Fascinating update on 40 y.o.man in MN who massacred wife,2 young son-slaves,& 2 dogs at vacation cabin,on Friday
Joe1orbit
Yesterday morning I posted a brief and sketchy news item concerning a likely
triple murder-suicide incident that occured in and around a vacation cabin in
Minnesota. It is my pleasure to update this story today, and provide a whole
BUNCH of new and interesting details.
First of all, detectives have now conclusively determined that this WAS
indeed a triple murder-suicide family massacre, committed by a Daddy-hubby
named Jerrold Johnson, aged 40. Jerrold used a BROOMSTICK and/or small steak
knife to beat/slab his 35 year old wife, Lois, to death inside of the vacation
cabin where they had gone with their two small sons. He then DISMEMBERED his
wife, right inside the cabin! It seems most likely that he committed this
beating/dismemberment BEFORE slaughtering his two young sons. Their dead bodies
were found outside of the cabin, in or just off the banks of a nearby lake.
Police think the two small boys were FORCIBLY DROWNED in the lake, by our Daddy
Dearest.
In addition, the family had two DOGS, and one of the dogs has been found
DEAD, obviously also murdered by Jerrold, while the other dog is missing but
PRESUMED murdered as well! Boy Jerrold was an equal opportunity mass murderer,
killing his wife, child-slaves, and dog-slaves.
We learn below that Daddy Jerrold did indeed have a documented history of
domestic violence. In fact, just 3 weeks ago, on November 17th, police were
called to the home where Jerrold lived with his wife & slaves, on a domestic
dispute issue. Daddy Jerrold proceeded to RAGE at arriving cops, yelling at
them: "I am the god of the universe! I am going to have the wind cut out my
heart and feed it to me!" Another cop quotes Jerrold as stating: "I am of
Norse heritage and I am the son of Odin and I am going to cut your throat,
dance in the blood in the street, then cut out your heart and feed it to you!",
speaking to a COP. Yum, there's a rather unique mental image for us to savor.
He was removed from the home and temporarily placed in a mental hospital.
Police and child welfare authorities, acting as representatives of society,
naturally did nothing to even TRY and block access of this Daddy to his SLAVES,
upon his RELEASE from the loony bin. Of course not! He is the Sacred Daddy,
after all. So what if he is a violent, mentally ill man, who believes himself
to be god?? That's no reason to legally block him from having access to his
SPERM CREATIONS!
In a way, being A Daddy IS like being a GOD. Society gives this man
unchallenged and untested OWNERSHIP over totally helpless human beings, simply
because he "created" them. This is the type of power that a "god", if he/she/it
existed, would have. Certainly to a helpless child, his parents are GODS. The
child has no human, civil, or legal rights. The child is in no way monitored or
protected by society. He is at the MERCY of his owner(s), just like a human
being WOULD be at the mercy of a real "god", if in fact a real god existed,
which of course is not the case.
The two slaughtered slaves were aged 3 and 5. Police say that the rampage by
Daddy Jerrold began early in the evening on Friday. In the police response
incident last month, wife and Mommy Lois told police that her hubby had
suffered a mental breakdown ten long years ago. But of course she never
hesitated in allowing him to remain in the household and have access to their
two helpless children. Of course not. The Family Unit is Sacred, after all. She
married him "For better and for worse", and the child-SLAVES are of course
obligated to accept this decision by their Mommy-owner to allow her mentally
broken down, violent and delusional mate, to have access to them. They are
SLAVES, after all.
We also learn than in a TOTALLY separate incident, over in Maine, a DIFFERENT
man named Leigh Cousins, aged 34. went on a family massacre of his own, nearly
identical in scope to Jerrold's, killing his wife, 4 year old daughter, 2 year
old son, and then himself! He shot them all to death, then set the house on
FIRE, before shooting himself to death. A PAIR of triple murder-suicide family
massacres, enraged minds do tend to think alike, at times. I wonder whether
this second family massacre, the one committed by Leigh in Maine, was INSPIRED
AFTER he heard or read about Jerrold's MN massacre?? That is a POSSIBILITY, I
think, because the second massacre occured Sunday night, just about the same
time that the news of the MN massacre was first breaking. Leigh was a high
school wrestling teacher, and neighbors & friends say they have no idea what
sparked his explosion of rage.
Below you will find news articles on BOTH separate massacres, with Jerrold
Johnson's MN massacre on top, and Leigh Cousins ME massacre at the bottom.
