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.