Unacknowledged 2016 E-mails to Wally and Kevin Dupuis

 

Thomas J. Hinze

Wally and Kevin Dupuis Sr. are, respectively:

(1) former and present Band Chairman of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, and 

(2) first cousin and brother of murder victim Trina Langenbrunner.

I will refrain from directly uploading any pictures of the two gentleman, but here is a link: https://www.fdlrez.com/government/tribalcouncil.htm You can also find pictures of either of them by typing his name with the word "images", in a search engine.

It is nearly 2 decades ago that I first became aware that I had witnessed a clue that the St. Louis County Sheriff's investigators said they were looking for in the Trina Langenbrunner murder case: a pair of "size 11 or 12 New Balance shoes".

I had seen a pair of shoes of that size and brand on the feet of my former neighbor, Tom Hinze, pictured above, and I saw them the same week as the murder. As time went on, I became aware that Mr. Hinze met more than one clue that the investigators said they were looking for in the case. In fact he met every clue.

I was taken aback when I informed the investigators of what I had seen, that they refused to investigate anything that I had told them about, or even to DNA-test Mr. Hinze.

Instead, they arrested another person (a member of the Fond du Lac Band), and convicted him solely on the basis of his "confession", with no sworn witness testimony or forensic evidence ever having been presented to a jury. There was no jury trial at all, only the "confession".

This blog has been a record of my actual letters or emails to various officials regarding my testimony and research, with either their actual response to my correspondence, or the fact that they refused to respond, at all.

The blog also relates my recollection of personal meetings with a couple of the Sheriff's investigators back in 2001-2003, and their reaction to my testimony. (They laughed and refused to investigate.)

I also traveled to meet with Trina's mother, her son Kevin Dupuis, and their cousin Wally, sometime late in 2001, at the Fond du Lac Community Center, on the Reservation. I told the family members my testimony, and I also told them the reaction that I had got from the St. Louis County Sheriff's investigators.

I was taken aback when I got the exact same reaction from both Wally and Kevin as I had got from the Sheriff's investigators. They scoffed at me, and weren't at all interested or concerned that the "investigators" refused to DNA-test the person I said met all the clues. (I wasn't aware at the time that Wally and Kevin were active in the Fond du Lac Band Government, or that Wally in fact was a detective for the Cloquet Police Department.)

Trina's mother Margaret Dupuis, however, did come up to me after the meeting, and thanked me for coming and telling them what I had seen.

It was nearly 5 years ago that I wrote emails to Wally and Kevin, regarding my eye-witness testimony in the murder of their cousin / sister. I had told them the basics at the meeting in 2001, but wanted to tell them that I had found much more than that, since.

I was unable to find personal email addresses for either the present or former Band Chairman, so I wrote to them at the Reservation website, with the addresses "ATTN Wally Dupuis please" and "ATTN Kevin Dupuis please".

I got no response from anyone at all, and when I attempted to go back to the website to write a new email to follow up, I got this notice: 

 

I then emailed a new follow-up query to the website for the Fond du Lac Community Center with the same "ATTN: Kevin Dupuis, please" request that I had used when I first tried to contact them through the reservation's site. 

Again, I got no answer from anyone (though not long after I sent that query to the Community Center, I noticed that I am no longer blocked from accessing the fdlrez.com site).

It seems obvious to me that Wally Dupuis who worked as a detective for the Cloquet Police Department SHOULD CERTAINLY be able to give me the address of the "July 6, 2012 Cloquet Arson Fire", if there really was such a fire, at all. But I've waited nearly 5 years now for any response from Wally, and have got none whatsoever.

Therefore, I've decided I've waited long enough to publish these emails, and am doing so now.

I can only think of one reason that the two Dupuis cousins would not be a bit concerned or even outraged that claimed eye-witness testimony regarding the murder of their cousin / sister was shushed and covered up. That reason would be that they were told not to be concerned, and they complied, for whatever their reasons might be. I'd like to hear their reasons. 

Here is a question from the Pine Journal as Wally was running for a post on the Reservation Business Committee, and Wally's answer, in 2016:

Q: Why should tribal members vote for you on Election Day? What makes you a better choice than your opponent?

