Coerced Confessions - Throwing One Out to Salvage Some Others?

 

Thomas J. Hinze

I haven't written anything new in this blog for well over a year, as there haven't been any new developments worth writing about. I have continued to try to publicize the information as much as possible by posting links here and there to some of the posts.   
The post that has received the most views by far has been "Attempts to Correspond with Steven Hagenah, Pt 2", as this post shows most clearly the absolute and inexplicable REFUSAL of the police investigators to seriously investigate or even DNA-test Tom Hinze, the son of a former (Red Lake County) Sheriff, who met every single "clue" in the murder case that the investigators said they were looking for. 
And the post also shows the attitude of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in the case. None of them cared about sworn testimony or forensic data being presented to a jury in a trial, or that the defendant Joseph Couture had been kept ignorant of my testimony of ANOTHER person meeting the "clues" the investigators claimed they were looking for, or that that other person had never been DNA-tested, despite my repeated pointing out that he met all those clues -- the police and prosecutors had obtained their "confession", and that was enough to convict the defendant, and "solve the case".  
By the way, as I am writing this, I have been doing some searching around the Internet. I have just become aware that Steven Hagenah has passed away, on May 9, 2016. Here is a link to an obituary in which his skill at "pulling confessions" is praised. Well, I suppose that's a useful skill, especially if there's no matching DNA data available in the case. May he rest in peace.
But anyway, but to bring this matter more up to date, back in October 2016, I read the following in the Duluth News Tribune. I'll post a quote to the most pertinent part of the article, here: 

 A judge has thrown out a cold case murder charge against an Iron Range man, ruling that his confession to the 1987 slaying of an elderly Virginia woman was the result of a “highly coercive” interrogation by police.
Bruce Wayne Cameron, 45, is set to be released from the St. Louis County Jail more than 16 months after authorities charged him with intentional second-degree murder in the death of 83-year-old Leona Mary Maslowski.
Sixth Judicial District Judge David Ackerson ruled on Friday that Cameron’s June 2015 statement to investigators — in which he confessed to assaulting Maslowski inside her Virginia apartment — was given involuntarily and in violation of his 14th Amendment right to due process.
“The detectives essentially told the Defendant what they wanted him to say and then led him into saying it,” Ackerson wrote in a 32-page order.
Defense attorneys had argued that the statement was coerced through leading questions and false promises by the investigators.
"We are happy for Mr. Cameron and his family,” Chief Public Defender Dan Lew told the News Tribune. “He's sat in jail for almost a year and a half waiting for this day.”
...............................................
Cameron, who was 16 at the time, had been at a party in the duplex above Maslowski’s apartment the night of her death and had been interviewed by law enforcement multiple times.
The investigation turned to him last spring when he was identified as a possible suspect based on a palm print and fingerprints discovered on a kitchen door in Maslowski’s apartment.
Police said he denied involvement in an April 2015 interview, but offered the confession on June 2, 2015, when confronted with the forensic evidence.
According to court documents, he told investigators that he had entered Maslowski’s apartment, "most likely drunk" and in search of alcohol. He said he was confronted by Maslowski and punched her when he thought she was moving toward the phone. He also said he used an object to hit her in the head and possibly choked her, according to the criminal complaint.
Defense attorneys moved to suppress the statement, arguing that Cameron was led to believe that the forensic technology was enough to implicate him in Maslowski's murder and that confessing was the only way to keep his case in juvenile court — where he would face lighter sanctions — and out of prison.
Despite his age at the time of the incident, the juvenile court lost jurisdiction over Cameron when he turned 21, requiring the matter to be handled in standard court.
Ackerson noted that the BCA agents did “well over 90 percent of the talking” in the interview and that Cameron’s answers were mostly limited to one word or one phrase, citing examples of the agents repeatedly asking Cameron if he had struck Maslowski with various blunt objects.
The judge said Cameron’s version of the events simply did not fit the established facts of Maslowski’s death and criticized the agents for attempting to “lead and steer” him into confessing.
“The only reasonable inference from the extreme leading of the Defendant by the detectives is that the Defendant’s will at that point was entirely overcome, and he was merely trying to say whatever they wanted him to that would get him the benefit of juvenile court treatment and the promise of not going to prison,” Ackerson wrote.
The judge also wrote that a mental health assessment concluded that Cameron suffers from a “mild cognitive impairment” and that he appeared to be “thoroughly intimidated and frightened by the coercive nature of the interrogation.”

