Police identified a 29-year-old man who died after he was shot on a St. Paul street this weekend.

No one has been arrested in the homicide of Wayne R. Brown, of St. Paul. He was found shot in the Dayton’s Bluff neighborhood, at Hudson Road and Earl Street, about 11:15 p.m.

Paramedics took Brown to Regions Hospital, where he died.

“It’s a tragic deal,” said Royale Harris, who was friends with Brown for more than 10 years.

Brown was a good father who was trying to support his family, Harris said Monday. He said he doesn’t know why Brown would have been killed.

Police said their investigation remains underway.

Investigators noted there are two bars nearby, and asked anyone who was in the area and has information to call the homicide unit at 651-266-5650.

2 OTHERS WOUNDED IN SATURDAY SHOOTINGS

In 2017, Brown was wounded in a shooting outside his residence. A witness said someone drove by and fired. No one was arrested in that case.

Brown didn’t have recent criminal cases against him, though he was jailed on Sept. 6 on a warrant from a 2014 drug possession case.

He admitted to a probation violation on Sept. 17 and was sentenced to seven days in the Ramsey County Workhouse. He received credit for the time he served since his arrest and was released on probation again, a court record shows.

Brown’s killing was the eighth homicide in St. Paul this month and the 22nd of the year.

He was the third person shot in a nine-hour period on the East Side in unrelated incidents on Saturday. The other two men sustained non-life threatening injuries.

A 37-year-old was riding in a vehicle when he was shot in the stomach through a passenger door at Arlington and Prosperity avenues about 3 p.m., according to a police report.

At 10:30 p.m., officers responded to a report of shots fired on Minnehaha Avenue near Johnson Parkway. Someone drove a 22-year-old, who was shot in the leg, to the hospital. The man told police he didn’t know who shot him or how it happened, according to a police spokesman.

A March 9, 2020 trial date has been set for a Washington County sheriff’s deputy accused in the 2018 shooting death of a Lake Elmo man.

Deputy Brian Krook, 31, of Somerset Township, Wis., is charged with second-degree manslaughter in the death of Benjamin W. Evans. The 23-year-old Evans was shot to death after Krook and other law enforcement responded to an April 12, 2018 call of a suicidal man with a gun.

Evans, an emergency medical technician, told officers he wanted to kill himself while “officers made repeated attempts to persuade him to put down the gun,” according to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which investigated the shooting. “At one point, Deputy Krook discharged his firearm, striking Evans multiple times.”

An omnibus hearing for Krook is scheduled for Dec. 9 in Washington County District Court in Stillwater. The case is being heard by Sherburne County District Judge Mary Yunker and being handled by the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office to avoid a conflict of interest.

The indictment says Krook “created an unreasonable risk, and consciously took the chance of causing death or great bodily harm to another.”

Krook has pleaded not guilty.

The men and women in blue will be thinking pink this month.

October is breast cancer awareness month, so for the third consecutive year, the Rosemount Police Department will be wearing pink patches on their uniforms to support the effort. Others taking part include Farmington and Cottage Grove police, as well as the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office.

In 2017, Rosemount was the first police agency in Minnesota to join this nation-wide campaign called Pink Patch. Over the past two years, along with the Hastings Police Department, Rosemount has raised about $10,000 for the American Cancer Society by selling pink police patches and challenge coins to the public.

New this year is a retro pink patch created to honor the department’s first known patch. It will be worn by officers and sold to the public for $10.

Stop by the Rosemount police department at 2875 W. 145th St., to buy the retro patch, the original patch or the Pink Patch challenge coin. The Dakota County sheriff’s patches are available at the Law Enforcement Center in Hastings and the Western Service Center in Apple Valley. Farmington’s can be bought at the police department office at 19500 Municipal Drive.

“It’s important to note that each officer sporting a pink patch purchased it themselves,” said Farmington Police Officer Chris Lutz. “We are proud to wear them in support of the American Cancer Society.”

Today, the program has expanded to several hundred partner agencies throughout the world and includes partners from police, sheriff, fire, EMS and federal departments.

For information on the program go to the Pink Patch Project website at https://pinkpatchproject.com/minnesota.

The accused gunman in the fatal shooting of an Apple Valley man in downtown Minneapolis this past weekend has been charged with second-degree murder.

Varnell David Delester Allen, 23, of South Minneapolis, shot 21-year-old Enzo Herrera Garcia late Saturday night following an assault at Eighth Street and Hennepin Avenue, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday in Hennepin County District Court.

The incident was captured on two cell phone videos, according to the complaint. About 10:20 p.m., Allen drove up to Garcia and his girlfriend as they were walking along Hennepin Avenue, and words were exchanged. Allen and a passenger got out and started fighting with Herrera Garcia.

Allen pistol-whipped Herrera Garcia before firing one shot that struck him in the chest, charges allege. As the two men drove off, a witness recorded the license plate number.

Allen is scheduled to make his first court appearance Wednesday, and prosecutors will seek $1 million bail, the Hennepin County attorney’s office said.

About 40 shots rang out during a rolling gun battle in St. Paul on Monday, though no one was injured.

Police found shell casings over approximately five blocks in Dayton’s Bluff and into Payne-Phalen.

Callers to 911 described people in two vehicles shooting at each at 3:40 p.m. Police were told one of the cars crashed at Earl Street and Reaney Avenue.

“It’s completely outrageous and it’s terrifying,” said City Council Member Jane Prince, whose ward includes Dayton’s Bluff. “I think it’s a very serious issue that we can only solve if the community comes together with the police and we figure out a way through this.”

The shoot-out came during a time of increased gun violence in St. Paul. Eight men were fatally shot in separate incidents in the city in September, bringing the number of homicides to 22 this year.

GUN FOUND, MAN ARRESTED

On Monday afternoon, police recovered casings on Earl Street between York and Minnehaha avenues, including on the bridge over Phalen Boulevard.

A witness said a car sped past him, lost control and crashed into a tree, according to Sgt. Mike Ernster, a St. Paul police spokesman. Officers found the car damaged from gunshots and were told the occupants ran away.

Police located an 18-year-old woman, believed to be the driver, and a 19-year-old man, believed to be the passenger, in the area, Ernster said. The man was bleeding from the arm after apparently being injured in the crash, according to police.

A K-9 and officers searched the area and found a gun behind a residence on Minnehaha Avenue, near Earl Street. There was blood on the gun and on a child’s backpack discovered in a garbage can, Ernster said. Officers were unable to find the other vehicle involved.

Police initially received a report about a couple pushing a stroller with a child in the area, but officers spoke with them and determined they were not involved, Ernster said.

The 19-year-old was treated at Regions Hospital and booked into the Ramsey County jail on suspicion of possessing a gun without a permit and a firearm violation.

2 HOMICIDES IN NEIGHBORHOOD IN WEEK

Monday’s incident happened less than a mile from where 29-year-old Wayne R. Brown was shot Saturday night at Earl Street and Hudson Road; he died soon after at the hospital. Also in the Dayton’s Bluff area, 36-year-old Terry Edwards was killed last Tuesday, following an argument over drugs, according to a murder charge.

In addition to the eight homicides in September, 15 people were wounded in shootings in St. Paul. Last September, one person was fatally shot and 10 were wounded in shootings.

“This level of violence puts every single person in our community at risk and, frankly, we’re beyond tired of it,” Ernster said. “We’re tired of not being able to get in front of these shootings. We’re tired of finding people shot and bleeding on our streets. And we’re tired of having to tell mothers, fathers and family members that their loved ones have been killed.”

But Ernster said law enforcement officials’ “resolve is stronger than ever” and they’ll continue to work to “get in front of this before another person is senselessly gunned down.”

A man accused of assaulting a Metropolitan State University employee last June in an incident authorities said was motivated by bias pleaded guilty to the charges.

Steven Craig Parker, 59, entered the pleas in Ramsey County District Court last week to felony counts of third-degree assault as well as aiding and abetting simple robbery.

His public defender, Thomas Donahue, declined to comment.

A 55-year-old employee who works in information technology services was sitting on the steps outside the university’s New Main building June 19 when Parker approached him from behind and asked him where he was from and why he was in this country, according to the criminal complaint.

Then Parker punched the man in the side of the face, knocking of his glasses and earbuds and breaking bones in the university employee’s face.

An hour beforehand, Parker uttered bad words to a store manager at a Walgreens at Arcarde Street and Maryland Avenue and inquired about the man’s Mexican heritage, court records say.

Then he walked out of the store with a video game and a bottle of Tide detergent that he hadn’t paid for, with the manager following behind him.

At some point, Parker and another male he was suddenly turned around and charged at the manager, punching and kicking him for about 45 seconds before leaving, charges say.

When prosecutors charged him in early July, they said they believed the assault was motivated by the victims “actual or perceived race, color, or religion,” according to the criminal complaint.

