Thursday, March 19, 2015

Two Matters: Letter, and My "Quest"


First matter: I air-mailed the letter to Sandra Couture at Shakopee, on March 14, 2015, to see if I can get an answer as to why she confessed to an "arson fire" that does not even exist in any official fire records. The text of the letter is in the previous post.
At the bottom of this post is a copy of the receipt from the Thai Postal Service.
I will send another copy of that same letter within a few days ... though I've never yet had a letter fail to get through from Thailand to the U.S.A. or the other way around, I want to make extra sure that this one gets through.
(Note added on 4-1-2015: Below the receipt for the letter sent on March 14 is a receipt for the second letter I sent a week later, on March 21. In the second letter I added a paragraph by hand to inform Sandra of the postage to Thailand, which is $1.15. I also sent another letter to someone else, which is why the postage doubled. Now I will wait for another two-three weeks to see if I get a reply from Sandra Couture.)
Second matter: I've also sent another short (rather sarcastic) email to Steven Hagenah, the guy who was in charge of the forensic investigation team in the case. I received the following comment from him (indented).
Lloyd, I am sorry you feel I am part of some cover up. I retired several years ago and have always felt that justice was the priority. Presently I am trying to survive a go around with cancer so I may be a bit distracted and as I am not part of the "real" police (as in retired). I don't have the energy to wade through this. Best of luck with your quest. Steve Hagenah
I was very sorry to hear that Steve Hagenah is battling cancer.
I'd like to point out, though, and not only to Steve, that I have not asked for anybody to "wade through" anything. 
I have only asked for simple information about the New Balance shoe tracks (whether they REALLY can tell the color of the shoes), the tire tracks (whether they match the brand of tire that was on my car), and whether or not the BWCA forensic investigators ever got ANY information relating to the headliner of the car Tom Hinze admitted taking the week of the murder, the ashes from the clothes that Tom Hinze burned the week of the murder, or a DNA sample from Tom Hinze. And if they didn't receive any of this, that of course would beg the question as to WHY they didn't, when Tom Hinze met exactly the criteria they said they were looking for.
Mr. Hagenah would be the person who would know this information first-hand, and his refusal to answer these simple questions is in itself an answer, of course. 
Being an honest witness has absolutely nothing to do with "having energy", or with being a "real" police. It is every citizen's civic duty.
A refusal to reveal the truth IS, by definition, a cover up of the truth. 
As far as Steve wishing me good luck in my "quest" -- I will comment on that as well. 
I really have absolutely no idea whether my testimony will ever get into a courtroom, whether the real DNA data will ever be checked between Tom Hinze, Joseph Couture, and the murder scene, or whether any of the other testimony and forensic data that has been covered up will ever see the light of day, in this world. Obviously, the car has already been scrapped, the ashes have long since been scattered to the wind, and a lot of the other evidence has also disappeared. One of the guys who worked at the jail during the time Tom was given those shoes by a jailer, is already deceased. The Minnesota DOC refuses to even give me Joseph Couture's address in prison, so I can write and ask him for HIS testimony.
However, Mr. Hagenah, I'd like you and everyone else to know that I have already fulfilled my "quest", thank you -- in that I will be able to look my Maker in the eye some day without having to mumble an abject admission that I deliberately covered anything up, in a brutal murder case. 
I'm doing the best I can, here, and I'm not even a retired "law enforcement" pensioner. I AM a witness in a murder case, working about 50 hours per week (in a pretty taxing job, by the way, teaching English writing to about 230 foreign students, and editing and grading all their papers every week) just to get by -- and trying to do this, besides.
Anyway ...... thank you for reading, and please stay tuned.


Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Letter to Sandra Couture





The below is self-explanatory. I will be mailing it as soon as I can get to the post office, and will then update this post to tell the date I actually mailed it. Today's date is March 10, 2015. This is the actual text of the letter I will be mailing. On the bottom is a screenshot of Sandra Couture's DOC Offender Locator page.
As reported two posts back, the DOC refuses to give me Joseph Couture's address, so I cannot write to ask him why he confessed to a crime without the Prosecutor presenting any evidence or sworn testimony in a courtroom showing that he actually committed the crime. 

