification of relatives, Buffalo County authorities said.
In Trempealeau County, Ryan D. Huiss, 21, of Onalaska, was accidentally shot in the head by his 14-year-old brother Saturday while they were trailing a wounded deer in the town of Ettrick.
In Vernon County, Rick Shore, 56, of rural De Soto, died Saturday after apparently shooting himself while hunting west of Red Mound.
In Adams County, Wayne Blodgett, 76, of Hartford, was killed Saturday by a stray bullet, authorities said.
Though Bokelman did not know the reasons for the fatalities, he said there are three basic rules to helping avoid hunting accidents. Treat every gun as if it is loaded, always point the muzzle in a safe direction and be sure of a target and what is beyond the target.
"If those three rules were followed precisely, we'd eliminate 99 percent of accidents," Bokelman said.
Can anyone say for sure that Vang was actually out there hunting for deer?
I may have to get over my intense dislike of Greta. LOL
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