Well, to put it mildly, I was amazed, and nearly overcome with the warm, hopeful feeling that yes, there can indeed be justice, in St. Louis County, Minnesota, after all. I mentioned the case in messages to a couple of my Facebook correspondents, with the comment that Mr. Daniel Lew, the Chief Public Defender mentioned, is a Public Defender who actually does his job!
What I did next then, naturally, was to immediately write to Mr. Lew regarding the "confessions" in the Langenbrunner case. I'll just post the email itself ... actually, this is the second email I sent on November 20, as it includes the full text of the first email I sent October 25, which I never got an answer to:

 Dear Mr. Lew,

I sent you this nearly a month ago, and haven't heard anything from you, so I am sending it again.
I am assuming that perhaps the first email was overlooked, or that maybe you needed time to research and consider.
I'll wait for a few more days, then decide how I will proceed.

Thank you,
Lloyd Wagner

--- On Tue, 10/25/16, Lloyd Wagner <lewagner2002@yahoo.com> wrote:

> From: Lloyd Wagner <lewagner2002@yahoo.com>
> Subject: Coerced confession in another St. Louis County murder case
> To: dan.lew@pubdef.state.mn.us
> Date: Tuesday, October 25, 2016, 5:44 PM
> Dear Mr. Lew:
> I just read of your success in getting the coerced
> confession of Mr. Cameron suppressed by Judge Ackerson. My
> congratulations.
>
> I am a witness in the Trina Langenbrunner murder case
> (September 2000), and I have maintained for many years that
> my testimony regarding Thomas J. Hinze has been deliberately
> ignored and covered up by investigators from the Sheriff’s
> Department, and by the MBCA.
> 
> Mr. Hinze met every clue the investigators said they were
> looking for, yet the Sheriff’s office absolutely refused
> to take my testimony seriously, or to DNA-test Mr. Hinze.
> The fact that Mr. Hinze was never DNA-tested was confirmed
> to me in 2013 in an email by former investigator for the
> Public Defender’s Office, Mr. Ron Taggart.
>
> In 2012, Mr. Joseph Couture was arrested, and in 2013 he
> also confessed to a murder I say he could not have done. He
> was convicted solely on the basis of his confession. No
> sworn testimony or forensic evidence was ever presented to a
> jury.
>
> Not only was Mr. Couture framed and induced to confess to
> the murder, both he and Sandra Couture were also induced to
> confess to a “Cloquet arson fire” of July 6, 2012.
>
> I have checked media reports and also have checked with the
> Cloquet District Fire Chief, and with the Incident
> Investigator and Inspector from the Minnesota Department of
> Public Safety for the Cloquet area (both in St. Louis and
> Carlton Counties).
>
> There is no record in any media of that fire the morning
> after it supposedly occurred, but only reports of it AFTER
> it was supposedly “solved”. None of the gentlemen in
> either the Fire District or the DPS have any record of such
> a fire even having occurred. The claimed grand-daughter of
> the "fire-victim" could not give me an address of the house
> that was supposedly burned, even after several weeks of
> correspondence. (I believe my correspondent was someone else
> posing as the "fire-victim's" grand-daughter, because as I
> say, there are no records of any such fire.) However, both
> Joseph and Sandra are serving 7 years each for this “arson
> fire” they confessed to.
>
> As I could not get my testimony into a courtroom no matter
> how hard I tried, I instead wrote a blog reproducing my
> correspondence with many various people (letters in the
> past, and emails more recently) concerned with this case.
> These are the original text files of beginning in 2003,
> which I have never deleted, and I also have never deleted
> any of the emails.
>
> I will give you a link to the first post in the blog, and
> ask you to please consider looking at it. I will also attach
> a screenshot of a list of all the posts, so you can get a
> quick overview of the number and variety of people I have
> contacted regarding this case. http://formerlyfarmerly.blogspot.com/2014/09/introduction.html
> 
> Thank you very much.
>
> Best Regards,
> Lloyd Wagner