If you would like to view 2 photos, showing the cabin in MN and the lake
where the 2 slaughtered slaves were found, you can point your web browser to:
http://www2.startribune.com/cgi-bin/stOnLine/article?thisSlug=murd08
To ENLARGE the 2 photos, just click on them.
Take care, JOE
The following appears courtesy of yesterday's Associated Press news wire:
Murder-Suicides Hit Minn., Maine
RED WING, Minn. (AP) -- A man who police officers said raged at them during a
domestic dispute last month, claiming to be ``god of the universe,'' is
believed to have killed his wife and two young sons and then fatally shot
himself, police said Monday.
The bodies of Jerrold Johnson's boys were found dead in a lake near their home,
and his 35-year-old wife, Lois, was found beaten in the home. Investigators
believe she was beaten with a broomstick and said her body had been
dismembered.
``The scene inside was bloody,'' Public Safety Director Rick Rabenort said.
``It was one of the most gruesome scenes we have seen.''
Authorities were still trying to determine what happened, including how the
boys, 3 and 5, were killed. They said the violence took place Friday around
dinner time in this town about 60 miles southeast of Minneapolis, though the
bodies weren't discovered until Sunday and Monday.
When police were called to the Johnson home for a domestic dispute on Nov. 17,
Johnson, 40, told officers he was the ``god of the universe'' and was going to
``have the wind cut out my heart and feed it to me,'' according to one
officer's report.
Lois Johnson told police her husband had a mental breakdown 10 years ago.
In Caribou, Maine, a few miles from the Canadian border, authorities said a
woodsman killed his two young children and his wife, set fire to his home and
then fatally shot himself Sunday night.
Police discovered two identical suicide notes in vehicles outside the burning
home of Leigh Cousins. Inside, authorities discovered the bodies of Cousins,
34, his wife, Tina Cousins, 30, 4-year-old Cortina and 2-year-old Cote, said
Stephen McCausland of the Department of Public Safety.
Authorities and friends of the man, who coached wrestlers at the town high
school, said they had no clues as to what might have led to the violence.
AP-NY-12-07-98
--------------------------------------------------------
The following appears courtesy of today's Reuters news wire:
Rifle Recovered In Murder-Suicide
12/08/98
Reuters
(RED WING) -- Red Wing authorities say a high-powered rifle is most likely the
murder weapon used in an apparent murder-suicide that left a Minneapolis family
of four dead. Jerrold and Lois Johnson, and their three- and five-year- old
sons, died Sunday on the little boy's birthday. Red Wing Police Detective Jim
Kuhlstad says the high-powered rifle was found by Jerrold Johnson's body. He
had apparently turned the gun on himself. Police say they were called to the
Johnson's residence last month to mediate a domestic dispute.
-------------------------------------------------------
The following appears courtesy of the 12/8/98 online edition of The St. Paul
Pioneer Planet newspaper:
Published: Tuesday, December 8, 1998
Murder-suicide suspected in deaths of Red Wing family of four
LESLIE BROOKS SUZUKAMO STAFF WRITER
RED WING, MINN.
Four members of a Red Wing family, including two young boys, are the victims of
an apparent murder-suicide that occurred during the weekend, officials said
Monday.
The deaths are believed to be the first multiple murders in the history of Red
Wing, officials said. The last homicide in Red Wing, population 15,500,
occurred in 1995.
Police did not release the names of the two adult victims, saying they could
not positively identify the bodies, but investigators believe them to be
Jerrold and Lois Johnson, of 2085 Frazier St.
The boys were identified as the Johnsons' sons, Croy, 5, and Westin, who was to
have turned 3 on Sunday. A nephew of Lois Johnson who was to attend Westin's
planned birthday party discovered the killings at 1:13 p.m. Sunday when he
found a broken window on the second-level entry.
Police know of no motive for the killings, but they revealed Monday that they
had removed Jerrold Johnson from his lakefront home Nov. 17 and had him
committed to Fairview-Riverside Hospital in Minneapolis for mental problems.
Investigators believe Jerrold, 40, killed his wife, Lois, 35, in a struggle
using a knife and possibly a high-powered rifle, and then drowned his two
children.
``It was a very bloody scene, a very sad scene,'' a shaken Rick Rabenort,
director of the Red Wing Department of Public Safety, said Monday as he
described the scene inside the two-story gray house along the quiet shores of
Sturgeon Lake.
The body of the victim believed to be Lois Johnson was discovered in the living
room Sunday, police said. Police recovered a small steak knife near her
mutilated body.
From the age of the blood at the scene, police believe the attack happened
between Friday night and Saturday afternoon, and possibly Sunday morning,
Rabenort said.