The incident marked the first time the Ramsey County attorney’s office charged someone with bias-motivated assault since the Minnesota Legislature created an enhanced penalty provision in 2016 for felony assaults. The charge also appears to be the first filed in the state, according to Minnesota Judicial Branch records.

Parker is scheduled to be sentenced in November.

A St. Paul man carjacked an SUV and hit two teenagers in a Minneapolis crosswalk on Monday, according to a criminal complaint.

Steven Ross, 48, of St. Paul, is charged with two counts of criminal vehicular operation. He is also charged with simple robbery, according to the complaint.

Around 2:15 p.m. Monday, police were notified of a stolen vehicle near the intersection of East 26th Street and 17th Avenue South in Minneapolis, the complaint said.

Ross stole a Toyota Rav 4 after breaking into the vehicle and briefly struggling with the driver over the keys, according to the charges. He smashed into multiple parked cars as he drove off in the stolen vehicle.

Ross then ran a red light and hit two teenage pedestrians at the intersection of Lake Street and 17th Avenue, the charges say.

A 19-year-old woman was thrown into a bakery window frame on the corner of the street. The other pedestrian, a 14-year-old boy, went through the bakery window and landed inside the building. Authorities say Ross almost hit the woman a second time as he fled the scene.

KSTP-TV said the teens were identified by their father as Cecilia and Jacob Speranzella.

Cecilia suffered a brain injury and Jacob received multiple broken bones and lacerations, according to the charges and their father, Joseph Speranzella, who said on social media that the siblings were on the way to the bakery to get ice cream cones. Both remain hospitalized.

After the crash, Ross hit a police car with the stolen SUV on Lake Street. The incident resulted in a pursuit that ended when Ross crashed the vehicle into a light pole near Lake Street and 20th Avenue South. The SUV caught fire, and police had to pull Ross from the vehicle.

Ross told police he had used crack cocaine and marijuana and consumed alcohol the day of the incident, the complaint said.

Ross is being treated at a hospital for his injuries and is currently in police custody.

The man who admitted he started the fire that destroyed Duluth’s Adas Israel Congregation synagogue is back in jail, after a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Matthew James Amiot, 36, was taken into custody by the Superior (Wis.) Police Department on Monday. He was booked into the Douglas County Jail around 7:45 p.m. and is being held without bail.

A warrant was issued for Amiot’s arrest after he failed to attend a probation meeting and didn’t report to the CHUM shelter on Sept. 25, as ordered by a judge.

Amiot, who is homeless, pleaded guilty early last week to a felony count of starting a negligent fire resulting in more than $2,500 in damage and a gross misdemeanor count of starting a negligent fire resulting in great bodily harm.

Having no place to stay and hoping to stay warm, he testified that he started a fire behind the synagogue on the morning of Sept. 9. He said he walked away when the flames grew out of control, which ravaged the 118-year-old building, wounded a firefighter and caused more than $350,000 in damage.

St. Louis County District Judge Shaun Floerke granted a defense request that allowed Amiot to be released from custody under intensive pretrial release as he awaits sentencing on Oct. 25. He then met with probation officers and was discharged from the jail last week.

The terms of his release dictated that Amiot needed to stay every night at the CHUM shelter in downtown Duluth. He told Floerke he had stayed there in the past and was willing to do so until he secured housing.

Following his release, Amiot failed to spend the night at CHUM and didn’t attend a scheduled meeting at the probation office, according to court documents. A warrant was issued for his arrest last Thursday.

A mugshot taken at the Douglas County Jail indicates Amiot shaved his head and beard in the days since his plea hearing.

Because he was arrested in Wisconsin, Amiot must be extradited back to Minnesota to face further court proceedings. That paperwork had not been filed as of Tuesday.

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter called for an internal affairs investigation Wednesday into the arrest of a 13-year-old girl captured on video.

“This video is deeply disturbing to watch, Carter said, adding that he asked Police Chief Todd Axtell to launch an investigation “into the circumstances surrounding this arrest as soon as possible.”

Helen Dillman, who witnessed the altercation, said she didn’t expect police “to react so aggressively that immediately” and she began video recording on her phone last week when she saw what she described as the officer escalating the situation.

A police spokesman, Steve Linders, said Wednesday that he knows it can be difficult to watch an arrest of a person “who’s physically resisting.”

“It’s unfortunate that she ran from the officer, resisted arrest and that she continues to go back to the BP gas station where there have been … robberies and a murder,” Linders said. “We are hopeful that this problem can be rectified through the criminal justice system.”

The Midway BP station at 1347 W. University Ave., where an officer initially tried to stop the girl, has been labeled by police and city inspectors as a magnet for trouble, and the city is moving to close the business.

There is an active internal affairs involving Officer Alexander Graham, who’s at the center of the video and who remains on patrol, according to his personnel file. Under state law, Linders said he couldn’t provide information about the focus of an open internal affairs investigation or when it was initiated.

OFFICER INITIALLY TRIED TO STOP GIRL FROM TRESPASSING

Dillman, who was a sales associate at the UPS Store at University and Hamline avenues, posted the video on Facebook on Friday, the day after the arrest at the store .

It’s been racking up the views — about 11,000 as of Wednesday night — since local civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong shared Dillman’s post Tuesday night.

WATCH: VIDEO OF TEEN’S ARREST POSTED ON FACEBOOK

Levy Armstrong wrote, “This is absolutely disgusting treatment of an 11 year old Black girl at the hands of two white male St. Paul police officers. Why was all of this manhandling of a young girl necessary? This child is not property. I am appalled.”

Dillman said the girl told her she was 11 when she came in the store. A police report indicated she is 13.

It started at 6:35 p.m. Thursday, when Officer Graham saw the girl in the parking lot of the BP gas station.

“He knew from previous experience with the female that she has been (banned) from the property until August 2020 because she had been a chronic problem at that location,” Linders said.

The teen previously was arrested on suspicion of assault, disorderly conduct, theft from person, auto theft, fleeing police on foot and obstructing legal process, said Linders. He didn’t have information about whether the incidents happened at the gas station or elsewhere.

Graham approached the teen on Thursday and she ran onto a light-rail platform; the officer didn’t follow because he feared she might jump onto the tracks, Linders said.

Soon after, Graham responded to a call reporting four juveniles trying to open vehicle doors in the parking lot of T.J. Maxx and LA Fitness. He saw people who matched the descriptions enter the UPS Store, Linders said.

WITNESS SAYS GIRL WAS SCARED

Dillman said the girl came in the store about eight minutes before her friends did and they were followed by police. The girl told Dillman and her co-worker, Soraya Dorvilier, she was scared.

“She was saying the police are trying to get me” and she hid behind a small table, Dillman said.

When Graham entered the store, he looked down, saw the girl and said, “Oh, there you are,” according to Hillman. She said the girl was only sitting there, but Graham shoved her to the ground while holding pepper spray before she started video-recording.

Graham wrote in a police report that he told the teen she was under arrest and to lie on her stomach, but she started screaming, spun around and tried to kick him, according to Linders said. He did not use the pepper spray, the police department said.

“In response to her unprovoked aggression and in an effort to prevent the situation from escalating, the officer attempted to gain control of her and she continued to fight with him,” Linders said.

Other officers assisted, including one who is seen on video briefly putting his knee on the girl’s upper body.

After the officers handcuffed the girl and tried to get her to her feet, she kicked her legs and said she wouldn’t stand. Officers carried her out and Ryan Wilson, who owns the business, said he saw her almost kick one of the officers in the face.

Wilson said he understands why Dillman and Dorvilier are upset, but he disagreed with Dillman’s description in her Facebook post that he laughed the situation off.

“It looks terrible to watch, it’s not something you want to see, but what could they have done,” Wilson asked Wednesday. “When people run from police, I don’t know what their protocol is, but they were trying to get her down to the ground because she was fighting.”

Dillman and Dorvilier, who are both Hamline University students and friends, resigned after the arrest at the store Thursday.

POLICE ARRESTED TEEN AND HER BROTHER

Police arrested the 13-year-old on suspicion of fourth-degree assault on an officer, obstructing legal process with force, fleeing on foot and trespassing. They also arrested her 14-year-old brother after he fought with officers outside the store, Linders said.

In any instance of a St. Paul officer using force, the police department’s leadership team reviews the case to determine whether it was within their policy, Linders said.

With people offering varying opinions on the video, Dillman said she’s hoping to get a community conversation going.

“This isn’t how police officers should be de-escalating the situation with the intent of bettering the community,” she said. “… I think it comes down to youth and young people being treated as criminals when maybe they haven’t had the same opportunities.”

Two outstate Minnesota bicyclists died after being struck by vehicles in separate crashes Tuesday, according to authorities.

The first crash involved a 30-year-old bicyclist who was killed Tuesday morning in Waseca County, according to the State Patrol.

Anthony Michael Hodge, 30, of Waseca died in the crash, according to officials.

