Some Correspondence With "Misty Johnson"

Again, I beg your pardon for offering a little background information (in italics, below). Obviously, a lot has happened to me over the past 14 years since Trina Langenbrunner was murdered, and a lot of it is not directly related to my still unsuccessful attempts to get my testimony into the official record. You'd think the Sheriff's Department would have been legally OBLIGATED to take my statements and enter them into official evidence, but evidently, they do what they please, and the law is for other people ... 

I left Minnesota in December 2004, and went to look for teaching work in the Lao PDR (Laos), with relatives of refugee friends I'd met in Minnesota.
I was in Laos for a little over 7 years, and ended up spending everything I'd saved from selling the farm, plus money from my dad, besides. I ended up basically with nothing, except a much-increased knowledge of the Lao language, and 7 years of teaching experience. 
I finally couldn't get a visa to work there anymore, and had to leave my house, my motorbike, nearly all my personal possession, and my fiancee behind. (That's another story.)
Now I am in Thailand, just about a mile from where I lived in Laos. It's heart-breaking to be separated both from my kids and grandkids in the US, and from my fiancee in Laos besides.
Fortunately, the Lao and Thai languages are very similar, especially up here in the Northeast part of Thailand which actually used to be joined with Laos, so my students at the University understand Lao. I'm working full-time now, enjoy teaching nearly as much as I used to enjoy farming, and my fiancee comes over to visit whenever she can. And, I am happy that nobody in my circle has been murdered, though my life has been threatened.

While I was in Laos, I did my best to keep track of the news back in Duluth, mostly by reading the Duluth News Tribune. The Tribune used to offer a comments section where readers could comment on selected news stories. I took advantage of that from time to time to make comments on the cover-up of the evidence in the Trina Langenbrunner case. 
These comments sections were not directly on the News Tribune page, but through blogging sites, such as WordPress, Area Voices, etc. There were more than one site used over time, but I don't remember exactly the names or dates when the Tribune changed blog software.
Then one time, I believe about in 2008,  I got a "friend request" on the blog I was commenting on. The person who sent the request was a "Misty Johnson", which rather rang a bell, as "Misty Johnson" is a detective character in a mystery series. I kind of suspected "Misty" was a pseudonym for someone from the Sheriff's Department. I was happy to repeat my information to anyone, though, even "Misty".
We began a short "friendship", and "Misty" pumped me for info about what I knew about the Langenbrunner murder. 
"Misty" made derisory comments about the Sheriff's Department, especially investigator Sally Burns, and led me to believe that Sally was also posting on the same blog, under the name of "Yellow Dog", or (something similar to that). "Misty" pretended to "call Sally out", and then suddenly "Yellow Dog" didn't appear on the blog anymore -- which I guess "Misty" figured would make me feel more friendly to "her".
It was kind of funny, actually, as I'm pretty sure it was "Misty" who was the cop, and I didn't care a hill of beans about Yellow Dog being on the same blog, anyway ... but I played along. 
Also, "Misty" had mentioned that "she" was doing a blog of "her" own. I looked for that blog on the blog-site, and found it. It was very racially biased against Native Americans, and there were some crude "jokes" on it, putting down Native Americans in Duluth and in general. 
I'm sure that the blog is still archived somewhere in cyber-space, and probably even my conversation with "Misty" -- but I haven't found them, so far. I've checked WordPress and Area Voices, without success. If any readers here are more Internet savvy than I am, or know other blog software the Tribune may have been using, maybe I could still find it. I do remember my password.
Anyway, besides telling "Misty" basically everything included in the previous posts on this blog, I also sent her a copy of the following letter which I had sent to a guy named Hunter Bear. He had been on the Internet asking for any information about a murder of a young Native American male, Russell Turcotte, in North Dakota. That murder had occurred at a time and place where Tom Hinze may very well have been at the time, and the M.O. certainly was similar to the Trina Langenbrunner murder. The body was found off a gravel road, off of Highway 2, in North Dakota. The victim had been picked up and offered a ride, evidently by a "nice guy" at a gas station, then was never seen again alive.
Another thing that had struck me, was the fact that Russell Turcotte was returning from a Rainbow Gathering when he went missing, and I knew that Tom Hinze also had attended Rainbow Gatherings. (He told me that he liked to see the naked women at these gatherings.) 
I'll post that letter, which I sent to Hunter Bear in September 2003, below.

Dear Sir:

The enclosed relates to the murder of a young Native American lady whose body was found about 1/2 mile from Highway 2, on a little-used gravel road in Brookston, Minnesota, about 20 miles from Duluth. Her body was found tortured and stabbed, about 10 miles from the bar where she was last seen, and from where she caught a ride on her way home to Floodwood, MN, where she had 2 children. I'm sending you this information because I feel it may possibly be related to the Russell Turcotte case, which I read about on your website.

There are a few facts about Tom Hinze that are not included in the enclosed letters:

1. He attended Rainbow gatherings.

2. He has lived in Lacey, Washington. I know he was there during the winter of 2000-2001, but do not know if he has been there since.

3. He was in Alabama during the spring of 2001, and was badly burned there by an explosion at a race track where he was working. I don't know what town he was in while in Alabama.

4. I once dropped him off to hitchhike westward, at the intersection of I-29 and Highway 2 -- but that was during the summer of 2001, not 2002. All I know for sure about Tom's location during the summer of 2002 is that it was somewhere west of Minnesota, very possibly on or near Highway 2. He was in Kalispell, Montana during the early months of 2002, perhaps up to May, or so. He called me from there, but my memory is not clear as to exactly when.

5. He was in Grand Forks during the winter of 2002-2003. He called me from there and threatened me, saying, "Don't forget, I'm only 4 hours away." He showed up here in the Duluth area in May 2003, then went out to Grand Forks for a short time in late May or early June, then returned to Duluth where he was put into the NorthEast Regional Correctional Center (NERCC) for a DWI. He left Duluth heading west about a month ago, pulling a 1940 Chev on a car-dolly. I don't have a description of the vehicle which was pulling the dolly, or of the person driving it.

5. The only clues that law enforcement publicly admit to having in Tina Langenbrunner's murder are a pair of "New Balance shoes, size 11 or 12", and a "black mini-van".

I don't know if any of this information is related to the Russell Turcotte case, or not, but I thought it could possibly be, and decided to send it to you.

Please write or give me a call if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Lloyd Wagner

6168 Birch Point Road

Saginaw, Minnesota  55779

218-729-9398

Hunter Bear never answered my letter directly, but through his website suggested that anyone with information or suspicions should contact the police in North Dakota. 
I had contacted the St. Louis County Sheriff's Department repeatedly about things I had seen with my OWN eyes and even had backing for. As they had repeatedly shrugged me off and denigrated my testimony without even checking it out, what would be the use of my contacting the police in North Dakota about what truly WERE only suspicions? 
The first thing any police in North Dakota would naturally do would be to contact the St. Louis County Sheriff's Department about the Langenbrunner case, and I already knew full well where that would lead.
Anyway, "Misty" thanked me for the information, and then "she" abruptly disappeared from my cyber-life forever.

And, I guess that's the end of this post. 

Please stay tuned.