Russell Turcotte
 Return to main Russell Turcotte page
By Stephen J. Lee Herald Staff Writer
http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforksherald/7408841.htm
Like Dru Sjodin, Russell Turcotte disappeared from Grand Forks.
Like Dru, Russell last was heard from on a telephone call to a loved one.
Like Dru, Russell had a mother and father and loved ones and friends who by the next day worried that something bad had happened.
And like Dru, Russell had people who cared who contacted Grand Forks police the next day to say something was wrong, that their child was missing.
Like Dru's parents, Russell Turcotte's parents are divorced and live in different towns.
But that's where the similarities begin to diverge.
Russell last was heard from July 13, 2002, from a truckstop in Grand Forks; he was on the telephone to his mother, Linda Flynn, who was in his hometown of Wolf Point, Mont. She promised to wire him money the next day to Grand Forks so he could finish his hitchhiking trip faster by bus to make a wedding in Montana.
But the money was never picked up, and Russell was never heard from again.
Dru's case became a criminal case and a suspected abduction within 12 hours of its being reported to police. Within a day or so, hundreds of volunteers were searching fields near Grand Forks and Crookston for her.
But in Russell's case, it took months for the family to convince law enforcement to mount a search. And it never involved 1,700 volunteer searchers joining 100 or more law enforcement officers from 21 federal, state and local agencies, like the search Wednesday for Dru.
When Russell's family mounted their own search, using a Texas outfit and pleading with Grand Forks police, the police finally became involved in October last year, three months after Russell disappeared.
But the search involved only a few law enforcement officers and a couple of dozen volunteer searchers. Instead of the dozens of news reporters from national and regional companies and regular coverage on national TV shows, Russell's case attracted only fleeting news media attention. Russell Turcotte's disappearance took a long time to become a search. He was 19 when he disappeared.
Bringing it back
Flynn said when she first called police July 14, a dispatcher, when learning Russell's age, chuckled and told her to wait a few more days.
She then was told to file a missing person report through her local police agency, in Wolf Point, Flynn said.
That meant Grand Forks police did not have primary jurisdiction, which didn't help, she said.
It wasn't until Nov. 2, 2002, that a farmer hauling cattle accidentally found Russell's remains in a tree row near U.S. Highway 2, near Devils Lake, about 60 miles west of Grand Forks.
Dru's case brought it back for Russell's family.
"Immediately, on hearing of her disappearance, it was like someone kicked me in the stomach," said Bill Turcotte, Russell's father, who lives in Chinook, Mont.
From Doug West to Alfred Bone Shirt
Wed, 26 Nov 2003
Note: The following letter was inspired by the case of Dru Sjodin, who went missing 22 Nov 2003, which as Doug West points out is serious and tragic. His letter does not detract from this but instead points out disparities in interest and search response between Dru and Russell Turcotte.
Dear Mr. Bone Shirt:
When I saw this missing person report on television Sunday evening I was a bit surprised, then received an email being forwarded around with photos of this young woman attached. In a very short amount of time investigations were moving along with alerts, searches, photos, and actually surprising to me, local authorities are actually doing things like tracking video tapes and cell phone calls. But the disappearance in this situation is not much different from that of young Russell Turcotte, and this was one of the first things that entered my mind. While all people of abduction situations are tragic, the bias is literally frustrating as frustrating can be. One person missing is just as serious as another person missing, and all missing persons should be treated with the same attention, tactics, and resources. What has happened in either of these two cases regarding Russell and Dru is serious and tragic, but only Dru's situation has been treated as such.
Russell's family could barely get authorities to even search for him once missing, and eventually a limited search was conducted with little to no investigation into his death. This young woman has several authorities investigating and searching for her, getting significant media attention and some national attention. Perhaps I'm all wrong here or maybe even crazy, but are one of these two missing persons so much more important than the other or worth more to the human race? I've always thought a missing person should always be treated as a serious and urgent situation, regardless of who that person is, but that doesn't seem to be scenario when comparing Russell to Dru. Is it possible anyone could explain the high value placed on Dru while Russell appears to be worthless? People are people and I never imagined any one individual life was "worth" more than another, but it does seem to me some persons and authorities do treat one individual life as valuable and precious as can be, while another life means little to nothing.