The State Patrol report gave the following details:

About 6:40 a.m. Tuesday, a 23-year-old Waseca woman was driving a 2000 Oldsmobile Bravada north on Highway 13 near Blooming Grove Township when her vehicle “collided with a bicyclist,” according to the State Patrol.

The second fatality took place about 6:55 p.m. in Santiago Township, according to the Sherburne County sheriff’s office.

A 16-year-old girl driving a pickup truck struck 60-year-old bicyclist Ronald Harvey Otremba on 150th Avenue Southeast, according to the sheriff’s office.

Investigators said the road was narrow and that Otremba was riding in the east lane of the road between the fog and center lines of the road when he was struck and killed.

Investigations into both crashes are continuing.

MADISON, Wis. — A man convicted of rape and murder when he was a teenager whose story was documented in the 2015 Netflix series “Making a Murderer” asked Wisconsin’s governor for a pardon or commutation of his life prison sentence on Wednesday.

The request from Brendan Dassey came as his advocates launched yet another attempt to free him, this time outside the court system. His latest appeal was not considered by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Dassey’s chances of getting a pardon from Gov. Tony Evers appear remote. Evers’ rules for a pardon forbid anyone still serving their prison sentence from being considered and he’s also not issuing any commutations.

Dassey, now 29, was 16 years old when he confessed to Wisconsin authorities that he had joined his uncle, Steve Avery, in the 2005 rape and murder of photographer Teresa Halbach, before burning her body in a bonfire.

“I am writing to ask for a pardon because I am innocent and want to go home,” Dassey said in a handwritten note to Evers that accompanied his application. Dassey congratulated Evers, a Democrat who took office in January, on becoming governor. Dassey also listed things he enjoys including Pokemon and hamburgers and drew a pair of hearts with the word “hugs” in one and “love” in the other.

Evers re-started Wisconsin’s pardons board this year after his Republican predecessor Scott Walker stopped it, but to be considered the applicants must have completed their prison sentences. Anyone not meeting that criteria will be rejected as ineligible with no review, the application form says.

Evers has no public rules for commuting a prison sentence, but his spokeswoman Melissa Baldauff said in June that he is not considering doing that “at this time.” Commutations in Wisconsin are rare. No governor since Tommy Thompson, who left office in 2001, has issued one.

Still, Dassey’s attorney Laura Nirider said she hoped Evers would make an exception for Dassey.

“What we’re hoping to do is to take this moment to ask the governor to hold off, to look at this case as a perfect example for that kind of relief,” she told reporters following a news conference. “We look forward to working with Governor Evers to help him understand this case, to help him see that it’s time to bring Brendan home.”

Evers on Wednesday didn’t rule out the Dassey request, saying he hadn’t seen it yet. The governor has yet to act on any pardon requests.

“We’ll deal with it just like we do any communication we receive,” Evers said. “We give consideration to all sorts of things that we reject. Whether there’s criteria or not, we’ll consider it and respond back to them.”

The pardon request argues that Dassey was the victim of a “uniquely and profoundly flawed legal process.” It says seeking clemency from the governor is “one of the last remaining legal options” available.

“By his prison conduct and his gentle, patient insistence of his own innocence, Brendan has shown himself to be the rare person who is worthy of clemency,” the application said.

Dassey’s attorneys say he’s intellectually impaired and that he was manipulated by experienced police officers into accepting their story of how Halbach’s murder happened. They wanted his confession thrown out and a new trial.

Avery and Dassey are serving life sentences. The U.S. Supreme Court last year, without comment, said they would not consider Dassey’s appeal of his conviction. He could request another trial if a judge agrees he has new evidence that warrants it.

At Dassey’s trial, video of his confession to investigators played a central role. Authorities had no physical evidence tying Dassey to the crimes, and he testified that his confession was “made up,” but a jury convicted him anyway. He will be eligible for parole in 2048.

Wisconsin prosecutors have long held that Dassey’s confession was voluntary. Prosecutors noted that Dassey’s mother gave investigators permission to speak with him, that Dassey agreed as well and that during the interview investigators used only standard techniques such as adopting a sympathetic tone and encouraging honesty.

Dassey’s mother and cousin attended a news conference in Madison where the pardon application was announced. They did not speak to reporters.

Avery spent 18 years in prison for a different rape before DNA testing exonerated him. After his release, he filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit over his conviction, but he was arrested in 2005 and later convicted of Halbach’s murder as that lawsuit was still pending. Avery maintains he was framed.

Minneapolis police are investigating a fatal shooting that occurred Wednesday evening near Franklin and Riverside avenues.

According to police, officers were summoned shortly before 6:30 to numerous reports of a shooting in the 2300 block of East Franklin Avenue.

While en route, officers were told about a man suffering a gunshot wound in the 2500 block of Riverside Avenue, a few blocks to the north.

Officers at that location found a man suffering from a gunshot wound. He was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center with injuries that weren’t considered life-threatening.

Officers at the Franklin Avenue location found another man with a gunshot wound. He was treated by paramedics but later pronounced dead at HCMC.

Police said that it appears a group of people, who apparently knew one another, were in the 2300 block of East Franklin when an altercation broke out and gunfire erupted.

A homicide investigation is underway.

Police said anyone with information is encouraged to call CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

Tips may also be provided electronically at www.CrimeStoppersMN.org. All tips are anonymous and persons providing information leading to an arrest may be eligible for a financial reward.

Sitting next to Ramsey County Attorney John Choi recently, Pete Orput admitted to a time in his career when he was too fixated on winning cases and locking up the bad guys.

But in recent years, as prisons are increasingly overcrowded and communities develop a deeper understanding of the consequences of “tough on crime” approaches, the Washington County attorney said his perspective shifted.

“I was a real tough prosecutor and I think at one time I was out collecting scalps, and this is my expiation,” Orput said. “I was wrong, and I needed to evolve to this.”

By “this,” Orput is referring to a program his and Choi’s offices are piloting that places prosecutors in a position they haven’t traditionally been before: helping expunge criminal records. The two plan to formally announce the program at a news conference Thursday.

There are a list of convictions now eligible for expungement in Minnesota. It’s a list that got longer in 2015 — generally misdemeanors, gross misdemeanors and low-level felonies.

It’s traditionally been the person with the conviction asking the courts to seal their record, often because it’s stood in the way of a job or stable housing.

TRADITIONAL ROUTE TO EXPUNGEMENT COMPLICATED, COSTLY

The route to expungement is riddled with problems, according to the two county attorneys.

There’s a roughly $300 filing fee, and onerous legal terrain to go through before getting a chance to convince a judge that sealing their record has more value to the individual then keeping it public does for society.

Many people hire an attorney to navigate the process, creating another financial obstacle.

“It just screams of inequity,” Choi said. “People who do it have resources and means. … One of the values both Pete and I have is we want to be more intentional about making sure that everybody has this (opportunity).”

Beyond that, the county attorneys say criminal convictions can haunt good people’s lives long after their debt to society has been paid.

That’s because under state statute, people with convictions can be denied jobs, housing, public assistance, student loans, state licenses and the opportunity to adopt a child.

It’s not fair to punish people years after they’ve completed their sentences, Orput and Choi said.

PROGRAM PUTS MORE ONUS ON COUNTY ATTORNEYS TO EXPUNGE RECORDS

After years of talking about it, their offices now have the infrastructure and necessary staff to address it.

The idea is that instead of people coming to the court system asking for expungement, prosecutors will make a concerted effort to reach them.

“We’re not just going to be passive anymore where we just convict people and … move them down the assembly line,” Choi said.

Orput said it won’t apply to career criminals.

“It’s for the people who do the one-off. … The philosophy behind that, in my view, (is the one) all the great religions build in … atonement,” Orput said.

The program relies on a rarely used part of the statute that allows prosecutors to take the lead on expungements.

In their case, the county attorney offices built a website — helpsealmyrecord.org — that people with potentially expungeable offenses can use to start the process.

The route avoids filing fees and shifts the workload to prosecutors, meaning they’ll deal with all the administrative red-tape needed to secure the expungement.

In addition to misdemeanors, some 50 felonies are eligible under state statute. None of them are for violent crimes, with the exception of fifth-degree drug cases, which are considered violent offenses in Minnesota.

Both offices also intend to start flagging cases eligible for expungement with directives to staff to reach out to those individuals once enough time has passed.

They’ve also discussed working them into plea deals on the front end, giving people an added incentive to stay on the right side of the law.

REFORM ADVOCATES SAY PROGRAM IS GOOD FIRST STEP

The concept is a major shift that people involved in criminal justice reform say is critical and overdue.

Many warned the solution is not a “panacea,” though, partly because there are various ways for records to live on after expungement, both online and in certain agencies’ databases.

“The slate is never truly wiped clean, but I still believe it’s a worthwhile … effort that will help people,” said Emily Baxter, an attorney who serves as executive director of We Are All Criminals, a local nonprofit.

