Russell Turcotte
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RUSSELL TURCOTTE CASE: Family still searching for son's killer
Turcotte family not happy with investigators
(The Grand
Forks Herald 5/6)
By Stephen J. Lee
Herald Staff Writer
Russell Turcotte's family saw for the first time Monday the lonely spot
northwest of Devils Lake where his beaten body was found last fall, months
after he disappeared while hitchhiking through Grand Forks to his Wolf Point,
Mont., home.
Turcotte's mother, Linda Flynn, his father, Bill Turcotte, and brothers
Michael and Jacob Turcotte, all of Montana, offered tobacco and prayers at
the site for Turcotte, who was 19 when last seen July 14 at the Simonson
truck stop at Gateway Drive and Interstate 29 in Grand Forks.
The family also sharply criticized law enforcement officials during a news
conference later in Grand Forks at the same truck stop where Russell last was
seen.
"It was disturbing," said Russell's mother, Linda Flynn, of seeing the site.
She was the last person known to talk to Russell on July 13 when he asked her
to wire him some money to Grand Forks. On July 14, she wired $100, but it
never was picked up. She's been on a roller coaster of sorts, from not
knowing where he was, to knowing he was killed, to seeing the place where his
body was dumped, and now working to find his killers, Flynn said.
Michael Turcotte said, "We met as a family at the site and prayed together.
We are Native Americans and prayed our own way. We offered tobacco and just
asked that the persons responsible come forward, or that God will deal with
them in his own way. Either way ... they are going to have to deal with God."
Last October, Turcotte's family came to Grand Forks to lead a futile
three-day search of the area around the truck stop.
On Nov. 5, a farmer chasing loose cattle found Turcotte's body in a tree
shelterbelt 12 miles northwest of Devils Lake, a half mile north of U.S.
Highway 2. Authorities determined he had been beaten to death and his body
dumped at the site.
No suspects have been identified, and nothing has been ruled out, said Jeff
White, chief agent with the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
White traveled to Grand Forks on Monday to meet Turcotte's family.
"I don't have much confidence in law enforcement around here," Bill Turcotte
said, citing other homicides that remain unsolved in the Grand Forks area in
recent years, including the cases of three American Indian men in 2001. "So
that doesn't speak very highly for Grand Forks area law enforcement. No one
listened to us when we told law enforcement our son was missing last summer.
I must have called Grand Forks investigators a dozen times."
Turcotte's family wonders if the fact that he was just passing through the
area and an American Indian make his homicide less important.
"If this had been the son of a police officer, or the mayor, it would have
been handled differently," Michael Turcotte said.
Bill Turcotte said, "We weren't even given the dignity of a meeting today
with the lead investigator for the case with the BCI, Mark McNamee. To me,
this is not acceptable."
White, the BCI chief agent who drove to Grand Forks on Monday, said McNamee
had a previously scheduled training session for local law enforcement
officers.
The BCI tries to be as responsive as possible to victims' families, White
said.
The fact is, beyond the first 48 hours after a homicide, the case becomes
much more difficult to solve, he said. The BCI did not get involved in the
case until Turcotte's body was found in November, White said.
Michael Turcotte said he was amazed that no law enforcement had even talked
to the last friend known to have seen Russell the morning he hitchhiked to
Grand Forks.
That is Darby Parsons, who stayed with friends, including Turcotte, in a
Fargo residence the night before he hitchhiked to Grand Forks on July 13.
She had been at the same Rainbow hippie gathering in the Upper Peninsula of
Michigan and recognized Turcotte as "a kindred spirit," she said Monday.
She's gotten to know Turcotte's family since and appeared with them at the
news conference Monday.
Monday was the first time BCI officials had ever talked to her or met her.
White said the BCI had difficulty contacting her because of her involvement
in the underground hippie culture. "We will now," he said.
Newman Outdoor Advertising of Fargo put up a billboard featuring Turcotte's
photo and information about the reward near the Simonson truck stop two weeks
ago. The sign also includes the BCI's telephone number. Not many calls have
come in from the billboard, and no useable tips yet, White said. "We'd like
to see more," he said.
The BCI has followed up leads in Minnesota, Montana and North Dakota, White
said. There are no suspects, but there is evidence found at the scene not
being revealed publicly for investigative purposes that may help link the
killer or killers to Turcotte's death, he said.
Bill Turcotte said they came to Grand Forks to keep Russell's homicide in the
news to help solve the case.
"We believe someone here in the Grand Forks area knows or is involved in
Russell's death," he said.
Most of Russell Turcotte's family plan to leave Grand Forks today; Linda
Flynn will stay in town for several days.
"I will pursue this until I die," Flynn said.
Reach Lee at (701) 780-1237, or (800) 477-6572, ext. 237; e-mail
slee@gfherald.com
APRIL 12 2003 UPDATE
Posted to NDN-AIM by Erthavenger
from Hunter Gray
Note by Hunterbear:
This is a just received letter from Ms. Tammy Miller, cousin of Russ
Turcotte, the 19 year old Turtle Mountain Chippewa [Ojibway] youth -- last
seen at Grand Forks, North Dakota and murdered in that general region last
mid-July 2002. No arrests have made been in his case -- nor have any been
yet made in the September 2001 Grand Forks, N.D. murders of Turtle
Mountain Indians Robert Belgarde [40], his son Damian [19], and Jerome
Decoteau [50] -- all murdered on virtually the same date. See this on our
Lair of Hunterbear website for detailed background and updates:
http://www.hunterbear.org/NATIVE%20AMERICAN%20COMMISSION%20PAGE%204.htm
While I am certain the killer or killers of the Belgardes and Mr. Decoteau
reside in the Grand Forks region, I have long had a strong hunch -- based on
logic, and intuition -- that the killer of Russ Turcotte is somewhere in the
general Seattle metro setting. That possibility is being explored with ever
greater intensity by a number of us.
We continue to give this a very high priority -- as we do the sorry racial
situation here in Eastern Idaho which saw police in late December 2002 kill
a young unarmed Native -- Felipe Galloway, 22, Shoshone Bannock. The tragic
affair has been officially "white-washed." See this from our website for
Idaho details and updates.
http://www.hunterbear.org/NATIVE%20AMERICAN%20COMMISSION%20PAGE%205.htm
In Solidarity -
Hunter [Hunterbear]
=============================
From Tammy Miller to Hunter Gray, April 11, 2003
Boozhoo Hunter,
I am once again updating you with our current situation. At this time our
family has made arrangements for a billboard to be donated. This will be
erected at Gateway and Highway 2, which is the area where Russ was last
seen. The Newman Sign Company of Grand Forks is making this generous
donation. Obviously, this is being done in hopes that it will trigger
someone into remembering details. As you know, a surveillance camera had
spotted him in this area initially. The police department didn't act on
this information and the tape was recorded over.
I have attached a copy of the billboard to be erected with a photo of Russ
taken the night before arriving in Grand Forks. This would be how he looked
to anyone who may have seen him.
Meanwhile our family is planning a press conference in Grand Forks for May
5. All of Russ' immediate family will be present and offer update
information. On another note, I have been attempting to get the information
out here in the Seattle area. The media is not interested as Russ was not a
resident of this state, nor was the crime committed here. I will continue
with this endeavor.
The investigative process continues to be frustrating. They have done
forensic testing at the area the body was discovered. The leads are few and
far between. Some information is currently going through a discovery
process concerning an abandoned car found. I will not go into deep detail,
but take note that any one of these efforts may uncover the truth.
Thank you, as always, for your continued diligence!!!
Tammy
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