What I've discovered with the death of my own daughter, Katie Ann West, and how her body was tampered with by the recently resigned Grand Forks County Coroner, lies told by police, and fraudulent circumstances placed on her Autopsy, is now being prepared for legal action but also has taught me a great deal about authorities in this area and North Dakota Governor, John Hoeven, and his various cabinet and staff members. Long ago there was an incident of a missing Native American woman over a weekend. Not much was done about her situation either and if my memory is correct, I think her body was eventually found on a roof near some apartments under a little snow. But the odd thing about this was her body was not found for a few months. I have a cousin on the Grand Forks City Police Department who was not a Detective at that time, but is one now. His parents are my Godparents from Baptism, and I clearly remember his Mother, my Aunt, commenting on this missing Native American woman at the time. My Aunt made a comment to the effect of what her son the Police Officer said about the missing woman situation, that the missing woman will turn up in the Spring season when the snow melts, and her body was found when the snow melted. But with just a little effort, her body could have been found very quickly considering the location and activity around the area where her body was found. Basically put, Grand Forks City Police had no intention of searching for this woman, but figured she may show up once the snow melts. The Police Officer's name is Duane Simon and this is a true story, I just cannot remember approximately how long ago this was but do know it was years before our great flood of 1997.
If this woman had been someone like Dru, would the Grand Forks City Police have conducted a search with choppers, ATV's, Federal, State, and local authorities, and actually bothered to look in many places and dig through a little snow? What "someone like Dru" means is beyond me, but for some reason Dru has become a VIP while Russell didn't even get a search for months, and even then it was minimal without follow up. But the woman who would "turn up once the snow melts" was treated similar to Russell and not at all like Dru, and she was a Native American woman. Was this woman who turned up once the snow melted less of a person or human being than any other person or human being? Our the standards set by who one is and their race? The way these matters are handled are so contradictory and inconsistent it's hard to imagine. Human beings are being placed on a value scale as though there is more worth in one life over another. Then of course there is the situation at the University of North Dakota where a Native American man was literally murdered in either some type of mercy killing or assisted suicide, and President Charles E. Kupchella has been made aware of this as well as many other officials with authority to act on the matter, but absolutely nothing is being done. This is the same University I graduated from, Phil Jackson graduated from, and also where Dru attends college. Mr. Kupchella is acting with concern in Dru's situation and he should be concerned, but he doesn't seem concerned at all with the murdered Native American man that did occur right in campus housing at the University of North Dakota.
It seems to me the bias is confirmed now, because murders and missing persons are not at all treated with the same concern and consistency. If it's just some missing "Indian" or dead "Indian", oh well, that's too bad, we are sorry for your loss. Now Dru is missing and just about every effort possible is being exercised to find her. At least "some" white people are treated like people and when missing, their case is taken seriously with fairly quick and thorough action, but I do find it hard to say this about any Native American person missing or murdered. All murders and missing persons are a complete tragedy, however, in my opinion with the history of how these matters are handled, the real bias that does exist is fairly well confirmed now. When Russell Turcotte telephoned home from Grand Forks, ND, to his Mother for a wire transfer of money for a train or bus ticket home, but never showed up to pick up the money, the same action should have taken place that is now ongoing in the case of Dru Sjodin, but it didn't. The difference here is not that Russell wasn't a Grand Forks resident, that's a lazy law enforcement excuse to not bother looking for a missing Indian. I really find it difficult to compare these two situations and see the matter in any other way.
I apologize for not having a photograph of Russell available to attach to this email like the three I do have of Dru, but then of course local authorities and local residents didn't seem to care enough to forward photos of Russell to as many people as possible. I did look for one on the web briefly and if I cannot find one for future reference, I will take the time to scan one from other news sources. I just wanted to write you about this situation tonight before going to bed, but for every forwarded email address collected when Dru's photos were sent around, photos of Russell should be sent to all the exact same email addresses as well.
Sincerely,
Douglas J. West
422 5th Street S #5
Grand Forks, ND 58201-4665
Note: For more information on Katie Ann West, Doug West writes to feel free to contact him for details. Doug can be contacted at:
westdoug at qwest.net
For more info on Katie Ann West one can also visit http://www.altru.net/.