“The punishment has to have an end, and at this point, the punishment doesn’t have an end,” Baxter added.

Ramsey County District Chief Judge John Guthmann said expungements, in most cases, should at least keep a conviction from showing up on standard background checks.

PROGRAM GIVES PEOPLE ‘A SECOND CHANCE AT LIFE’

The two offices started doing “beta-testing” on the program this summer.

Working with Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services, staff sent letters to more than 1,700 people who’d been convicted of fifth-degree drug possession more than 10 years ago who haven’t had convictions since.

More than half of the letters came back as undeliverable, indicating to staff the challenges they face reaching people years after their convictions.

Ninety-one people responded to the request, and 63 are now on their way to getting their records sealed, said Jorge Saavedra, a Ramsey County prosecutor focused on collateral consequences.

James, who asked that his last name be kept private, was among those them.

The now-32-year-old was convicted of fifth-degree drug possession when he was 18 for having more than a quarter-gram of methamphetamine. At the time, he was using the drug and also selling it to support his baby girl.

He spent time in jail, on probation and went to treatment.

A decade ago, he convinced a McDonald’s restaurant to take a chance and hire him as a crew member. Now the married father of two works as a general manager and has been clean for years.

When he first opened the letter, James thought it was a joke.

“I couldn’t believe it,” James recalled. “I was like, ‘This is a thing?’ I can actually get this off my record and move on with my life and pursue my dreams?”

His conviction has been embarrassing to live with, and difficult, James said. It’s most recently affected he and his wife’s ability to get a loan to buy their first house, so they’ve stuck to renting instead.

“You try and explain to people that it happened so long ago and you’re not nearly that person anymore, but they just see that hanging over my head,” he said.

With his conviction now slated for expungement, he and his wife have started looking at homes again and meeting with Realtors.

He can’t quite describe what he expects to feel when it finally happens, but he knows it will feel good.

“I think this program is awesome,” he said. “I think there are a lot of people like myself that are trying to do better. This gives them a second chance at life.”

NEXT STEPS

The county attorneys aim to partner with organizations that help people find jobs, law schools and other organizations that can help widen the scope of the project.

They also said the issue is “ripe” for re-examination by state lawmakers, adding that other crimes should be considered and wait times in some cases shortened.

Kelly Mitchell, executive director of the Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice at the University of Minnesota, said she’s anxious to see how the pilot plays out, adding that she hopes other counties will consider following suit if it’s successful.

Orput and Choi don’t expect much pushback over their aims, Orput said.

“I think (people) expect me to advocate on behalf of the community, and this is just one way (of doing that),” he explained. “I also advocate for locking up miscreants … but what about the ones who need a break?”

A 22-year-old St. Paul man convicted by a jury of first-degree assault will spend a year in jail for causing a traumatic brain injury to a Little Canada man he punched outside the Minnesota State Fair last summer.

But Ramsey County District Judge Sara Grewing stayed Gunner McClellan’s eight-year prison sentence and placed him on probation for the next 10 years during a court hearing Wednesday.

She also ordered him to complete 100 hours of community service aimed at working with people living with brain injuries, enroll in anger management classes and abstain from drugs and alcohol.

McClellan’s attorney, Earl Gray, said the sentence was fair. He also noted that McClellan spoke at the hearing and expressed remorse for his actions.

The sentence was a departure from state guidelines, which recommend a six to nine-year sentence for defendants such as McClellan who are convicted of first-degree assault but have no prior criminal record.

Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Daniel Rait had asked the judge for a seven-year sentence.

MAN HOSPITALIZED FOR NEARLY A MONTH

McClellan punched Mike Donnelly after the men and their respective friends squared off outside the Fairgrounds last Sept 1.

Donnelly, 49, “fell like tree” from the “sucker punch” and hit his head on the concrete, Rait told the jury during McClellan’s July trial.

McClellan took off as the older man lay on the ground. Donnelly had to get part of his skull removed to reduce swelling in his brain caused by the injury. He was hospitalized for about a month, and has been able to return to work part-time.

He also permanently lost his sense of smell, suffers from recurring headaches and has undergone personality changes, according to his girlfriend and brother’s testimony.

DEFENDANT TESTIFIED AT TRIAL THAT VICTIM WAS AGGRESSOR

McClellan claimed self-defense at trial, painting Donnelly and his friends as the aggressors that night.

Donnelly and two of his friends walked past McClellan and a group of his friends as they were waiting for a ride in the front yard of a house near the fair.

The two groups exchanged words as they passed by the house. Gray argued at trial that one of Donnelly’s friends set things off by hurling a gay slur at the younger crew. Ramsey County Assistant Attorney Daniel Rait said it was the other way around.

Neither side disputed that McClellan and one of his friends got angry, and followed the men as they walked away. At some point, the older men turned around and a tussle ensued.

McClellan testified that he hit Donnelly only after the 49-year-old first swung at him and missed. He couldn’t retreat, he said, because he didn’t want to abandon his buddy, who he said was getting pummeled by Donnelly’s friend.

The prosecution said McClellan’s punch came out of nowhere as Donnelly and McClellan’s friends were fighting. 

Neither McClellan nor his friend told police about what had happened until days later when they were contacted by an investigator.

VICTIM: “I WILL NEVER BE THE SAME”

Donnelly provided a statement to the court before the sentencing Wednesday describing the ongoing struggles he faces with his memory, a constant thumping in his ear, and intermittent headaches.

His medical bills from three surgeries, including brain surgery, now exceed $1 million, Donnelly wrote.

“I feel like I will never be the same physically or emotionally ever again … ,” his statement read. “I didn’t have the choice to be like this for the rest of my life. Gunner made it happen. Gunner chose to do this and should suffer some consequences for it.

“I think at least seven years in prison and then I think that’s not even enough … ,” his statement continued. “To me, no amount of time and no amount of money would ever be enough for the damages Gunner has caused.”

Days before Duluth native Mary Stauffer and her family were scheduled to leave for the Philippines on a four-year Baptist missionary trip, she took her 8-year-old daughter, Beth, to get a haircut in suburban St. Paul.

Upon leaving the salon, the mother and daughter were confronted by a man with a gun and an evil plan.

Ming Sen Shiue, a former student of Mary Stauffer’s from when she taught ninth-grade algebra at Alexander Ramsey High School in Roseville turned a schoolboy crush into an obsession in the 15 years leading up to his brazen, midday kidnapping of the duo on May 16, 1980.

Over the next 53 days, before Mary and Beth escaped the house of horrors, Shiue killed a 6-year-old boy and lived out his demented fantasies by repeatedly raping his former teacher.

The Hermantown resident’s harrowing story of survival is scheduled to be told in the drama “Abducted: The Mary Stauffer Story” on the Lifetime cable TV network (7 p.m. Saturday).

In advance of that program’s airing, Mary and Irv Stauffer sat down with the News Tribune to recall their tale of terror 39 years ago.

TAKEN IN BROAD DAYLIGHT

That day, Friday, May 16, 1980, already had promised to be busy as Mary Stauffer hustled to handle last-minute preparations for their four-year stay abroad.

She brought her 6-year-old son, Steve, an afternoon kindergarten student, to get a haircut in the morning. In the late afternoon, it was Beth’s turn to go to Carmen’s Beauty Salon off Cleveland Avenue in Roseville.

As they left the salon and Mary was unlocking the passenger-side door of the 1973 Ford LTD supplied to them by their church, a man who appeared to be in his early 30s with thick glasses approached them outside the busy intersection.

“I thought maybe he just wanted directions,” said Mary, who was 36 at the time. “He had a gun in his waistband and he put it at Beth’s side and said, ‘I need a ride.’ I was ready to give him the keys to the car.”

Ming Sen Shiue had other plans, forcing them into the car and instructing Mary to drive north.

Devout in her faith, Mary attempted to appeal to him that God could help if he was in trouble.

“I said, ‘We are Christians and our God specializes in helping people in trouble,’ ” Mary said. “He said, ‘Shut up and drive,’ so I don’t think he was ready to hear the Gospel at that point.”

While they were driving, a police officer pulled up behind them at an intersection and Shiue threatened that if the car turned the same direction as them, he would shoot Beth.

The vehicles ended up heading in opposite directions.

They drove to a remote, wooded area in Anoka County, where Shiue bound mother and daughter together and covered their mouths with medical tape before forcing them face down in the cavernous trunk.

“I was scared, mainly because you just didn’t know what was happening,” Beth Stauffer said by phone from her home in the Twin Cities area. “There was nothing in my world that this made any sense. We didn’t know who he was or what he wanted.”

Shiue drove to an undeveloped area near Roseville and, in preparation for retrieving his van from a nearby parking lot, opened the trunk and put the vehicle’s massive spare tire on top of Mary and Beth.

At the same time, two neighborhood boys approached the car. One stayed at the front while the other, Jason Wilkman, went to the back to investigate.