And here is the screenshot of the list of all the posts in this blog, that I also sent to Mr. Lew:

 Then, after waiting over 2 more weeks without any response from Mr. Lew, I sent him this email, on December 7, 2016:

 Dear Mr. Lew,
I've decided I'm going to resume posting on my blog regarding the Trina Langenbrunner murder cover-up and framing, plus the related matter of the concocted-out-of-thin-air "arson fire" of July 6, 2012.
What I plan to do within the next few days, is to post a completely new blog post, which will consist mainly of the email that I wrote and sent twice to you. I also plan to add comments to that, to compare the Cameron induced confession (as reported in the Duluth News Tribune) with the Couture framing, and to point out how the two cases are different.
The behavior of the police, prosecutors, and Public Defender's Office in the Couture case was much MORE egregious than in the Cameron case, and it is glaringly obvious, and yet I can't even get a comment from you.
Anyway, I will not bother you again, but I just thought I would let you know what I am going to do, in case you do want to make a comment before I post that.
Sincerely,
Lloyd Wagner    

Well, I said above that I wouldn't bother Mr. Lew again, but then I reconsidered. The reason I reconsidered is because after I had written the above email, I watched the entire Netflix series of "Making a Murderer". 
Something that caught my attention in that very interesting 10-part (so far) series about that Manitowoc County, Wisconsin murder case, was someone's pointing out that challenging an obviously coerced confession in some murder cases is tantamount to accusing the police and prosecutors of deliberate misconduct. (!)
This is especially true in a case like the Trina Langenbrunner murder, where repeated witness testimony was ignored for years, the life of the witness (myself) was threatened, and a DNA test of the person who I repeatedly said met all the investigators' "clues" was never taken. 
And besides that, an "arson fire" was concocted completely out of thin air -- as described briefly in the first email above, and written about in more detail HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE -- and two people, Joseph and Sandra Couture, were also induced to "confess" to that fire that never even happened. The two were sentenced to 7 years in prison each for that, as well, and ordered to pay restitution, besides, of nearly $35,000 each ... well, in such an egregious matter, it's understandable that even a Chief Public Defender might be hesitant to buck the obviously stinking (not to say criminal) corruption in the County.
So, upon reflection of the above, I wrote one more email to Mr. Lew, on December 16, 2016, as follows:  

 Dear Mr. Lew,
I have been reflecting further on that Cameron case, and Mr. Cameron's induced confession being thrown out by the Judge. That's something I have never heard of happening before, at least in St. Louis County.
I look at it in two ways. In one way, it gives the public the heart-warming impression that justice eventually does prevail, in St. Louis County cases. In another way, it almost seems as though they arrested him, knowing ahead of time that his induced "confession" would be thrown out -- to give the public the heart-warming impression that justice eventually does prevail, in St. Louis County cases.
That case shows only minor malfeasance on the part of the investigators and interrogators. They were just a little over-zealous, I suppose. The case is still open.
But in the Couture case, the malfeasance was much worse. Actual crimes were committed by certain people in law enforcement, in covering up testimony and evidence, in manufacturing new "evidence", and even in concocting a new crime for a framing. I won't go through it again, as I have already explained it to you in brief, and offered my blog with all of its documentation.
As you were not in your present position at the time all of that malfeasance was occurring, it is probably not fair to drag you into it, or to diss you in my blog, as though you were a part of it. Getting an over-zealously obtained confession thrown out by a Judge is entirely of a different order than pointing out actual conspiracies and crimes committed by people in high positions of law enforcement ... not even to mention the obviously coerced false confessions.
However, please reflect on the fact that the Coutures have effectively had NO defense, except from myself. I am just a witness who happened to see something, and who refuses to accept the Sheriff's telling me that I did not see what I saw. So, I just keep on telling people what I saw, and I keep on digging into why the Sheriff was so determined NOT to DNA-test the man who I said (and the Sheriff also damned-well knew) met every clue the investigators said they were looking for.
I am a former bankrupted vegetable farmer who had dirt under my fingernails and grease on my jeans, and who is now an English professor at a University, living in a rented apartment in Thailand. I certainly cannot afford to hire a lawyer.
So, I have written to you, the Chief Public Defender, in St. Louis County. It seems to me that you are at least in as good a position as I am, to speak out about this case of injustice.
I also realize that if you do speak out, they will do their very best to discredit and destroy you, as they have done to me. However, I am not destroyed, and my conscience is clean in the matter. I've done the best I could.
I am not sure whether or not I will continue adding to the blog, or exactly what I will do. I will continue to speak out about it, as widely as I can. You do what you feel you have to do. I would appreciate your help, or even your advice.
Sincerely,