More info on Dru Sjodin and photo
"Hunter Gray"
The Turcotte family has advised that funeral services for Russell
Turcotte -- the 19 year old Turtle Mountain youth missing at Grand Forks,
N.D. since July 12 and whose body was found last week near Devils Lake, N.D.
will be on Monday, November 18. They will be held at Wolf Point, Montana,
at the Wolf Point High School at 10 a.m. Clayton Memorial Chapel is
handling the arrangements. The services will be both Christian and Native.
Russell's death was murder. No arrests have yet been made. At Grand Forks,
there have still been no arrests in the September 2001 murders of the three
Turtle Mountain men: Jerome DeCoteau, and Robert and Damian Belgarde.
Posted by Ishgooda to Native News Online
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/news/stories/20021112/localnews/354265.html
Funeral services have tentatively been set for Monday for the missing Havre
man found dead near Devils Lake, N.D., last week.
A rancher found the body of Russell Turcotte along U.S. Highway 2 in North
Dakota on Wednesday -- nearly four months after the 19-year-old disappeared
on his way home from a hippie gathering in Michigan.
Turcotte was last seen in the Grand Forks area in July after calling his
mother, Lynda Flynn of Wolf Point, to ask for money for a train ticket home.
He never picked up the $100 she wired.
Gros Ventre spiritual leader Joe Ironman Sr., who is Turcotte's uncle,
conducted a sweat lodge ceremony Sunday for Turcotte in Hays on the Fort
Belknap Reservation.
"We already had the spirits take him home so we're all feeling a lot better,"
his father, William Turcotte, said from his home in Havre on Monday.
Russell Turcotte was a member of the Turtle Mountain Tribe in North Dakota as
is his father. Flynn is a member of the Fort Peck Assiniboine Tribe.
A traditional funeral will be held Monday in Wolf Point if the body is
released as expected this week by North Dakota authorities.
Clayton Memorial Funeral Home of Wolf Point is in charge of the funeral
arrangements.
Ironman and Assiniboine spiritual leader Bob Four Star will lead the
ceremonies; the Dry Lake Singers of Hays and local musicians will participate.
In Ramsey County, meanwhile, authorities have begun a murder investigation.
-- J.P.
By Xiao Zhang
Grand Forks Herald Staff Writer
The body of a missing 19-year-old Montana man last seen in Grand Forks was found Tuesday 12 miles northwest of Devils Lake, and authorities have started a homicide investigation into his death.
Russell Turcotte, Wolf Point, Mont., was found dead in a shelter belt near Penn, N.D., half a mile north of U.S. Highway 2 by a man looking for his cattle, said Steve Hamre, Ramsey County Sheriff.
He was last seen at a Grand Forks gas station July 14.
The Ramsey County coroner said Turcotte's body may have been at the spot since late July or early August, Hamre said. The sheriff declined to comment on how Turcotte died but said the case is being investigated as a homicide.
Surprising search
Trent Haberstroh, Hansboro, N.D., said he was transporting cattle to Devils Lake late Monday. The tailgate was open and two cows fell out about eight miles northwest of Devils Lake, Haberstroh said.
Attempts to round up the cows by Haberstroh and several friends were unsuccessful, and the group decided to call it a night at about midnight and come back in the morning, he said.
Early Tuesday, Haberstroh was out looking for his cattle again, with two friends and his wife. Haberstroh said he found one cow, tied it up to a tree and walked through the trees to get back to his pickup. On the way to the truck, he found Turcotte's nearly nude body lying among the trees at about 10 a.m.
ID check
The body was two feet into the shelter belt and partially decomposed, Hamre said.
Tuesday afternoon, the Ramsey County Sheriff's Dept. contacted the Grand Forks County Sheriff's Dept. because Ramsey County has no reports of missing persons and the body was similar to the description of Turcotte, said Major Mike Fonder, Grand Forks County Sheriff's chief deputy.
Information was exchanged and Turcotte's mother, Linda Flynn of Wolf Point, Mont., provided Turcotte's dental records after she was contacted by the Ramsey County officials.
The body and Turcotte's dental records were sent to Bismarck for an autopsy by the state medical examiner.
Recent GF search
Wednesday afternoon, after preliminary autopsy results, Flynn was notified of her son's death.
“I knew he didn't just run away,” she cried. “I kept telling everybody that. It hurts so bad.”
She and other family members and friends came to Grand Forks last month with a Texas search team and spent four days looking for Turcotte in the area.
