Posted on 01/08/2007 8:56:22 AM PST by sbMKE
Body of missing hunter was hidden Possible link to man with gunshot wound investigated By MEG JONES mjones@journalsentinel.com Posted: Jan. 7, 2007
Whoever killed a Hmong hunter in a Marinette County public hunting area took pains to conceal the body, the sheriff said Sunday.
Searchers with a tracking dog could not find Cha Vang, 30, Friday night after his hunting companions reported him missing. Shortly after the search resumed Saturday morning, Vang's body was found concealed in the Peshtigo Harbor Wildlife Area, though Marinette County Sheriff James Kanikula declined to say how the body was hidden.
And minutes after authorities learned that Vang had disappeared, local hospital officials reported that a man had arrived in the emergency room with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the hand. Hospitals are required to notify law enforcement of any firearms-related injuries.
It didn't take detectives long to make what they say is a connection between the two shootings. James A. Nichols, 28, of Peshtigo was held on a probation-parole violation after his hand was treated. According to online state court records, Nichols was convicted in Marinette County of several felony burglary charges in 1996.
"We got a missing hunter. We got a guy in the hospital with a gunshot wound to his hand. He showed up a half-hour after we got this call that we've got a missing hunter," said Kanikula, who was sworn in last week.
"The long and short of it is our investigators are sharp. They went to talk to this guy. His story changed three or four times. It's just a matter of good investigation."
Why Vang was killed and whether his death was linked in any way to the deaths in 2004 of six hunters in Sawyer County is unknown. A Hmong hunter from Minnesota, Chai Soua Vang, was convicted of killing the hunters, who were white, during a dispute over hunting on private property.
The killings inflamed racial tensions in Wisconsin among Hmong and white hunters. Chai Vang, 38, a St. Paul, Minn., truck driver who often hunted in northwestern Wisconsin, is now serving multiple life terms. He said he fired in self-defense after being confronted by hunters who owned the Sawyer County property and shouted racial epithets.
When asked if there was any connection between the Sawyer County slayings and the death in Marinette County, Kanikula said "at this time, no. But that's not gospel. I don't have those answers yet.
"What the circumstances are or what caused this incident, we're still sorting through everything."
Vang was hunting for small game at the Peshtigo wildlife area with three companions when he vanished. Kanikula, who previously served as sheriff in the northeastern Wisconsin county, declined to say how many times Vang was shot but said an autopsy was scheduled for today in Green Bay.
Vang's wife said Sunday that he couldn't speak English and could not have provoked such an attack. Pang Vue, 25, said she and her husband and their five children, ages 3 to 11, immigrated to America two years ago and settled in Green Bay. Vang wanted to provide a better life for his family than the one he had growing up in refugee camps in Southeast Asia.
"Our dream was just starting, just now beginning, and now it falls apart again," Vue said through an interpreter as dozens of family members and friends gathered at her home Sunday afternoon.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Previously, 7 hunters killed in a NW WI incident after words exchanged during a trespassing dispute: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1757132/posts
Murder, most odious and foul...
If you hide the body, it's not self defense.
If you'd like to be on or off this Upper Midwest (WI, IA, MN, MI, and anyone else) list, largely rural issues, please FR mail me. And ping me is you see articles of interest.
The guy does everything but openly confess and they're breaking their arms patting themselves on the back? Please.
Bump
Payback??
Sounds like she was 14 when she had her first child.
What do you mean by that?
Bump for later...
I'll bet Mike Nifong felt the same way.
Another incident like this happened a couple of years back when a Hmong hunter was told to leave a tree stand that was not his. I believe his name was Chia Vang.
Is it hunting season in Marinette Co.? I thought the gun season ended in November.
Small game, seasons end between Jan 31 and Feb 28
Vang would have been about 19.
Some of those are about the other Vang (the one who killed people), not this Vang.
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