Lloyd Wagner 

Well, to make a long story a little shorter, I got no response from Mr. Lew. 
Probably completely unrelated to my emails to Mr. Lew, I did notice in Blogger Statistics within the past couple of weeks that there were 5 views of THIS POST, all in one day. That's over 1/5 of the total number of views that post has received over the past 2 years since I published it. That post is the record of my correspondence regarding one important facet of the case with retired jailer, Duane Johnson, who suddenly died, at about the age of 60, in 2014.
If that has anything to do with anything, only God knows, and I can only speculate. I asked a couple of mutual friends who knew Duane much better than I did, if Duane had ever mentioned anything about our correspondence to them. I got absolutely no reply. So I don't know. It did interest me that there were 5 views of that one post, in one day.
On my testimony, however, and on my research, and on my correspondence on this case, I provide ample links and documentation to back it up. I have it all backed up by screenshots, as well, and not only on my own computer.
All the Sheriff's Department and MBCA would have had to do to prove me a liar, would have been to DNA-test Mr. Hinze and prove him innocent (if they actually thought he was) -- but they refused to do that. Instead they released Mr. Hinze without ever DNA-ing him, and years later came up with a "confession" from Mr. Couture to "solve" the case.  Mr. Couture confessed to the same things I had repeatedly described about Mr. Hinze's actions the week of the murder, wore the same size 11 or 12 New Balance shoes (though no one will tell me what size feet he has) -- and the van he supposedly owned even ended up to be the same exact color as the car I described: charcoal gray. What a bunch of incredible coincidences, eh??
And then suddenly, an oh-so-easy overturning of a coerced confession by a St. Louis County judge, something I've never EVER heard of before -- and during the same time-frame of the world-wide exposure of the very similar coerced confession in the "Making a Murderer" case, on Netflix.
Hence, this blog post. 
Thanks for reading, and please share. 
 

 

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.

Attempts to Correspond with Steven Hagenah (Part 2)

The following post consists of 3 emails sent by me to Steven Hagenah, a law enforcement instructor at Leech Lake Tribal College in Bemidji, Minnesota, and retired agent from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (who I introduced in the last post). I include Mr. Hagenah's response (which I finally received after my 3rd email), and my comments, (in red font). ***(Note on August 3, 2018 ... Steve Hagenah is now deceased, so some of the external links do not show the same info that they did when this post was first published, 4 years ago.)***

Me to steven.hagenah@lltc.edu

Jan 14

Dear Sir,

I originally sent this as a Facebook message, but it doesn't seem as though you are active on Facebook.

I am assuming that you are the Steve Hagenah who worked as forensic investigator for the MBCA.

I recently read an article about you in an old Duluth News Tribune article, saying that you conducted analysis of info in the Trina Langenbrunner case.

I have testimony in that case that I have reason to believe was withheld from your office. As I couldn't get my testimony into a courtroom, I have been relating the story, plus my research into various related issues, in 16 posts so far, the first of which is here: http://formerlyfarmerly.blogspot.com/2014/09/introduction.html

If your office was actually provided with all of this information, please let me know.

Sorry to bother a retired person, but I got the impression through the Tribune article that you may not be the type to just "drop everything" after retirement.

Regards, Lloyd Wagner

P.S. I'll wait for a couple of weeks before continuing with the blog, as I feel that your information is very important. I prefer not to continue without it.