The body of the man believed to be Jerrold Johnson and the body of his son Croy
were found Sunday in the shallow water along Sturgeon Lake, a tributary of the
Mississippi River. The body of the last member of the family, Westin, dressed
in pajamas, was discovered in slightly deeper water off the lakefront about 10
a.m. Monday. Police initially missed finding his body Sunday because it was too
dark by the time they could start processing the crime scene behind the home,
Detective Jim Kulstad said.
Police also recovered the body of one of the family's two dogs, a golden
retriever, in the water near the other bodies. The family's second dog, a
basset hound, was still missing Monday.
The man apparently used a high-powered rifle to kill himself, Rabenort said.
The boys' bodies had no obvious wounds, and police believe they may have been
drowned. The official cause of death of all four victims has not been
determined by the coroner, police said.
Police said they have no reason at this time to doubt that the adults are
Jerrold and Lois Johnson.
The crime scene shook investigators and firefighters who responded to the
initial call, Rabenort said. Psychologists and counseling were made available
for both officials at the scene and for the schoolmates of Croy Johnson at his
school, Burnside Elementary School, officials said.
``The community will be in shock when they hear the news,'' said Red Wing Mayor
Romeo Cyr.
Rabenort, who heads both the police and fire departments, said, ``This does not
happen in Red Wing.''
``I'm on the edge of tears up here because I was there and I saw it, I've
talked to the family, and it was sad, a very, very sad scene,'' he said.
Police had been called to the house Nov. 17 by Lois Johnson after she reported
her husband was acting ``goofy.''
According to an incident report filed by officers, Lois Johnson told them her
husband had ``not (been) thinking straight for about a week.'' She blamed
overwork, saying that he was working 12 hours straight at the Minneapolis
company he owned making arrowheads and other sporting goods.
She also told officers that her husband had suffered a ``mental breakdown''
about 10 years ago in Colorado, which landed him in a hospital there for one
day.
In the Red Wing police incident report, Lois Johnson told the officers that the
previous day, Nov. 16, her husband had worked from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., then came
home and ``was rambling, talking crazy, and couldn't sleep.''
He didn't go to work Nov. 17 but instead rambled all day; Lois Johnson told
police she gave her husband one 10-milligram Valium sedative at 4 p.m. from a
prescription she had and another at 7 p.m., and then he started drinking
schnapps.
Later that evening, he went to the ground level of the house, began pushing
furniture and breaking things, tipped over his television and pulled out the
utility tub from between the washer and dryer.
When officers arrived, Jerrold Johnson was out in the street and screamed at
them that he could ``hear Red Wing Indians screaming at him in the wind,''
according to one officer's report.
Jerrold Johnson tried to punch one officer, then tried to kick out the rear
windows of the squad car once he was handcuffed and put inside, the officer's
report said.
``He then claimed he was of Norse heritage and was the son of Odin and was
going to cut my throat, dance in the blood in the street, then cut out my heart
and feed it to me,'' the officer reported.
No commitment papers were received from Fairview-Riverside Hospital, where
Johnson was transferred, nor did he receive any referral for criminal charges
from the Red Wing police, said Goodhue County Attorney Stephen Betcher.
Often in cases like this, Betcher said, if patients are amenable to treatment,
they will be released on the promise that they will get treatment, as for any
other medical condition.
Lois Johnson was encouraged to seek help from officials, such as obtaining a
restraining order against her husband, but no orders for protection were filed,
Betcher said.
Because Jerrold Johnson did not direct his apparent rage Nov. 17 against his
wife, the worst charge the officers could have filed against him would have
been for disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor, Kulstad said. Although he attacked
the officer and resisted arrest, the officer did not feel personally threatened
to charge him with making terroristic threats, a felony, the detective said.
--------------------------------------------------------
The following appears courtesy of the 12/8/98 online edition of The
Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper:
Published Tuesday, December 8, 1998
Red Wing police recover 4th body from weekend killing
Susan Hogan/Albach / Star Tribune
RED WING, MINN. -- Blinking back tears, Red Wing public safety director Robert
Rabenort struggled to describe the scene where a couple and their two young
sons died over the weekend.
The dinner table was set when officers arrived at Jerrold and Lois Johnson's
home along Sturgeon Lake shortly after 1 p.m. Sunday. Christmas lights were
blinking and holiday wreaths with red bows were waiting to be hung.
"It's a really sad tragedy," Rabenort said. "There was a lot of blood. The
injuries were very traumatic. The fairest thing we can say is that there was a
fight."
