WISCONSIN
In-Forum
HUDSON, Wis.
Three years after two funeral home workers were fatally shot and three months after a priest was questioned in the slayings, investigators have received some "very beneficial" information in the case, the police chief said Wednesday.
But Police Chief Richard Trende would not reveal what detectives learned, other than to say they have not found the gun used to shoot funeral home director Dan O'Connell and his 22-year-old old intern, James Ellison.
"We have made some definite progress in this. We are nearing some conclusion, we hope. I am not going to comment further," Trende said. "A lot of information is being wrapped up. There are a few interviews yet to be done."
Trende said he hopes that within two weeks, police can present their investigation to the city attorney and the St. Croix County district attorney to determine what happens next.
"There has been some recent information that has come forward that's been very beneficial," he said.
O'Connell, 39, and Ellison were fatally shot in the office of the O'Connell Family Funeral Home in western Wisconsin in February 2002. Police have made no arrests.
The investigation took a bizarre twist after the Rev. Ryan Erickson, an associate pastor of St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Hudson at the time of the murders, was questioned late last year.
Erickson, 31, was found hanged Dec. 19 from a fire escape at St. Mary's Church in Hurley in far northern Wisconsin. Police said he had denied any involvement in the murders.
Trende said Erickson was questioned about the murders after a separate investigation was launched last fall into an allegation the priest was involved in a possible crime involving a child or children.
Posted by kshaw at March 23, 2005 05:55 PM