“I think our abductor panicked and grabbed Jason and threw him in the trunk on top of us,” Mary recalled. “(The other boy) saw what happened to his friend and ran home. We didn’t know what had happened, and all of a sudden the trunk is slammed, the car is started and it peels out. It was a wild ride out of there.”

Mary tried communicating with the young boy, but he was too frightened to say much other than his name and age.

“He wouldn’t stop crying and said he needed to get home because he needed to visit his grandma that weekend,” Beth recalled. “I mentioned that I was supposed to visit mine as well.”

They returned to the Carlos Avery Wildlife Management Area, where Shiue took Jason out of the trunk and into the woods.

“We felt Ming grab (Jason) and take him out,” Beth said. “There was a crowbar next to me — I didn’t know if it was a crowbar, just a long metal stick — and he went off for a long, long time.”

Shiue didn’t open the trunk when he returned but instead just started the car and took off.

“And Jason was no longer with us,” Mary said.

After ditching Mary’s car and tying them up in his black, windowless van, Shiue eventually took them to the electronics store he owned, Sound Equipment Services, along University Avenue. He allowed them to use the bathroom and gave them juice before blindfolding them in the dark of night, putting them back in his van and driving to his family’s home in nearby Roseville — just six miles from Mary’s apartment.

He placed them, shackled and chained together, in a back bedroom closet, measuring 4 feet long by 21 inches wide, removed the doorknob from the inside and locked the door.

“This closet obviously had been prepared for us because there were no clothes hanging on the rod, there were some blankets and plastic bags on the shelf, a light bulb with a pull chain, a scatter rug and two small throw pillows on the floor,” Mary said.

Eileen Bridgeman Biernat, author of the book “Stalking Mary,” described the scene in a 2010 ABC News documentary: “This was his moment of triumph. He had found the person he wanted all these years, and he had her in his control.”

WORRY MOUNTS

In the meantime, Irv and Steve were home waiting. Mary’s sister, Sandra, came over for a preplanned dinner, but still no word. Irv called the salon and the hair stylist confirmed mother and daughter had left around 4:30 p.m.

“I was concerned that Mary and Beth were not home,” Irv said. “I didn’t sleep that evening.”

He told fellow missionary colleagues who lived in the apartment about their disappearance and they spent the night calling local hospitals to see if they had been admitted.

Irv called police later that night. The police, however, were more concerned about Jason Wilkman’s disappearance. Jason’s friend, who reported the abduction, wasn’t able to see in the trunk and thus authorities had no clue about the first kidnapping.

“We were not a priority,” Irv said. “An hour or two hours later, an officer came by the apartment. I could sense he thought this was a domestic problem.”

It wasn’t until the following morning as investigators searched the park area where Jason was taken that the two cases began to merge into one. The license plate from the Stauffers’ car was found, torn off by the heavy brush during Shiue’s quick getaway.

Finally, police had a connection between the disappearances. As many as 300 officers and volunteers began searching.

Initially, Irv said he was a suspect. The police interviewed him and even administered a lie detector test, which he passed.

It didn’t help that in a newspaper article about the kidnappings, a sketch of the suspect was run along with a photo of Irv. There was a similarity between the two, especially their dark hair and dark glasses.

“People were calling and saying it’s the husband who did it,” Irv recounted.

STALKING MARY

Born in West Duluth, Mary and her family moved to Hermantown when she was 10. All three siblings graduated from Hermantown High School.

Mary attended Bethel College in St. Paul and graduated in 1965. She married Duluth Denfeld graduate Irv Stauffer, a Bethel College seminary student, and the couple went to the Philippines for the first time as missionaries in the 1967-68 school year.

Prior to that trip, Mary taught ninth-grade math for two years at Ramsey High School. Among her first students was Ming Sen Shiue, a Taiwanese-American, who showed promise academically and participated in football and wrestling.

While he caused no problems, other former students later told Mary that Shiue was obsessed with her while she taught there.

After Mary taught for a couple years in north Minneapolis, the couple moved to Polk, Neb., where Irv, now a Baptist minister, was asked to pastor a congregation. They committed for two years but stayed for five in Nebraska, where both of their children were born.

“You take a risk when you take a new seminary graduate who doesn’t know anything,” Mary said. “Neither of us knew anything about pastoring, but they took us in and were so kind and loving. It was marvelous.”

By 1975, they were back in the Philippines for a four-year stay, starting new churches in the central islands.

That same year, Shiue ramped up his stalking of Mary.

Confusing the younger Irv Stauffer with his father, also named Irv, he showed up at Mary’s in-laws’ house in Duluth on the Fourth of July and held Irv Sr. at gunpoint. He took him into the house and told him to call his wife to the room. When Mary’s mother-in-law entered, Shiue realized his mistake.

“He had the wrong Mrs. Stauffer,” Mary’s husband said. “He held them at gunpoint and tied them up. He threatened them that if they ever called the police he would come back and shoot them. Then he locked them in a bedroom downstairs, and they never did report it to the police.”

They didn’t tell Mary and Irv, either, until after they had returned from the Philippines in 1979.

Later, during the second day of her captivity, Shiue told Mary that he had been the perpetrator.

Once Shiue learned that the Stauffers, during a one-year furlough from the Philippines, had moved to Baptist missionary apartments in Arden Hills, Minn., he increased his surveillance.

He spied on them from the woods outside the apartments. Mary hypothesized that he saw packing crates in the home, knowing they would be leaving soon. Shortly before the abduction, he attempted to break in through the patio doors by using a blowtorch and also, via a storage area, cut holes in the floor underneath their bed, leaving sawdust that Irv later swept up.

He even knew where the couple kept the spare key to their apartment.

“He said, ‘You are lucky that I got you when I did with a minimum of your family exposed because I would have done anything to take you,’ ” Mary said.

REVEALING HIS IDENTITY

On Day 2 of the kidnapping, Shiue brought Mary out of the closet, spread out a blanket on the living room floor, blindfolded her and tied her to a piece of furniture.

What ensued was a three-hour videotaped “interview” where he slowly revealed who he was.

“He said, ‘Do you remember a student who developed a formula for an algebra problem?’ ” Mary said. “When he said it, I remembered him. But he hadn’t given me any problems in class.”

During the question-and-answer session, Shiue said the B-grade Mary gave him as a freshman was a blemish on his otherwise spotless record and because of that he was unable to receive an academic scholarship. Since his father had died, Shiue said he couldn’t afford to attend college without a scholarship and instead was drafted into the Vietnam War and ended up in a POW camp. He blamed all his failures in life on Mary.

Those were all lies.

Actually Shiue finished No. 1 in his high school class and likely could have earned a scholarship to virtually any college. He was voted most likely to succeed by his peers, reportedly attended the University of Minnesota, never served in the U.S. military and instead started a business in the Twin Cities.

“He knew he hadn’t failed; he knew he was No. 1 in his class; he knew that he had attended college; he knew he had never been in the military,” Mary said. “But it had to be a plausible story that I would feel some regret for how badly I had treated him in class.”

Shiue had written fantasy short stories of actresses and other women he would rape and who would then beg for his sexual favors. Among the women on Shiue’s fantasy list was his compassionate ninth-grade math teacher.

He revealed to Mary a three-step plan to avenge the wrongs his obsessed mind believed she had caused him.

“I said, ‘What are you going to do for revenge?’ ” she said. “He began to remove my slacks and underpants and pull my shirt over my head and said, ‘I think you can guess. I don’t want your scars to be physical, I want them to be emotional. I want you to feel dirty, debased and degraded.’ ”

At which point, he videotaped at least six hours of rape sessions until he was forced to return the video camera he had on loan. The rapes continued daily thereafter.

“She said, ‘This was happening to my physical body, not my soul,’” Tom Bang, her brother, reasoned. “That was such an amazing way to look at it. I don’t think there are many people who could separate the two.”

Eventually, Mary worried Shiue would turn his attention to her daughter.

“It’s one thing for a married lady to be raped, but it’s quite another horrible thing for a child to be raped,” she said. “He said, ‘Whatever else I am, I am not a child molester.’ And he did not rape Beth or make her watch the rapes, but he did threaten to do so.”

FAMILY THREATENED

Shiue wasn’t averse to playing mind games, however.

Since Mary wasn’t showing him the affection that she had in his twisted fantasies, he upped the ante, insisting Mary be more loving toward him.

“I said, ‘I’m sorry I can’t do that. I love my husband and I promised to be true to him until death, and what you ask I cannot do,’ ” she recalled. “So he got this big, clear plastic bag and said, ‘Have you ever watched someone die by suffocation? You’re going to watch your daughter die by suffocation.’

“He put this (plastic) bag over her whole body as she sat in the closet. He tucked it underneath her and said, ‘It’ll take four to five minutes. She’ll gradually breathe up all the oxygen in the bag and then she’ll die.’

