HUDSON (WI)
Fond du Lac Reporter
the associated press
HUDSON, Wis. — A judge found enough evidence Monday to suggest a Catholic priest killed a funeral home director and his intern more than three years ago.
St. Croix County Circuit Judge Eric Lundell’s finding closes the case. The Rev. Ryan Erickson killed himself in December after police questioned him about the slayings at the O’Connell Family Funeral Home in Hudson on Feb. 5, 2002.
“I conclude that Ryan Erickson probably committed the crimes in question,” Lundell said at the end of a daylong, closed-door hearing into the case. “On a scale of one to 10, I would consider it a 10. It is a very strong case of circumstantial evidence.”
Erickson, a former Campbellsport resident, cannot be charged in the case.