Thank you very much.

me

To

steven.hagenah@lltc.edu

Jan 27

Dear Sir,

I believe that certain forensic data in the Trina Langenbrunner case was deliberately withheld from your former office in the MBCA.

As you have been informed, Joseph Couture was convicted of the crime solely on his own confession in 2013, with no physical data or sworn testimony of any witness ever being presented to a jury.

I need to know if your former office did or did not receive any forensic data concerning a Thomas J. Hinze, about whom I related a considerable amount of information to the St. Louis Sheriff's Department investigators. My testimony was evidently ignored, since the Investigator from the Public Defender's Office, Mr. Ron Taggart, informed me that Thomas Hinze was never DNA-tested (though many others were). That is inexplicable, since Mr. Hinze met EVERY criteria the Sheriff was advertising for: he had opportunity, had no alibi, was witnessed wearing size 11-12 New Balance shoes just before the murder, left town a couple of days after the murder, drove a black Chrysler minivan the week before the murder, had a reputation for violence ...... Not to mention that he threatened my life for talking about him in the case.

I need the information about whether or not your former office received any data concerning Mr. Hinze in order to continue the blog I have been writing concerning my testimony and research regarding the case.

Trina Langenbrunner Case "Solved"?

 (Here was a link to this blog, that previewed the screen shot showing the total 2012 damage from incendiary fires in Carlton County, MN, less than $9,000, as reported in official Minnesota State Fire Statistics -- despite Sandra Couture supposedly having burned down a house plus two vehicles in Cloquet, on July 6 of 2012.)

This is the second email I've sent you regarding this simple yes-or-no question, and I also sent 2 messages to your Facebook account.

I've checked on Google, and I have no doubt that you are the Steven Hagenah who was in charge of the forensic investigation in the case, and that this is your present email address.

I'll wait for another couple of days, and if I still receive no answer, I will relate that information in the blog, that after 4 attempts, I have received no answer.

Thank you,

Lloyd Wagner

 me

To

steven.hagenah@lltc.edu

Feb 12 at 3:27 PM

Dear Mr. Hagenah,

I've written a rough draft of my next blog post, relating my experiences trying to get my testimony taken seriously in the Trina Langenbrunner case.

As my attempted correspondence with you will be the main subject in the next post to be published in a couple of days, I thought I would give you a quick chance to read it before I publish it, and to comment to me, if you wish. (Comment from Lloyd Wagner, 2-20-2015: The "rough draft" referred to here has actually already been published, in the last post.)

Thanks,

Lloyd Wagner

Below is the “answer” I finally got from Steven Hagenah, after 6 weeks. I will analyze it paragraph by paragraph, and comment, in red font:

Steven Hagenah

To

me

Feb 13 at 3:38 AM

Mr. Wagner, I did read your emails. I chose not to respond as I have no idea of who you are and why you are fixated/interested on this case. (Comment from Lloyd Wagner, 2-20-2015: I quote directly from my January 27 email (above). I thought my email was an adequately clear introduction about who I am, and why I am “fixated/interested” on the case. I’ll reproduce the applicable parts of that email once more, right below, in italics.)  

Jan 27

Dear Sir,

I believe that certain forensic data in the Trina Langenbrunner case was deliberately withheld from your former office in the MBCA.

As you have been informed, Joseph Couture was convicted of the crime solely on his own confession in 2013, with no physical data or sworn testimony of any witness ever being presented to a jury.

I need to know if your former office did or did not receive any forensic data concerning a Thomas J. Hinze, about whom I related a considerable amount of information to the St. Louis Sheriff's Department investigators. My testimony was evidently ignored, since the Investigator from the Public Defender's Office, Mr. Ron Taggart, informed me that Thomas Hinze was never DNA-tested (though many others were). That is inexplicable, since Mr. Hinze met EVERY criteria the Sheriff was advertising for: he had opportunity, had no alibi, was witnessed wearing size 11-12 New Balance shoes just before the murder, left town a couple of days after the murder, drove a black Chrysler minivan the week before the murder, had a reputation for violence ...... Not to mention that he threatened my life for talking about him in the case.  (Comment from Lloyd Wagner, 2-20-2015: I really don’t have any idea how to express myself any more clearly than the above email. I have a Master’s Degree in the English language, with a related field of Linguistics, have done no small amount of professional writing, and have 9 years’ experience in teaching college-level English as a Second Language.

