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	Lawsuits against Priest Settled By David Unze St. Cloud Times December 8, 2007 http://www.sctimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071208/NEWS01/112070047/1009 MINNEAPOLIS — Two civil lawsuits accusing a Crosier priest of defamation for a book he wrote about the 1957 death of a Foley teenager have been settled, according to the priest's attorney. Several people who were identified by fictional names in the book "Raising Roger's Cross" sued the Rev. Charles Kunkel in Hennepin County District Court. In the book, Kunkel claimed that Roger Vaillancourt was tortured and castrated before he was hit by a car and died. Three people identified in the book by the fictional names "Mack," "Dewey" and "Cindy" sued Kunkel. The attorney representing those who sued Kunkel claimed the three did nothing wrong, and they sued the publisher AuthorHouse and the Crosier Fathers and Brothers as well as Kunkel. The parties agreed to the terms of a settlement during mediation late last month, said Dan Eller, a St. Cloud-area attorney who represented Kunkel. The final, signed stipulation has not been filed with the court yet, he said. The lawsuit was settled to the satisfaction of all parties, Eller said. Details of the settlement have not been made public, and Eller would not reveal the settlement terms. At the time of his death in 1957, officials thought Vaillancourt, 17, died after a car ran over him four miles north of Princeton. No autopsy was done. The coroner at the time ruled that Vaillancourt died from being dragged by a car and had injuries that included a fractured skull and neck, severe cuts to his head and fractures of the left hip and leg. But two affidavits filed in connection with the civil lawsuits against Kunkel show a forensic anthropologist and a medical examiner who examined Vaillancourt's skeletal remains believe Vaillancourt's death was not solely the result of being hit by a car. Those affidavits, of medical examiner Janis Amatuzio and forensic anthropologist Susan Thurston Myster, say Vaillancourt suffered injuries to his face and ribs that were not consistent with being run over by a vehicle. Amatuzio's affidavit indicates that she would change the cause of death on Vaillancourt's death certificate to "blunt force injuries to the pelvis, chest and head." She indicated in the court filing that the manner of death will be classified as "cannot be determined." The most likely cause of the injuries to Vaillancourt's facial bones was impacts with a blunt object such as a fist, Myster wrote. It was her opinion that Vaillancourt was hit four to five times with a blunt object. Had his head been run over by the car, she wrote, the injuries to his skull and face would have been much more severe.
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