Turcotte was on his way home from a hippie gathering in Michigan in July when he called his mother in Grand Forks and asked for $75 for a train ticket.
The family became deeply worried when Turcotte, described by friends and family as a happy and easy-going person, never claimed the $100 Flynn wired to him and later missed his best friend's wedding in August.
Turcotte's father, Bill Turcotte, Havre, Mont., quit his carpentry job and searched U.S. Highway 2 and Interstate 94 between Grand Forks and Wolf Point in July.
“Russell wouldn't hurt anybody,” Bill Turcotte said in an earlier interview. “I can't understand why anybody would hurt him.”
More investigation
Hamre said his department and the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation will investigate Turcotte's death.
The department will try to find individuals who knew Turcotte, but it does not appear anyone in the Devils Lake area knew him, he said.
Fonder said his department will assist the investigation “in whatever capacity we can.”
The possibility that Turcotte was killed elsewhere and his body was moved to where it was discovered is a scenario they will investigate, Fonder said.
Zhang reports on local and regional news. Reach her at 780-1267, (800) 477-6572, ext. 267, or xzhang@gfherald.com.
Great Falls Tribune
By and Tribune Staff
The Associated Press
Authorities have identified a body found Tuesday near Devils Lake, N.D., as that of Russell Turcotte, a 19-year-old Havre man who had been missing since July.
Turcotte was last seen in the Grand Forks area in mid-July as he hitchhiked home from a hippie gathering in Michigan.
He called his mother, Lynda Flynn of Wolf Point, from a pay phone to ask for money for a train ticket home, but never picked up the $100 she wired to him.
Ramsey County authorities have started a murder investigation.
Turcotte's nearly nude body was found in a grove of trees about 12 miles northwest of Devils Lake along U.S. Highway 2, Sheriff Steve Hamre said.
"There was a gentleman the night before -- he lost some cattle and he was searching for his cattle and driving a three-wheeler, and came upon the body in a shelter belt,'' Hamre said. "The coroner figured it could have been there as long as July or the beginning of August.''
The body was identified Wednesday through medical and dental records, he said.
Investigators did not immediately know the cause of death; the state medical examiner's office is conducting an autopsy.
"The way the body was found, we couldn't notice any injuries or wounds,'' Hamre said.
"Everyone is just totally devastated," Turcotte's tearful father, William Turcotte, said Wednesday. "I just can't believe someone would murder my son."
Turcotte's family described him as a "happy-go-lucky" young man who was loyal to his family and friends. Concern heightened when he failed to show up for his best friend's wedding in August, where he was to be the best man.
The family is making travel arrangements to claim his body when it is released next week, his dad said.
Investigators in the Grand Forks area have been looking for Turcotte since mid-July.
Last month, a team of more than 60 volunteers scoured much of Grand Forks and a section of the nearby Red River, but failed to find any clues.
Authorities had no suspects Wednesday, Hamre said. The investigation is being conducted by the Ramsey County and Grand Forks County sheriff's offices, the Grand Forks Police Department and the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation, he said.
From: "Hunter Gray"
Posted NDN AIM 6 Nov 2002
Friends:
Although the initial report I received indicated Russell Turcotte's body had
been found near Minot, North Dakota [200 miles west of Grand Forks],
subsequent media reports, quoting law enforcement officials, place the
body's location several miles from Devil's Lake, ND -- a town also on
Highway 2, the road to Montana. [He was found in some trees by a man
searching for lost cattle.] Devil's Lake is about 90 miles west of Grand
Forks -- where Russell was last seen on the night of July 12, 2002. Law
enforcement officials are quoted as saying it's homicide.
That entire stretch of Highway 2, from just west of Grand Forks Air Force
Base [itself 13 miles west of the Forks] is extremely lonely -- especially
at night. There are only a small handful of towns on Highway 2 between
Grand Forks and the Montana border. The distances and open spaces are vast.
Hunter Gray [Hunterbear]
www.hunterbear.org
Protected by Na´shdo´i´ba´i´
and Ohkwari'
from: "Hunter Gray"
Posted to NDN AIM 6 Nov 2002
Note by Hunterbear:
I have just received this sad confirmation of that which we have long
suspected: the murder of Russell Turcotte, the missing 19 year old Turtle
Mountain Chippewa youth.