“Beth said, ‘Mom, what does he want you to do?’ I said, ‘He wants me to sin.’ ‘Oh, Mom, don’t sin. But please can I come out from under this bag because it’s so hot in here?’

“I could see the perspiration running down her face and the bag was contracting around her face. It was horrible, I don’t have the words to describe it.”

Not wanting to watch her family die — Shiue also told her he would kill her husband and son as well if she didn’t comply — Mary gave her abductor a peck on the cheek.

“ ‘That’s not enough,’ ” Mary recalled Shiue saying, “so I gave him a peck on the lips and that was enough to get him to take the bag off Beth.

“What followed was the most horrible of rape sessions, but at least Beth was safe.”

On another occasion to show his control, Shiue went to work and left Beth in a box in his van four hours on a hot summer day, amazingly not killing her.

“People have asked me many times, ‘Why didn’t you run away when he left you in the van?’ ” Beth said. “The one thing that he made extraordinarily clear was that if Mom ran away, he’d kill me and if I ran away, he’d kill her. There was no way I was leaving if she would die.”

FAMILY’S FAITH TESTED

Life was going well for Tom Bang, the younger brother of Mary Stauffer.

In the spring of 1980, Bang was in his third year as a teacher and softball coach at Hermantown High School, was a newlywed and had built a new house.

Then he heard about the kidnapping from his parents.

“I have to admit my hope wasn’t that great,” said Bang, who retired a year ago after coaching the Hawks for 40-plus seasons and winning three state championships. “It was really surreal that sort of thing had happened to someone in my family.”

Like other family members, Bang went through the day-to-day ritual of life, not allowing the gravity of the moment to hit him until his softball team was eliminated from the playoffs in late May.

“I remember getting on that bus and going back to school, and just breaking down and crying,” he said.

Irv also admits his faith in spirituality was tested during that time.

“During the 7 1/2 weeks, there were so many fears and concerns,” he said. “We didn’t know if we would ever see them again. That was the difficult part.

“Faith is all I had to hang onto. I hung onto my faith in the Lord that he would look after them and keep them in his care.”

At one point during the ordeal, FBI agent Gary Samuel called Irv and told him that an unidentified woman’s body had been found in southern Minnesota and was being transported to the Twin Cities.

“We don’t know who it is, but we just want you to know before you hear it on the radio,” Irv recalled the agent telling him.

The agent retrieved Mary’s dental records from St. Cloud, eliminating her as the possible victim.

“That was a relief and encouragement,” Irv said.

LIFE WENT ON

Shiue eventually relaxed his strict house rules.

Though still bound together, Mary and Beth were allowed to eat in the upstairs kitchen. By the 10th day, they showered.

Shiue provided Beth with a TV and bought her board games like Uno, often playing them while eating dinner together and calling her “Bethie.”

“He was weirdly affectionate in a sick, parental way,” Beth acknowledged. “It was icky then and it’s creepy now.”

Mary was forced to write two letters to Irv, first to try and convince the police that she wasn’t missing but had just gone away, and the second to strongly suggest the police stop their involvement or Mary would never be seen again.

Meanwhile, Shiue returned to work at his electronics store.

“He ran a business,” the author Biernat said in the ABC News documentary. “He paid payroll. He went to the supermarket. He got his oil changed. … Life went on as normal.

“And yet, there was this secret life going on.”

Midway through the ordeal, Shiue took the pair on a road trip in a rented Winnebago motor home to a job fair in Chicago.

“The way he presented that to me was, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool to go on vacation in a motor home?’ ” Beth said. “I had been stuck in a closet for four-and-a-half weeks so the thought of being in a motor home sounded interesting to me.”

Still wearing the same clothes as the day they were kidnapped, Shiue brought Mary to a shopping mall in Madison, Wis., so they could change their outfits and he could take them out under the pretense of being a family.

He kept Beth close to him to prevent Mary from telling anyone about the abduction.

“As long as he had Beth, he had control of Mary,” Irv said.

Still, Mary tried to find ways to alert the authorities. She used a traveler’s check from her purse while shopping, hoping the bank would be notified of the transaction. Even though Irv had alerted the FBI to the existence of the check, the FBI apparently was not notified when the check cleared.

Left alone in the Winnebago, Beth tried yelling to a group of teenage boys outside the window.

“It was a moment when I had some bravery and I called out and said, ‘Hey, can you get some help, I’ve been kidnapped.’ They basically laughed at me and told me to stop making up stories and went on their way.”

During the trip, Mary took a Gideon Bible from a motel room and read to Beth on a daily basis. They kept up prayer vigils, even praying for their captor.

“At one point she told me, ‘Mom, we have to pretend to like him,’ ” Mary said. “That’s a powerful statement because the Bible says to love your enemies.”

Near the end of their captivity, Shiue even took Mary and Beth to Como Park on the Fourth of July, to a Hardee’s Restaurant and to the University of Minnesota agricultural campus in St. Paul to see the fireworks.

“And there were at least three Ramsey County sheriff’s vehicles that went by, but I couldn’t do a thing about it because he always had his gun and he always had Beth,” Mary said.

RESCUED AT LAST

By Monday morning, July 7, hope was fading. Shiue, realizing he couldn’t stay in the family home forever, had decided to buy a camper for the three to live in.

“We were losing heart,” Mary said. “We knew that he was so careful that there was no way anybody would know where to look for us.”

Though their faith had been tested, it hadn’t evaporated.

“I said, ‘Lord, if you make a way for us to escape, please let it be easy, something that I can do,” Mary said.

Shiue went to work that morning but before doing so he attached the cable connecting Mary and Beth through the top hinge of the closet door and looped it through, allowing them to move the length of the cable and more freely around the bedroom.

Remembering how her father used to take hinge pins out of doors at home but minus a hammer, Mary tried to force the pin up.

“I was determined to give it my best try, and (the hinge) lifted out like it was greased,” she said.

Now untethered to the door, Beth panicked, worrying that Shiue would find them and kill them.

To allay her daughter’s fears, Mary put the cable back through the opening and the hinge back in the door, sat Beth down and told her this was a sign from God.

“I remember being completely terrified that he was in the house and would figure out we were escaping,” Beth said. “I did panic, she did smack me, she put that door back together and said to listen if he is here.”

Silence.

“Finally, Beth said, ‘OK, Mom,’ ” Mary said. “I went back to the door and I was shaking like a leaf. This was so exciting and so scary and so risky. I pulled the hinge pin out and got our cable free, grabbed her hand and said, ‘Let’s go.’ ”

From the upstairs telephone, Mary called the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office and was put on hold twice before Sergeant Mike Fowler came on the line.

Mary, who had found a dry cleaning tag in the closet with an address of 1960 North Hamline Avenue, knew where police could find them.

“I said, ‘This is Mary Stauffer, the Arden Hills kidnap victim and I would like someone to come get us.’ I’ll never forget his words. He said, ‘Is Jason with you?’ That’s when I knew that Jason had never made it home and was most likely dead.

“That was worse than the rapes or the initial kidnapping. I had a 6-year son, friendly just like Jason. I could picture it happening to him and I thought about Jason’s parents, and prayed. It was devastating for me.”

At Beth’s prodding and fearful of Shiue’s return, they hid behind an old car Shiue had wrapped in plastic. Within minutes — though Mary and Beth both said it seemed like an eternity — the police arrived and they were whisked away to freedom.

“They were so glad to see us,” Mary said. “I had the feeling that they wanted to hug both of us, but I wasn’t really in the mood to hug anybody at that point.”

At the same moment, Irv was in contact with Samuel, the FBI agent, in regard to a third letter Mary had written and been received that morning by her parents in Hermantown. Samuel informed them that something was transpiring but didn’t provide any details. A sheriff’s deputy soon arrived at the apartment and brought Irv and Steve to the sheriff’s office.

That’s when Irv finally learned of their escape, and they showed up at the police station still chained together with cables and bicycle locks.

“It was so exciting to know they were safe,” he said.

The FBI raided Shiue’s workplace and arrested him without incident.

Within days, Mary was back up north visiting family.

“The thing I remember the most is that (shortly after she was rescued) I was outside working on my new house, and I walked around the corner from the backyard and there she was,” Bang recalled. “It was amazing.

“She was exactly the same person. She seemed unaffected. It was because of her faith that she relied on to pull her through.”

CHAOS IN THE COURTROOM

Just days after his imprisonment, Shiue contracted his original cellmate, Richard Green, who was being released from jail, to kill Mary and Beth in order to prevent them from testifying and to help him escape.

Shiue mailed the ex-inmate a $1,000 check — with the promise of another $50,000 after the deeds were done. According to the formal district court report, Green admitted to the contract but not until after a second FBI interview and after the FBI had monitored Shiue’s finances and knew about the payment.

Charged with transporting kidnapping victims across state lines, Shiue was tried in federal court in downtown St. Paul in front of Judge Edward Devitt.