A: Tribal members should vote for me, Wally Dupuis, because I have never walked away from my duties or the obligations of my job regardless of how much it hurt my heart. ..................... "

https://www.pinejournal.com/news/4052008-rbc-district-i-candidate-wally-dupuis

**********************************************************************

Here are the emails, copied and pasted:

ATTN: Kevin Dupuis, please

Jul 25, 2016 at 12:27 PM

PrintRaw message

Lloyd Wagner <lewagner2002@yahoo.com>

To: fdlwebmaster@fdlrez.com

Dear Mr. Dupuis:

On June 9, I emailed the below to Wally Dupuis, through this same email address (since I can't seem to find any other personal email address for either him, or you).

I haven't received any reply from Wally in over 6 weeks now, so I thought I would send you the same email.

It applies to you equally, as I distinctly remember speaking with you at the Community Center in 2001, and being sneered at and brushed off, about the same way that Wally brushed me off.

All I have asked is that the guy I saw wearing size 11 or 12 New Balance shoes the week of the murder be DNA-tested. That shouldn't have been too much to ask, but he was NOT DNA-tested. I'm sure you can understand that pisses me off.

If I don't receive any reply from either you or Wally within a reasonable time, I will post this letter on my blog regarding my ignored testimony in Trina's murder and the framing of Joseph Couture in the murder, PLUS the framing of both Joseph and Sandra Couture in a "July 6, 2012 Cloquet arson fire" that never even happened (blog is linked below) -- and I will report that I haven't received any reply from either one of you.

And then I will continue from there.

Thank you, and regards,

Lloyd Wagner

 

""""Dear Mr. Dupuis:

Well over 12 years ago I called you on the telephone regarding testimony I had about the murder of your niece, Trina Langenbrunner.

Your answer to me that evening was that you didn't know anything about me except what I was telling you, and you kind of rudely cut me off.

I still have that same testimony, and would like to point out that the man who I saw wearing size 11-12 New Balance shoes just 2-3 days before the murder is dead now, so no one can accuse me of "making up information in hopes of a reward", as Sheriff Litman and also Trina's daughter Shelley have accused me of. The man I say did the murder, Tom Hinze, is dead, so he cannot possibly be convicted of the crime, and so there is absolutely no concern about any reward.

Hinze died without EVER being DNA-tested in the case, and Joseph Couture was convicted only on his (forced) confession, without any sworn testimony or physical evidence (DNA) EVER being presented to a jury.

Anyway, I think maybe you can understand that I am damned angry when someone smears me as a liar, but has steadfastly REFUSED to DNA-test Mr. Hinze, to prove me a liar.

I have an admission by email from the Public Defender's office that Litman did not DNA-test the man Tom Hinze who I repeatedly informed him about. I also checked with the head of the forensic team in the case, Mr. Steve Hagenah (presently a Law Enforcement Instructor at Leech Lake Tribal College), and he cannot or will not confirm that Litman sent the forensic team any information at ALL on Hinze ... though Hinze met every one of the criteria the Sheriff's investigators said they were looking for, and even though I repeatedly informed the "investigators" about my information. Just DNA the guy, eh? and be done with it.

I suggest that: 1. Litman didn't want the info from me, and refused to look into the info from me, even though I have repeated it, over many years, 2. Hinze is the white son-of-the-ex-sheriff of Red Lake County, and 3. Litman would rather frame a Native and induce him to "confess", than to DNA-test and honestly prosecute the white son-of-a-sheriff, even though, and I'll say it again, Hinze met EVERY criteria Litman's investigators said they were looking for.

I will link you to my correspondence with the head of the forensic team, here in two links, and if you care, you can read further, from there. There is also a post in the blog quoting the Public Defender, and there are also several posts showing that the "Cloquet arson fire" of July 6, 2012 that two people "confessed to", doesn't even show up in any records of any fire department in either Carlton or St. Louis County. I would guess that means the fire didn't even happen, but was totally concocted. That's how far Litman and his "investigators" are willing to go in the framing of Couture. I've checked with several sources on that fire, including the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, and my correspondence on that matter is also in the blog, if you care.

I think the blog I wrote gives an ample introduction as to who I am, so you don't only have to get your only impression of me from lying Sheriff Litman putting me down as a "liar".

I'll also say that I think [names redacted] and their parents can give good reference as to my honesty. [Name redacted] told me that he went to school with you.