Tammy Miller, I should add, is Russ' devoted cousin. Minot, ND is a small
city about 200 miles west of Grand Forks on Highway 2 -- the road to
Montana.
No arrests have yet been made at Grand Forks in the September 2001 murders
of the three Turtle Mountain Chippewa men in that setting: Jerome DeCoteau,
and Robert and Damian Belgarde.
Hunter [Hunterbear]
Boozhoo Hunter,
The body of Russell Turcotte was found yesterday about 2 miles out of Minot.
The body was found about a half mile off Highway 2 under a grove of trees.
I don't have all the information and the details I do have indicate foul
play. I do know the body was partially concealed and found nude. Cause of
death has yet to be released. The coroner has indicated blunt trauma to the
head as well as other bone fractures.
I thank you for all your time and efforts.
Tammy Miller
The search for Russell --
Texas EquuSearch leads hunt for missing teen in Grand Forks
By Xiao Zhang
Grand Forks Herald Staff Writer
18 Oct. 2002
Family and friends of Russell Turcotte arrived in Grand Forks on Thursday for a mounted search of the 19-year-old man from Wolf Point, Mont.
The search, taking place Friday through Sunday, will be led by Texas EquuSearch, a mounted search and recovery team, and will be facilitated by law enforcement in the Grand Forks area.
Volunteers are sought, and the public is asked to call the Grand Forks Police Department at 787-8000 if they have any information regarding the young man.
Turcotte was last seen in Grand Forks. Eyewitnesses told police Turcotte was at the Simonson gas station at Gateway Drive and Interstate 29 the weekend of July 14, said Sgt. Jim Remer. Turcotte called his mother Linda Flynn earlier from the nearby Mini Mart to ask her for $75 for a train ticket.
But his family never heard from him after that. He never claimed the $100 his mother wired him, either.
“I don't have any expectations,” Flynn said of the search this weekend.
Mixed feelings
Flynn got up at 2 a.m. Thursday to make the almost-12-hour drive from Wolf Point to Grand Forks. “I hope I don't find anything, because if I find something, I know it's not going to be in a good way.”
But the search may give the 11 family members who came for the search some closure, said Tim Miller, director of Texas EquuSearch, who went through a similar experience when the body of his own missing daughter was found 16 years ago.
Maggie Heagy, Turcotte's aunt, called Miller after she read a newspaper account on the search team and its success. She said she only called for advice on conducting such a search, but Miller offered to come with the search team.
“We were thinking about getting out and walking the freeway, asking questions and passing out flyers,” she said.
EquuSearch has made it a more systematic search, she said.
The search
The search will start today. Miller will fly over the city with a Grand Forks County Sheriff's deputy to take an aerial view. The helicopter and pilot are provided by UND Aviation School.
Then, a search on horse, foot and four-wheelers will start in a five-mile radius from the Simonson Station Store where Turcotte was last seen, he said.
Flynn said she appreciates the law enforcement and volunteers.
“I appreciate all the work that goes into this,” she said.
Studying maps
Thursday, representatives from the Grand Forks Police Department and the Grand Forks County Sheriff's Department met with family members and the search team.
They studied maps together and briefed each other with available data on the case.
The police department provided space for a central command post and provided the search team a dozen cell phones.
The Sheriff's Department will set up an operational command post for the search at the Grand Forks County Fairgrounds.
“We'll try to make the search as effective as possible,” said Major Mike Fonder at the Sheriff's Department.
Miller said people from North Dakota, Montana and Minnesota have called to volunteer their time, their horses and ATVs.
Horse riders from Fort
Berthold, N.D., and the Blackfoot Nation of Browning, Mont., will arrive today to help with the search. Turcotte has roots in North Dakota's Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation.
Hope to help
Remer said he hopes the search will lead to more information on the case and some peace of mind for Turcotte's family.
“If anybody remembers seeing Russell, they need to call us at the police department,” Remer said. “We hope those types of leads will come in.”
And, the family does hope to find closure.
“For my own peace of mind, I need to know,” Flynn said. “I need to know if something happened here, then I'll deal with it. I need to know if not, then I can eliminate Grand Forks and try something different.
“I just need to know.”
Zhang reports on local and regional news. Reach her at 780-1267, (800) 477-6572, ext. 267, or xzhang@gfherald.com.
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