WISCONSIN
Pioneer Press
BY KEVIN HARTER
Pioneer Press
A priest who committed suicide after being questioned about the double slayings at a Hudson, Wis., funeral home, was also being investigated in a possible crime involving a minor, Hudson police said Tuesday.
It was the first time that Hudson Police Chief Richard Trende had publicly linked the Rev. Ryan Erickson to another case. Trende also said the priest piqued investigators' interest in the funeral home slayings because he knew details of the crime scene that had not been made public.
But despite the disclosures, Trende refused to divulge too much about either investigation.
Trende would not say if the newly disclosed investigation involved more than one child, what the nature of the allegations were or whether they relate to the February 2002 slayings of Dan O'Connell and James Ellison. O'Connell, 39, operated the family-owned O'Connell Family Funeral Home where Ellison, 22, was an intern from the University of Minnesota.
Posted by kshaw at January 19, 2005 09:08 AM