Regards,

Lloyd Wagner

Links: http://formerlyfarmerly.blogspot.com/2015/02/attempts-to-correspond-with-steven.html

http://formerlyfarmerly.blogspot.com/2015/02/attempts-to-correspond-with-steven_20.html

 

 

Ruminations (and Research) on that "Arson Fire" ...

The next event to be related in this history would naturally be the "confession" of Joseph Couture on July 26, 2013. 
I've been wanting to post the media reports of that "confession", and to comment on them and compare them with previous media reports of the Langenbrunner murder.
However, I've been waiting for months for someone in Duluth to get me copies of the original articles from the library. A couple of weeks ago I finally emailed the library website directly, and was answered within a day by a research person there. She very helpfully explained the quite simple and inexpensive procedure to get these articles copied, which I've related to a couple of people in Duluth. I'm hoping they can photograph these copies and send them to me electronically within a few days. They said they would, anyway.
In the meanwhile, I've been ruminating, on several subjects.
Very important, obviously, I eventually want to ascertain -- somehow -- if or if not Joseph and Sandra Couture ever received any news that there is a witness who says they were framed, and who wonders how they were induced to confess to something they didn't do. 
However, it is obviously impossible to hold a private conversation between a prisoner in the U.S. prison system and myself in Thailand. Anything they might say or write could be as easily "induced" as their "confessions" obviously were -- as they are certainly in a totally controlled situation.
I've got a hope back in my mind somewhere that eventually someone else will step in and help me in this matter, some way, some how. But that hasn't happened, yet, so I'm just letting that go, for the time being. 
I've been ruminating on other subjects, as well.
I've reread all of these posts several times. Sometimes I've made minor corrections in grammar, and there are probably still more small errors, if anyone wants to quibble. 
In one early post I noticed I had a date wrong: I had typed "July 7", instead of "July 17", for the date I would email Ron Taggart of the Public Defender's office with a long email "summing up" my testimony. I corrected it ... the July 17 date was directly copied from the email record, so I knew that was correct.
Then, I've also been doing more Google searches, to see if there's anything else I've missed, or perhaps been mistaken about. 
I had very clearly stated (in post 9) that what I called the "very suspicious arson fire" had very strangely not been reported in ANY media ... UNTIL the day that the Sheriff's Department stated that they had already "broken the jailhouse code" of Sandra and Joseph Couture, and arrested Sandra Couture for setting the fire. I will paste the exact words of the article reported in the Carlton County Pine Journal on August 1, 2012.
On July 6, the Carlton County sheriff’s office responded to an arson fire at the property of one of the relatives of a witness who claims Joseph Couture killed Langenbrunner. The house, a car and a truck on the property were burned with the structure being a total loss. Two dogs were reported missing and presumed dead. Details of the arson fire were consistent with details discussed beforehand between the Coutures, the complaint alleges.
On July 19, Carlton County deputies returned to the scene of the arson fire when the property owner reported that a second attempt had been made to burn items on his property. Deputies recovered the remains from several Molotov cocktails — glass bottles with accelerant and fuses in them.

Yesterday, though, I did a new Google search for "arson fire carlton county minnesota july 2012", and when I got to this search result,
 Northland's NewsCenter  News, Weather, Sports _ NBC, CBS, MyNetworkTV, and The CW for Duluth MN _ Superior WI _ Search Results.htm 
I asked that results be listed "by date", rather than "by relevance". I didn't expect to find anything regarding an "arson fire" in July -- as I hadn't found anything in my last search based on "relevance".
I was momentarily startled when I saw this entry (highlighted below, as a screen capture photo):

The above result, please notice, though, is for July 16, and not July 6, the date the "Couture arson fire" supposedly took place. And, as you can see in a screen capture photo directly below, there is no result for anything at all, on July 19, when Sandra supposedly threw the Molotov cocktails at the same address. I guess the Carlton County deputies who responded to the Molotov cocktail assault didn't think this was worth reporting?