For Christ’s sake, even my 2nd-year English students in Thailand can understand what I wrote here. It’s beyond belief that Mr. Hagenah cannot understand such plain English.)

In addition, I am no longer an active law enforcement person. (Comment from Lloyd Wagner 2-20-2015: Any citizen receiving information concerning a possible cover-up of testimony in a felony crime, especially a brutal murder, has the moral and legal duty to act on it, not only “active law enforcement people”. Besides, here is what Steven Hagenah said in the June 16, 2012 News Tribune article, and I quote from that article, again, in italics:

“Steve Hagenah, a retired senior special agent with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in Bemidji, worked for years on the case and was thrilled to hear abot an arrest Friday night.

        “I know some people who busted their chops on that case,” he said. “It just goes to show that you never give up.”

        He said that while many of the people who worked on the case early on are now retired, investigators wear a cold case “like an albatross around your neck,” he said.

        “You never stop thinking about it.” (Comment from Lloyd Wagner 2-20-2015: Are you or are you not thinking about it, Mr. Hagenah?)

You need to speak with the "real" police but it seems you have worn out your welcome in that regard. (Comment from Lloyd Wagner, 2-20-2015: Again, the email quoted above seems to say in pretty clear English that I HAVE REPEATEDLY spoken with the so-called “real” police, and that they inexplicably have refused to check into my information.

In addition, the so-called “real” police also informed Mr. Hinze of my confidential testimony, and completely failed to act on my complaints that Mr. Hinze had threatened my life in consequence of their telling him about my confidential testimony.

I’m not sure what the hell the phrase “wearing out my welcome” has to do with anything at ALL, in “real” police work, Mr. Hagenah.

I wonder where you learned about Law Enforcement, and how in the world you can claim any right to be teaching the subject in a Tribal College, when you talk about testimony in a murder case being “welcome”, or not “welcome”.

Check the Mr. Hinze’s DNA, already, is all that’s required. Not like or dislike, or welcome, or unwelcome, just check his DNA. That’s where the evidence lies, Mr. Hagenah.)

I do not check my Facebook stuff as it seems mostly a waste of time so that is not a method to get information to me.

(Comment from Lloyd Wagner 2-20-2015: That’s entirely up to you, of course, Mr. Hagenah. Then after I gave up trying to contact you through Facebook, it still took 3 emails (above), including a threat to contact your employer, Leech Lake Tribal College, before you finally sent me this smoke-screen I am commenting on now.)

I assure you, I get many emails from many people to consider themselves investigators or detectives and to be quite honest with you, I ignore most of them.

(Comment from Lloyd Wagner 2-20-2015: I related my direct testimony, including what I SAW, and what I HEARD, namely: a detailed description of the tire that had been on the car Mr. Hinze could very easily have taken the night of the murder, a description of the vehicle Mr. Hinze had been driving just before the murder, some simple facts of Mr. Hinze’s movements the week of the murder and shortly thereafter … and I asked a simple question, whether Mr. Hagenah’s office had received any forensic data from Mr. Hinze from the “real” police.

I still cannot get a straight answer from Mr. Hagenah.

As far as “considering myself to be an “investigator” or a “detective”, well, Mr. Hagenah, when I see size 11 or 12 New Balance shoes, and belatedly find out that the police are looking for someone who wore New Balance shoes of that same size that I saw, and the same week that I saw them, besides (!) it shouldn’t take much of a damned “investigator” or “detective” to realize that it is my duty to tell the "real" police what I saw.

And when the SAME person had also been driving a Chrysler mini-van just a week before the murder, had an easy opportunity to steal my car the night of the murder, had had no alibi, had left town right after the murder, and had also told me he had burned clothes right after the murder, it shouldn’t  take a professional “detective” or “investigator” to think that perhaps the “real” police should have checked his DNA.

Isn’t that pretty basic, Mr. Hagenah, or wouldn’t you know?