Before the trial, prosecutors had Mary watch the nine hours of videos on two occasions, first to try and put the rapes in sequential order and another time to interpret the transcript. Only the three-hour “interview” was shown in open court.

When Mary was called to testify, she had to walk between the prosecution and defense tables en route to the witness stand. As federal prosecutor Tom Berg began his questioning, Shiue rose from his chair and lunged at Mary. Berg blocked his path and federal marshals wrestled Shiue to the ground.

“I just kind of sensed that something was going on behind me,” Berg told A&E’s “Real Crime.” “I turned, and the defendant, Ming Shiue, had gotten out of his chair on the other side of counsel table and was coming up, going after Mrs. Stauffer, the witness. So I just kind of instinctively grabbed him.”

After a 10-day federal trial, the jury found Shiue guilty of kidnapping. Prior to the trial, Shiue had told one of the psychiatrists that he knew the location of Jason Wilkman’s body but would not reveal it.

Sentencing was withheld until a deal could be made with Shiue to locate Jason. The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office agreed to not charge Shiue with first-degree murder, and in late October he led authorities to Carlos Avery, where they found Jason had been killed by blunt trauma to the back of the head, perhaps by the car’s missing tire iron or by the handle of Shiue’s gun.

He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 30 years.

During the trial for killing Jason, this time in Anoka County District Court, Mary needed to testify again.

“(FBI agent Samuel) told me, ‘Mary, this will be your last time on the stand. Ming tried something in federal court. He hasn’t tried anything in state court, but if he’s going to try anything it will be now,’ ” Mary related.

Upon being cross-examined by Shiue’s attorney, Ron Meshbesher, Shiue attacked Mary, using a knife he had smuggled into the courtroom.

“As I am answering questions, all of a sudden, Ming jumps up from his chair, runs behind me, grabs me by my neck and holds a knife in front of me and says, ‘Get back or I’ll kill her,’ ” Mary remembered.

A lieutenant who had been outside the courtroom waiting to testify, rushed in and grabbed Mary off the stand and brought her back to the judge’s chambers.

“Somewhere in the scuffle I had gotten cut,” Mary said of the slice that went across her chin and the corner of her mouth. “Maybe the idea was, ‘If I can’t have her, nobody can have her.’ ”

Mary received 62 stitches, and the second trial was delayed.

After the trial resumed, Shiue was found guilty of kidnapping and second-degree murder and was sentenced to 40 years to be served concurrently with the other sentence.

SHIUE PAROLE DENIED

Shiue’s case was in the spotlight again in 2010 when a judge ruled that even if he was paroled, he would be committed to the state’s sex offender program in Moose Lake.

Judge Jenny Walker Jasper ruled that Shiue met the legal criteria for indefinite commitment.

The judge relied upon a report by psychologist Paul Reitman, who spent many hours evaluating Shiue and deemed him a continuing threat to the community.

“He’s a very tormented man, because he is delusional,” Reitman said in his report. “He goes from one aspect, of being delusional, being nice, ‘Let’s go on a family trip.’ … It just represents the moral chaos. … His psychological life is hell.”

Reitman stated he would be concerned if Shiue was released.

“He might feel that he spent 30 years in prison because she lied. We don’t know that,” he said. “And that’s why he has to be scrutinized in intensive psychological treatment, as well as sex offender treatment.”

Mary Stauffer was relieved at the time to hear the judge’s decision since Shiue had told her during her confinement that he would take revenge on the family if he was ever caught and released.

“He said, ‘Don’t think that even if I get caught and put in prison for 25 years, don’t think I will forget about you,” she said in 2010. “When I get out I will go after you, and if you’re dead, I will go after your kids.”

Shiue is currently housed in the medium-security federal penitentiary in Marion, Ill.

The Stauffers, who had returned to the Philippines in 1981, came back to the United States for good upon retirement more than a decade ago. They now live in the same Hermantown house Mary grew up in.

They turned down a chance at filing a civil suit even though Shiue’s business was worth a reported quarter of a million dollars.

“I thought at that time that he hurt Mary and Beth, he hurt us as a family. This is a way we could get back at him and hurt him,” Irv said. “But Mary said, ‘No, vengeance belongs to the Lord.’ I had to respect her at that point and realized she was right.”

Despite all the trauma the family went through, Mary says Shiue remains in their prayers.

“We continue to pray for him because God is so merciful,” she said. “I have not felt the need to reach out to him. I just felt that would be unwise to make any sort of contact with him.”

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter said Thursday he’s disheartened to see people judging the police officers and the 13-year-old girl arrested last week, in a video that’s been gaining attention.

Carter said an internal affairs investigation is needed.

“It’s disheartening to see people jumping out to try to villainize the minor child involved in this,” Carter said at a press conference outside City Hall. “That’s also why it’s disheartening for me to see people trying to jump out to try to villainize the officers involved in this before we have a full reading of the facts, we don’t know.

“… We will get the answers … that we need, we just don’t have them yet,” Carter continued.

The president of the St. Paul police union, Paul Kuntz, said he agrees with Carter’s comment about the video being “disturbing to watch,” but he said that’s “because we have a 13-year-old acting that way, treating police officers that way.

“I’m not blaming this young girl,” Kuntz continued. “This girl has been arrested several times recently. Something is obviously going on in her life that she needs assistance, she needs help. The police officers there tried to do the best they could and I think they did a very good job of trying to control her when she was out of control — there were no punches thrown, and no Tasers or mace used.”

The teen previously was arrested on suspicion of assault, disorderly conduct, theft from person, auto theft, fleeing police on foot and obstructing legal process, according to police.

Alexander Graham, the officer at the center of the video, has been highly lauded since he joined the St. Paul police department in 2016, though he was fired during his probationary period when he was a Ramsey County sheriff’s deputy in 2011.

MAYOR: INVESTIGATION SHOULD BE THOROUGH

Carter said the incident has many people concerned, and he believes the video “is discouraging” and “disheartening to watch.”

At the news conference, Carter was asked whether he believed officers were overly aggressive, based on the two-minute video. Carter said that’s why a thorough investigation is necessary.

A journalist also asked Carter, “What could the officers have done differently?

“That’s the point of having an investigation to determine and it’s not up to me,” Carter said, adding that the inquiry would rely on officers who are use-of-force experts and a Police Civilian Internal Affairs Review Commission that is trained to review all components of a case.

TEEN CHARGED IN CASE

The arrest came after Graham saw a girl last Thursday who previously received an order to not trespass at the BP gas station at University and Hamline avenues, but who was in the parking lot, according to police. Police said she ran away.

Helen Dillman, who was working at the UPS Store across the street, said a girl came in the business and told her and her co-worker that “the police are trying to get me” and she was scared.

Dillman said she started video recording on her phone after Graham came in with other officers. She initially posted the video on Facebook and wrote that she “witnessed a cruel and completely unacceptable altercation between 3 white police officers and one young and terrified … black girl.”

According to the police department, Graham told the girl she was under arrest and to lie on her stomach, but she fought with the officer.

The girl was arrested and the Ramsey County attorney’s office charged her with fourth-degree assault of an officer.

INVESTIGATION UNDERWAY

It appears an internal affairs investigation into the case is underway.

The three officers seen in the video working to handcuff the girl — Graham, Grady Sheehy and Charles Busch — are all the subject of an investigation that was just opened by the commander of the internal affairs unit.

Under state law, a police spokesman said the department cannot provide information about the focus of an open internal affairs investigation.

Graham and Busch became St. Paul officers in 2016, and Sheehy started patrolling in December after completing the department’s academy.

Police department personnel files show Busch and Sheehy haven’t been disciplined. Graham’s only discipline as a St. Paul officer was an oral reprimand in 2017 for a preventable squad crash.

In 2011, Graham and another deputy who lost his job as a Ramsey County sheriff’s deputy claimed in a lawsuit they were dismissed in retaliation for working on the re-election campaign of Bob Fletcher, who was ousted then as sheriff. A federal jury decided in 2013 that was not the case.

Then-Ramsey County Sheriff Matt Bostrom’s attorney said in closing arguments they were fired because they weren’t fit to be deputies. While each had positive comments in his personnel file, the defense argued that the bad outweighed the good and Graham’s included negative reviews from former employers.

At the St. Paul police department, meanwhile, Graham has repeatedly been honored. He was named in April as runner-up for Officer of the Year.

He received three Life-Saving Awards from the police department last year for giving people aid after shootings.

May Township in northern Washington County was rocked by the news of two brutal crimes this summer.

On June 2, a resident returning home from a graduation open house found the body of Jose Natividad Genis Cuate, 47, of Minneapolis, face down in water next to a drain culvert that runs under 176th Street North. A black leather belt was cinched tightly around his neck, and a blanket had been wrapped and duct-taped around the lower half of his body.

A week later, an Uber driver spotted a woman lying in the middle of Arcola Trail North. The 39-year-old woman, who lives in St. Paul, had been shot twice in the chest. A large pool of blood surrounded her.