Nevertheless, it did say there was indeed a fire, in Cloquet, in July of 2012, even though it was on the 16, instead of on the 6th, as the Couture fire was reported to have occurred, and though it was not an arson fire. 
I continued on in my search to July 6, and found absolutely nothing about any arson fire on that date, either, as below:

But, as I have caught even my own self miss-typing dates, I decided I had better click on the "More" button on the July 16 entry, and read more.  
Here is the link to the article, which also has a video which shows the home and garage. I'll cut and paste the text to the article, which is basically the same thing that is narrated in the video: 

Fire Ravages Cloquet Home

July 16, 2012 Updated Jul 17, 2012 at 10:26 AM CST Cloquet, MN (Northland's NewsCenter) -- A fire ravaged a home in Cloquet Monday afternoon.
The home and the garage are deemed a loss. The home is located on Agate Street in Cloquet.

• Click here to subscribe to our daily newsletter.
  

No one was home at the time. Two dogs inside the home were rescued by an off-duty firefighter.
Cloquet, Esko, Carlton, and Wrenshall Fire Departments responded to the scene.
The fire has been deemed not suspicious at this time.

 At first, I thought maybe the reported Couture "arson" reported as on July 6 was actually this fire on July 16 -- but please notice that this fire took place in the afternoon of July 16, as reported in the video, "around dinnertime". You can see in the video, it's broad daylight. 
It would be very strange for Sandra Couture to come right out in broad daylight, throw gasoline and charcoal lighter fluid around, and light it on fire, right in view of the neighbors ... and no one would deem it as suspicious? 
Also, please notice that the two dogs in this fire were rescued, and are not "missing and presumed dead", as are the mysterious dogs which left no skeletons behind, in the "Couture arson", of July 6. 
Also, please notice that this fire occurred right in the City of Cloquet, so why would Carlton County Sheriff's deputies be called out of their jurisdiction to investigate this fire, which even the State Fire Marshall didn't view as suspicious?
Also, if you watch the video, please notice the house and garage are not by any means junky, but quite modern, and obviously worth many times more than the $8,600 that Carlton County reported as total damages from all incendiary fires (which includes arson), in 2012. (Also in post 9.)
Obviously, this is not the same fire reported in post 9, and I will repeat once more, with even more conviction than I had before: The "arson fire" to which Sandra Couture plead guilty in April 2013, is verrrry verrrry suspicious. There was NO SUCH fire reported!!!
Well, then I proceeded to continue on in my ruminating, and I found the 2012 Annual Report of the Cloquet Police Department, as a pdf file. I read through it, to see what I could find about any relevant goings-on in Cloquet, during July of 2012. I will paste this as a screenshot of page 14 of the pdf document:

Again, nothing about an arson fire in Cloquet, especially one requiring assistance from Carlton County Sheriff's deputies.
There is this brief mention on page 16 (reproduced below), which I think may be concerning the Langenbrunner case ... though this case is said to be a "14-year-old" cold case, and the Langenbrunner murder was actually 12 years old. 

Then there is also this brief mention, below, listed almost as an afterword on page 20 -- which does specifically refer to the Trina Langenbrunner case:

However, again, we get absolutely no explanation of why this fire was never ever mentioned in any media report, on or even near the day it supposedly occurred. And no explanation of why it is said (above) that Cloquet detectives were in charge, but below, (as I already quoted once, near the top of this post) it says that it was the Carlton County Sheriff who responded: On July 6, the Carlton County sheriff’s office responded to an arson fire at the property of one of the relatives of a witness who claims Joseph Couture killed Langenbrunner. The house, a car and a truck on the property were burned with the structure being a total loss. Two dogs were reported missing and presumed dead. Details of the arson fire were consistent with details discussed beforehand between the Coutures, the complaint alleges.
On July 19, Carlton County deputies returned to the scene of the arson fire when the property owner reported that a second attempt had been made to burn items on his property. Deputies recovered the remains from several Molotov cocktails — glass bottles with accelerant and fuses in them.
Tags: news, crime, courts, cloquet
Whose jurisdiction was this "arson fire" REALLY in? When did this "arson fire" REALLY happen? Why wasn't it reported as an "arson fire"? How can a modern house and garage, plus vehicles, plus magical dogs, plus 6 other incendiary events have a total loss of only $8,600, as reported in official Minnesota fire statistics (below)?

How can all this be? I don't think it can!
Maybe the Sheriff can explain all of this so it makes a little better sense than it does now?
As my Great Aunt Frances Pulaski told me when she was about 100 years old, "Lloyd, we live in hope."
Please stay tuned.