I am not being intentional rude but I have little time for some of the fantastic tales people send me. (Comment from Lloyd Wagner, 2-20-2015: That should be “intentionally rude”, buddy, use the adverb form – and ya, you ARE being intentionally rude, by calling my story “fantastic”, without ever checking the forensic data, or ever answering my simple questions whether you did or did not receive the forensic data.

I guess what I would call “fantastic”, would be for someone to ask me or anyone else to believe that the “real” police have done their jobs, here. According to Ron Taggart from the Public Defender’s office, the Sheriff’s office did actually check the DNA of many people (I’d assume through the MBCA, though I don’t know for sure), though not including Tom Hinze.

 Am I supposed to think that ALL of the people they checked ALSO were seen wearing size 11 or 12 New Balance shoes, drove a Chrysler mini-van, were (or could have been) in the Brookston area the night of the murder, and may have been acting strangely (like burning clothes in a woodstove) or left town shortly after the murder? The same as Tom Hinze actually did? ALL of these people they DID DNA-test, met all of the above criteria? Otherwise they wouldn’t have had to check them?

Now that IS “fantastic”, Mr. Hagenah. Only a fool would believe that. Yet evidently they DNA-tested all those OTHER people, while refusing to DNA-test the guy who I have repeatedly and still repeatedly swear met every one of those criteria.)   

Some of your "evidence" or information is obviously in error and thus, not valid for consideration.

(Comment from Lloyd Wagner, 2-20-2015: I used the words “data”, “testimony”, and “information”, and I did NOT use the word “evidence”. You’re putting words into my mouth.

My testimony is NOT “obviously in error”, it is my testimony. The only way that my testimony would be incorrect would be if I had MADE UP that testimony, and was lying. And the only way to check into that and to prove that I was lying, would be to check into the DATA, which is exactly what I asked YOU, Mr. Hagenah.

DID your office receive any information on any forensic DATA on Tom Hinze? If you had, and if that DATA had proven that I was lying, then you’d have something to say. Otherwise, I’ll repeat, you’re obviously throwing up a smoke-screen to try to cover for WHY they did not check into my information, and why my testimony AND the forensic data has been very deftly kept out of a courtroom.   

I am not the person to list all the details for you.

(Comment from Lloyd Wagner 2-20-2015: I didn’t ask you to list any details, Mr. Hagenah, I asked you if your office had received the data, regarding the description of the tire on the car, streaks on the headliner that were reported as looking as if someone may have wiped blood off his fingers, ashes from the woodstove in which Mr. Hinze said he burned clothes, and especially Mr. Hinze’s DNA sample. Did it or did it not match that of the DNA found at the crime scene? Yes or No would be sufficient, and details would not be required.)

I do appreciate that you take an interest in justice and seeking truth but it does not take much misinformation to lead one down a blind alley.

(No, I don’t think you really appreciate that I take an interest in justice and seeking truth – or you would have answered my questions.

As far as “misinformation”, you are not accusing me of making a mistake, you are calling me a liar, as all of the information I mentioned to you relates to things I am ready to testify to, under oath. I don’t appreciate being called a liar without any attempt made to PROVE me a liar, and I will say that the “leading down a blind alley” is what you and the “real” police have been trying to do to both Trina Langenbrunner’s family, and to the public.)

I am certain those who follow your blogs await the next installment.

(Comment from Lloyd Wagner, 2-20-2015: Yeah, I think they do, thanks, Steve. Less and less people are believing the mainstream media and lying police than used to, which causes more and more people to get their news elsewhere.)

Sincerely, (Comment from Lloyd Wagner, 2-20-2015: “Sincerely”??)

Steve Hagenah (retired Agent) (Comment from Lloyd Wagner, 2-20-2015: Yeah, retired, all right, undoubtedly collecting a nice pension from Minnesota taxpayers, and double-dipping from the tribal college, besides. A guy who seemingly can't even read English, and doesn't seem to know (or care) anything about the reliability of DNA evidence in a murder case, either. Now we ARE talking about some "fantastic" crap going on.)

Well, that’s the end of this post. Once again I am left with a bad taste in my mouth.

But thanks for reading, and please stay tuned.