Insults from Shelly Tormanen

In the last post I told of my two trips to Cambodia in March 2013 to obtain a Non-immigrant visa to work in Thailand. (The first trip was actually to extend my tourist visa for 2 weeks, as the University hadn’t quite completed the paperwork necessary for my Non-immigrant visa.)

At any rate, nothing seemed to be going easily, and I had been very sick upon returning from my first trip. The Trina Langenbrunner murder had been “on the back burner” in my mind, so to speak, and the last news I’d read back in August 2012 was that Sandra Couture had been accused of arson fire and tampering with a witness, and that Joseph Couture had been accused of aiding and abetting the witness tampering. I knew they were both in jail, and I figured they were being framed … but I really couldn’t think of anything to do about it, in the situation I was in.

By the way, I’ve located one more contemporary media article from August 2012, in which the method the investigators used to “break” the codes the Coutures were using in the jail is explained. Before continuing with my correspondence with Trina’s daughter, I’ll post that brief article below, indented. The article is posted for educational purposes, and I include the link I copied it from.

   Duluth, MN (Northlands Newscenter)

-- Criminal complaints say that Sandra Couture and Joseph Couture have been charged with multiple felonies involving tampering with a witness.

Joseph Couture has been charged with Second Degree Murder and Criminal Sexual Conduct involving the death of Trina Langenbrunner in 2000.

         Click here to subscribe to our daily newsletter.

He and his girlfriend are now charged with threatening witnesses.

The complaint says that Joseph Couture has a history of threatening witnesses, and conspired with Sandra Couture to threaten and harass the witnesses against him in the murder of Langenbrunner.

Investigators monitored phone calls between Sandra Couture and Joseph Couture from the Saint Louis County Jail, and picked up on a code the two were using to communicate.

Investigators say they were able to discern a code for witness intimidation. Discussions about "fishing" meant looking for witnesses and their relatives, "getting my money" related to recanting statements from witnesses, and "Note" or "invite" meant messages sent to witnesses, attempting to threaten them into recanting their statements.

According to the complaint, witnesses told investigators that intimidation, including threatening phone calls and stalking were taking place in July.

An arson fire is also included in the complaint. The property of a relative of one of the witnesses was destroyed in a blaze.

http://www.northlandsnewscenter.com/news/video/Sandra-164454726.html

This is quite a code-breaking accomplishment, to say the least! “I’m going fishing.” Aha! You’re really going to set a fire!! "I'll see if I can get my money from him." Aha! You're really going to recant statements from witnesses!!

Other information and comments on the secretive note-passing in the jail, the suspicious arson fire, witness-tampering, and confession to these are found in THIS POST.

Now, back to Cambodia. I had done some looking around on Facebook, and found Shelly Tormanen’s account there. I can’t even remember how I knew she was Trina Langenbrunner’s daughter. Anyway, I made files of all my previous correspondence to the Sheriff’s Department and to Dennis Fink, and sent them to her, with some character references for myself. I also included my educated opinion that based on what I had seen and heard, Joseph Couture was definitely not guilty of the crime, but was being framed.

At that time, I was still convinced that Tom Hinze had died sometime during the past 10 years, as I’d done repeated and varied searches for him on the Internet, and had repeatedly and invariably found absolutely nothing on him since the time he was still living on the Birch Point Road in Twig, in 2003.

Below, indented, is Shelly’s first response to my message and forwarded files, and then our “conversation” follows.

 Shelly Rose Tormanen

 text this number please lloyd 2182597297

    text the number. U have so much to say....i want to talk to u.

    Lloyd Wagner

    3/14, 12:35pm

    Lloyd Wagner

Ok, I don't really have easy access to a telephone number now, and I'm not familiar at all with this Cambodian phone system or language, and am running short of money, too, with visa headaches, besides. (I'm not in Cambodia for pleasure, it's to get a visa to work in Thailand, and it's not easy.) I'll text you when I'm back in Thailand. I hope to be back there by Wednesday.

    Shelly Rose Tormanen

    3/14, 12:53pm

    Shelly Rose Tormanen

     nice try. Hope the weather is fine there in Nigeria. Have contacted Interpol and enjoyed thoroughly your inept scam. This woman is my mother and because you get bored or want money or whatev your reasoning is.....you want to act as id you kno things?? This isnt a joke. I confidently trust the investigators working on her case, who have grown to kno and LOVE my,mom. Please stop. This is not funny. And the things you day dont make any sense, whether u truely believe it or not...they do not make sense as far as the case. With that, this case is none of your business, no matter how financially in need u are of that significant reward.....youre not any help. Please dont write to me again. Stop. Theyve already told u to stop before. The points u try to make r in ignorance ..... U kno nothing. Please stop. I do believe u r prob aware that me n ny fam have ebough stress without emails like this.stop

    March 14, 2013

    Lloyd Wagner

    3/14, 6:57pm

    Lloyd Wagner

 OK, that will be much easier for me, too. I am happy that you trust the investigators. But no, I am not bored, and no, I don't want anybody's money, and yes, I know that this is not a joke. Good-bye to you, too. I will not try again.

    Lloyd Wagner

    3/14, 7:34pm

    Lloyd Wagner

What I saw with my own eyes and heard with my own ears was not seen or heard in ignorance, and I am willing to swear to what I saw and heard. And like I said, the neighbors and I feel that Mr. Hinze is probably dead, so there is no reward, as obviously, a dead person cannot be convicted of anything, and I didn't give a damn about any reward in the first place. I was worried about the guy threatening me. But anyway, I listed my Thai and temporary phone numbers on my Facebook page, and no, I'm NOT in Nigeria. I noticed you didn't even check my references, locally in Munger, Minnesota. It would have been easier than calling Interpol. Good bye, and so sorry I bothered you. It WON'T happen again.

So, that’s the thanks I got from Ms. Tormanen. She said she had so many things to say to me, but she never did call the phone numbers I posted on my Facebook page (and are still there, no doubt). I never did text the number she sent me, because as I said, I was miles and miles from home, and counting every nickel, hoping to get back to Thailand on the money I still had left. She could have texted my number, or even easier, just talked to me on Facebook, which we were already doing … Text messages seemed kind of stupid, to me.

Shelly said I didn’t know anything, and I do admit that at that time I was still ignorant that Tom Hinze was still alive. However, I did and do know for DAMNED sure everything else I had sent to her, as I had witnessed it with my own eyes and ears. It’s kind of amazing how she could possibly think she’d know more about what I saw, than I would myself.

[Notice: I apologize that the information given about the jacket in this post and previously was indeed in error. Please see Post 16 of this blog, for more details as to how that error occurred.]

As far as the case being “none of my business”, I feel that threats to my life for relating what I saw and heard are EXACTLY my business. And, as far as my being aware that this case is about her mother, well, that’s pretty hard to answer. That’s exactly why I wrote to her, and not to just anybody in the phone book, at random.

Also, I do know the difference between Cambodia and Nigeria, which Shelly seems to confuse. I’m not sure where she was educated. She ought to look at a map, if she’s able to read one. Cambodia is in Southeast Asia, and Nigeria is in Africa. That’s what they call, literally, “continents apart” – about as far apart as DNA evidence and sworn testimony of witnesses presented to a jury, are from a police-induced “confession”.

The next post will concern my correspondence with Ron Taggart of the Public Defender’s office. Mr. Taggart was a little more polite than Ms. Tormanen, but the end result was the same.   

Please stay tuned.