The two crimes occurred just 10 miles apart in the tiny rural St. Croix River community, pop. 2,898.

After almost a week in critical condition at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, the woman was finally able to tell authorities what happened. Her harrowing account of the events of June 9 included accusations of torture, drugging, kidnapping and attempted murder.

Two suspected Surenos 13 gang members, 32-year-old Angel Ignacio Sardina-Padilla and 23-year-old Luis Alfredo Cortez Mendoza, were arrested and charged.

Now Washington County prosecutors say the two crimes are related. Sardina-Padilla has been charged in Cuate’s death.

Sardina-Padilla knows people in the area, Thomas Wedes, assistant Washington County Attorney said Thursday. “There is no connection between the victims that we are aware of.”

Sardina-Padilla has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with Cuate’s death, which occurred on May 24, nine days before his body was found.

COMPLAINT DETAILS EVIDENCE

Witnesses reported seeing Sardina-Padilla assault Cuate in a Minneapolis apartment on the night of May 24 and then take him into a bedroom, according to the criminal complaint filed in Washington County District Court. He then allegedly placed “what appeared to be a body into the trunk of a vehicle” and drove away, the complaint states.

Forensic scientists at the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension found numerous bloodstains in the trunk of Sardina-Padilla’s vehicle and a roll of duct tape and a cloth belt in the spare-tire compartment; the belt was similar to one that had been wrapped around Cuate’s body and used to move it, according to the complaint.

Investigators obtained a warrant to search Sardina-Padilla’s Facebook accounts and found videos and still images that he allegedly sent to others via Facebook Messenger. One video showed Cuate “lying lifeless on a wood floor with a black leather belt cinched around his neck,” the complaint states.

The video showed a man with wrist tattoos matching Sardina-Padilla’s holding the end of the belt around Cuate’s neck, the complaint states.

“Sardina-Padilla’s voice is heard on the video saying … ‘See, see this guy, cop caller, for all you snitches … all will suffer the same, all that s—, see, look at this s—,’” the complaint states. “At the end of the video, Sardina-Padilla drops the belt. (Cuate’s) head then drops.”

Sardina-Padilla also sent links to articles written about Cuate’s murder to several people via Facebook Messenger, the complaint states. In one message exchange, he allegedly wrote: “Snapped his neck. Lips turned purple lol k did good huh … man imam dump him now. sry it’s pretty f—– up but owed money.”

SUSPECT TRIED TO LEAVE STATE

On June 15, Sardina-Padilla allegedly sent a Facebook message to someone attempting to obtain a false ID because he needed to “get out of MN,” but had no identification, the complaint states. The other person sent Sardina-Padilla a photo of a Mexico identification card with Sardina-Padilla’s photo, but the name of another person.

Sardina-Padilla is being held in the Washington County Jail in Stillwater. Bail has been set at $4 million.

Mendoza, who is also in the Washington County Jail, has been charged kidnapping and second-degree manslaughter; his bail was set at $2 million.

Sardina-Padilla will next appear in court on Nov. 1.

ST. CLOUD, Minn. — Prosecutors have charged 19 students in a large-scale fight at St. Cloud Tech High School last week.

The Stearns County attorney’s office charged 18 male students and one female student — ages 14 to 17 — with crimes ranging from third-degree rioting to aiding and abetting in an assault.

One student was charged with possessing a dangerous weapon on school property and terroristic threats for displaying a knife.

The fight broke out around lunchtime Sept. 25. The school was temporarily locked down. There were no serious injuries, but one student suffered a broken nose.

Minnesota Public Radio News reported that school district officials say none of the students charged will be returning to Tech High School this year.

Tech High School just opened a new campus this fall. About 1,600 students are enrolled.

Tim “T.J.” Bell vividly remembers his first big fire.

It was at a Queen Anne mansion on West Chestnut Street, and flames were visible when the rookie Stillwater Fire Department volunteer arrived on the scene.

“I was sent upstairs to open up all the windows, to ventilate it,” he said. “When I came back to the stairwell, all I could see were flames coming up through the steps. There was no other way down — either wait for a ladder or jump.”

Bell, 71, who started working for the Stillwater Fire Department on Oct. 7, 1969, is believed to be the longest-tenured volunteer firefighter in Minnesota.

City officials marked his 50th anniversary by honoring him at the Stillwater City Council meeting on Tuesday night and proclaiming Wednesday as “Timothy J. Bell Day” in the city.

Bell also worked for the Stillwater Police Department for 30 years, retiring as a captain in 1998.

“In an era where the average volunteer firefighter serves five years or less, 50 years is truly an incredible feat — one for the history books,” said Mayor Ted Kozlowksi.

15,000 SERVICE CALLS

Bell has responded to an estimated 15,000 service calls, which means “he’s basically dealt with everybody in Stillwater at some point — in times when we needed help,” Kozlowski said.

Bell, who now works as a paid, on-call firefighter/engineer, served as a captain of the volunteer crew for 16 years and as its assistant chief for 19 years.

He went back to being a firefighter in 2003 “to free up some time and let some of the other younger guys get a little experience in the officer positions,” he said.

Bell is a natural leader and a mentor, Fire Chief Stuart Glaser said.

“He’s extremely level-headed and calm under pressure,” Glaser said. “He’s a very reassuring presence. I’ve learned a lot from him.”

FAMILY FOLLOWS IN HIS FOOTSTEPS

Bell grew up in Bayport; his father, Irving, was a part-time policeman and volunteer fireman for the city. He graduated from Stillwater High School in 1966 and started working for the Stillwater Police Department on Jan. 1, 1969.

“Like any kid, I was always fascinated with fire trucks and firemen and police careers,” Bell said. “I knew when I was a young kid that that was the direction that I was going to head.”

Bell is the patriarch of a three-generation crew. His son, Jon, 51, and grandson, Jake, 33, also are Stillwater firefighters.

“I know a lot of departments that have father-sons, but I don’t know of any other that has three generations,” Tim Bell said.

DROWNINGS, FATAL FIRES, EXPLOSIONS

In 2008, Bell was one of two rescue divers who went into the frigid St. Croix River to rescue four people from an SUV that had plunged into the water.

Diver Jonas Werpy pulled three people out of the 33-degree water before Bell went in and pulled up a fourth. When Bell placed the woman in the inflatable rescue boat, she rolled over and gasped.

Two of the SUV’s occupants died within days, but the two others, including the woman Bell rescued, survived.

“That was probably one of the most dramatic things I was ever involved in,” he said.

His most traumatic call came on the night of Jan. 22, 1982.

A fire at Brine’s Meat Market on Main Street caused the death of two firefighters from the Mahtomedi Fire Department. Bell’s friend and fellow firefighter Kevin Charlsen nearly perished.

“The roof collapsed, and they went down … ,” Bell said. “A lot of the guys had bad memories of that night, and I was no different. For many years there, I would start to talk about it, and I would start to cry.”

Friends thought Bell had died during a call involving a fire at Junker Sanitation in Oak Park Heights. A 55-gallon drum of solvent blew up and “threw three of us back 70, 80 feet,” he said. “The other guys on the scene thought we were dead because all they saw was this huge explosion. We disappeared in the debris.”

Firefighters are a tight-knit group because everything they do involves teamwork, he said.

“When you’re out there working as a police officer, most of the time you’re an individual doing things,” he said. “In the fire service, when we go out on a call, there could be 30 of us, and we’re all working together. It just draws the guys closer.”

A HALF-CENTURY OF CHANGE

Things have changed a lot in 50 years.

When he started, there was no 911. Anyone reporting a fire called the fire station on a dedicated phone line — 439-1313 — that was staffed 24/7. The firefighter on duty would answer the phone, write down the information and pick up the receiver on another phone that automatically dialed every firefighter in town.

“It would ring just a steady ring at their house until they were answered,” Bell said. “That’s the only way we knew there was a fire.”

Another major change: pay.

Bell, who walked about 40 miles a week before suffering a muscle injury two years ago, has no plans to retire.

Monitoring the radio or working in a limited capacity holds no appeal, either.

“I go into fires and drive the truck and run the pump and stuff,” he said. “When I get to the point where I can’t go in the fire, I will retire because we don’t have room for people with limited abilities. I would retire and make room for somebody else to get on, who can do the job, but I haven’t reached that point yet.”

WYOMING, Minn. — Police say a Wyoming man who suffered a gunshot wound to his leg lied to officers about the shooting.

Authorities say the 20-year-old man claimed an assailant shot him Thursday, but they later learned his wound was actually self-inflicted. Police say the man accidentally fired a round into his leg while unloading his handgun and in a panic tossed the gun into a nearby swamp and fabricated the story about how he was shot by someone else.

KARE-TV says a professional diver helped police locate the gun in the swamp. Investigators say the man’s story didn’t seem to add up and the truth was eventually revealed.

The man has been arrested on gross misdemeanor charges.