From: Lloyd Wagner
24 Thamrong Prasit Road #8
Nai Muang, Amphur Muang
Nakhon Phanom, Thailand 48000

Sandra Kay Couture
OID# 240974
MFC Shakopee
1010 West 6th Avenue
Shakopee, MN 55379 U.S.A.
March 10, 2015
Hello Sandra Couture,
                I’m writing to you because back in August 2000 I witnessed a pair of size 11 or 12 New Balance shoes on a former neighbor of mine in Twig, MN, named Thomas (Tom) J. Hinze. In addition, Tom Hinze was driving a black Chrysler minivan the last week in August 2000, in addition, Tom Hinze told me that he had taken my vehicle from my yard the week of the Langenbrunner murder, in addition, Tom Hinze told me that he had burned clothing in a woodstove the week of the Langenbrunner murder, in addition, Tom Hinze left town shortly after the Langenbrunner murder, in addition, Tom had a reputation for violence and a bad attitude toward women (especially “Indian women”, he compared them to “animals”).
                I wasn’t much of a newspaper reader back in 2000. In addition, my mother died in the fall of 2000, my father and I were very busy working on publishing a book in the fall of 2000, and there were many other things going on, as well. Also, I knew first hand that Tom Hinze’s minivan had been in impound the night of the Langenbrunner murder, so I never even considered that it could have been him, until I read a full year later that the Sheriff was looking for the size 11 or 12 New Balance shoes, and I started putting 2 and 2 together.
I have repeatedly told the Sheriff’s Department about all of this information, but they have repeatedly refused to DNA-test Mr. Hinze, or to even look at the woodstove or the car that Tom told me he had “borrowed”. The Sheriff’s Department said I was “looking for a reward”, and wouldn’t even investigate. (Tom Hinze died in October 2013 and I’m still saying the same as I said years ago, so I’m not “looking for a reward”.)
                When I read that Joseph had been arrested for the murder, I also sent all of this information to the Public Defender’s office, and though they confirmed to me that Tom Hinze had never been DNA-tested, they didn’t seem to think it was at all important, nor did they make any insistence that the Prosecutors come up with any DNA proof to show that Joseph did the crime. They just accepted his “confession” without requiring any forensic evidence or any sworn testimony from any witnesses. As you know, all the Prosecutors had to back their story was an unnamed witness, and that witness is STILL unnamed.
                I have also checked all over the Internet to see about that July 6, 2012 “arson fire” that you and Joseph both “confessed” to. There was no fire ever reported in Cloquet, or anywhere else in Carlton County on July 6, 2012, until AFTER they had charged you with setting one. And then they never said where the fire was, because I guess they didn’t want you or Joseph to know whose house it was, though according to them, you already DID know, or why else would you go set it on fire??
That’s the only case in history that I can find, that a fire supposedly burned a house and two vehicles, plus killing two dogs that never left any skeletons, but were “missing and presumed dead”, that never made it into the newspaper the very next morning. In fact, ALL fires are reported the next morning, except for that one! There WAS NO fire reported on July 6, in Cloquet.
                Also, did you know that the official Minnesota fire statistics for 2012 reported a TOTAL of $8,600 damage for ALL “incendiary fires” in Carlton County in ALL of 2012?
                I am so irritated at being called a liar in this case, and my testimony being covered up and ignored, and also, my life was threatened by Tom Hinze, that I have started a blog on the Internet about this, and am digging out every bit of information I can find. I’ve published all of the above on the blog, plus a lot more. It’s called “Trina Langenbrunner Case Solved?”
                I have your address from the Minnesota Department of Corrections Prisoner Locator website – you are listed as MnDOC Offender ID 240974, at Shakopee, and I have thoroughly checked into the way to address letters to prisoners.  I will post a copy of this letter on the blog before I mail it to you,  – and I will mail at least 2 copies, a few days apart. The Thai postal system is very reliable, and my family in the U.S. and I have even sent cash through it from time to time. Not a single one of our letters has failed to get through in either direction – but as I have found when I attempted to get Joseph’s mailing address from the Department of Corrections, they refused to give it to me, as he is “serving his sentence out of state” and it is “DOC policy” to not give out his address.
I suspect that they may try to “deep-six” any letter I send to you, too, or try to dictate your reply, or whatever … but I would like to hear and report your story of whatever it was that caused you to confess to setting a fire that according to all the evidence, never even happened.  And please send me Joseph’s mailing address too, if you have it, or any other info you might be able to give me on what went on to induce you to “confess” in this case.
Mail takes about 10-12 days, each way. I will post this on my blog, before I actually mail it – then I will post the date that I actually mail it – and then I will wait for roughly a month for a reply. I will then post whatever reply I get, with my comments, or I will report that I have not received any reply.
Whatever is the case.

Good luck,


Lloyd Wagner

Below are the 2 screenshots of the Offender Locator, as of today, March 10, 2015. 
Thanks for reading, and please stay tuned.