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
The hunting rifle Southworth was carrying - a Ruger model 77 bolt action .03-06-caliber - was missing.
I wonder if when they search Vang's house they find a Ruger rifle.
No, Wisconsin does not have a death penalty.
fyi bump
Bump that
Not likely, even if there's a relevant statute. I'm guessing tallhappy's comment 'This guy's a psycho,' will be verified by a court-appointed psychiatrist, including an exact DSM-IV-R classification of which kind of psycho he is, and the perp will be checked into a psych-ward for a very long time rather than ever seeing the inside of a prison whether death row or not.
this is a bad story getting worse.
Oh, no, we are WAY too sophisticated here in the Blue State of Wisconsin to have the death penalty. However, we do have our own form of justice usually carried out in the prison system with the guards looking the other way. Examples: Jeffrey Dahmer (no explanation needed) and Jesse Anderson (guy who claimed "blacks" jumped him and killed his wife) when he did it all along. They were both killed in prison with a broomstick. So, this guy is going to WISH the state would have put him to death.
No, he's long since passed it on to his brother's wife's cousin's nephew's best friend's older brother.
the perp will be checked into a psych-ward for a very long time rather than ever seeing the inside of a prison whether death row or not."
I hope you're wrong on that, but sadly, you are probably right. We like to "rehabilitate" our psychos here in Wisconsin.
.03-06-caliber??
.30-06 caliber would be more like it. .03 caliber would be a needle.
that was actually just a quote from the original source. I kind of laughed at that also
Oh yes, his brother went right into "my brother is the sweetest and gentlest of persons, the hunters must have started it, my people are afraid of a backlash (al la American Muslim whining) my community is looking into cultural differences which would have caused mass murder" mode on the same damned day his brother was arrested.
A twist that the media will ignore was that one of the victims wrote his murderer's hunting license in the dirt coating one of the vehicles and THAT is what got him arrested.
Doesn't sound like the actions of a scared and disoriented victim of a gang of racist rednecks to me.
Wisconsin does not have the death penalty, but I would not put ten bucks on the odds of this guy surviving 48 hours in the general prison population. At least, not in Wisconsin. They'll probably have to transfer him to some other state -- which is what they did with Dahmer, and he didn't live long, either.
The Dahmer solution is perfect.
Thanks Dave Obey and the socialist democrats for all you've done to destroy what was once a quiet peacefull safe decent place to live... imo
It's been reported over the years that the Hmong don't assimilate and that they have a bit of a problem living in a modern society, having come from a primitive mountain hunter-gatherer civilization. Last I read, and perhaps it has changed, they're mostly on welfare. It's time to repatriate these people, but with the reactionary inflexibility of our gummint institutions and the so called intellectual elites, don't expect that to happen.
It's hard for me to respect the "legal justice system" of any state that doesn't have the death penalty.
Then again, I don't have much respect for any state that DOES have the death penalty, but hasn't used it (or carried out such sentences).
"Greta's Gang" are all getting their contracts renewed...
I am having flashbacks to DC Maryland October 2002. People being shot and killed while going about their daily routines.
It was terrifying - could these Hmungs be considered domestic terrorists? Timothy McVeigh was executed.
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