Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Fr. Ryan Ericson suicide update



DA to seek families' advice on findings : AP


The families of two funeral home workers killed more than three years ago in western Wisconsin will advise a prosecutor on what to do with the findings of a police investigation into whether a priest was involved the slayings, the prosecutor said Monday...


Police said they finished their investigation into the February 2002 slayings of funeral home director Dan O'Connell and his intern, James Ellison, and any connection to the Rev. Ryan Erickson, who killed himself after officers interviewed him.


Johnson refused to reveal any details of the police probe until he divulged the findings to the victims' families in a meeting planned early in September.


O'Connell and Ellison were shot to death in the O'Connell Family Funeral Home. Hudson Police Chief Richard Trende has said investigators ruled out that the killings were random and listed the motive as personal.


Erickson was working at a church in Hudson at the time of the slayings. Investigations questioned him about the killings in 2004 as part of a separate investigation into an allegation involving a minor or minors, authorities have said.


Erickson committed suicide Dec. 19 outside his new parish in Hurley after police searched his church residence and office. Police said Erickson had denied any involvement in the slayings.


Trende has refused to say what led detectives to question the priest about the murders, and a judge has sealed court documents in the case, including requests for search warrants.

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