Police suspect that Jerrold Johnson, 40, killed his wife, Lois Johnson, 35, and
their two children, Croy, 5, and Westin, 3, before killing himself.
A coroner hopes to confirm the identity of the elder Johnsons by using dental
records; the children were identified by photos.
A nephew of Lois Johnson discovered the scene Sunday. He had come for a
birthday celebration for the older boy. When no one answered his knocks, he
checked the residence and found his aunt's body on the living-room floor,
authorities said.
Shortly afterward, the younger boy's body was found in the lake. Jerrold
Johnson's body was found nearby in the water. A high-powered rifle that police
believe he used on himself also was found. "It was one of the most gruesome
scenes we have ever seen," Rabenort said.
Rescue crews searched overnight for the 5-year-old. His body was recovered in
the lake at 10 a.m. Monday, just as a posse was to begin searching by
horseback. One of the family's dogs was found dead in the lake; a second was
missing.
Second response
Police had been called to the Johnson home three weeks ago. On Nov. 17, Jerrold
Johnson was removed in handcuffs because of violent, erratic behavior,
according to a police report. He was taken to a hospital for sedation.
On that night, Lois Johnson told police the couple had been together 12 years
and married for five. She said that her husband had "some kind of mental
breakdown" about 10 years ago.
Johnson also told officers that her husband "has been goofy, not thinking
straight for about a week." She said he couldn't sleep at night and paced
"around like a madman," kicking things and "talking crazy."
Jerrold Johnson has no criminal convictions in Minnesota but received four
traffic tickets for speeding in recent years.
Rabenort said Monday that he spoke to a friend of the family who said "things
had been fine." No one seemed to know a motive for the crime, Rabenort said.
Police are being guarded about the cause of deaths pending the outcome of
autopsies. They aren't sure when the deaths occurred but suspect that at least
24 to 36 hours passed before the bodies were discovered.
Red Wing police detective Craig Lunde said Lois Johnson had probably been
stabbed. Two knives were recovered by her body. Lunde said there weren't any
visible wounds on the bodies of the children or the dog and that they may have
drowned.
"The reason we're hedging is out of respect for the family," Rabenort said.
Because of the brutality of the crime, he said, the coroner wanted to talk with
the family before releasing details.
Family reaction
The Johnson's rural home is at the end of a long driveway flanked by pine
trees, within eyesight of the Treasure Island Casino. It was purchased in 1986
by Douglas E. Johnson of Minneapolis, who is Jerrold Johnson's brother.
"We may have something to say later, but not now," the brother said Monday.
"We're just grieving the whole thing."
Another brother, Greg Johnson, lives in the 3400 block of Longfellow Av. S. in
Minneapolis, at Jerrold and Lois Johnsons' previous address. That's also the
site of Rocket Aeroheads, an archery manufacturing firm apparently operated by
Jerrold and Greg.
There was no answer at the Longfellow address Monday. Two neighbors said they
had no recollection of Jerrold Johnson's family.
Police said the couple used the Red Wing home as a summer haven for many years.
Last summer, they moved in permanently, according to neighbors and the Goodhue
County assessor's office.
"It was always their seasonal home, so I was real surprised when I went out
there in August and Mrs. Johnson said they had moved in," said Dennis Ahern, an
assessor. "I sent them homestead papers, but they never returned them."
The 786-square-foot home was basically a cabin with an exposed basement and
garage. In the driveway was a large boat, canoe, child's tricycle and wagon.
Neighbors said the Johnsons kept to themselves, though they often heard the
children playing and saw Croy waiting for his school bus. Arden Lindemoen, who
lives two doors away, said he'd heard Jerrold Johnson hammering in recent days.
"He must have been building something," Lindemoen said. Then, looking to his
neighbor's house, he added: "This kind of thing gets you so doggone upset that
it makes you sick. They were just an average family. If he wanted to kill
himself fine, but did he have to kill his wife and children?"
The Goodhue County's Sherriff's Department, Minneapolis police and the
Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) worked with Red Wing police on
the investigation.
On Monday afternoon, law enforcement, city officials and leaders from Burnside
Elementary School, where Croy attended, held a news conference. They said the
killings had taken a heavy toll on the city of about 16,000 people, and
counselors were being brought in to help schoolchildren, rescue workers and
others cope.
The last murder in Red Wing was in 1995. Domestic violence accounted for 13
percent of the state's 479 homicides for 1995-1997, according to the BCA.
"This isn't anything that any community would like to experience," Mayor Romeo
Cyr said.
Robenort added: "I can't tell you enough how the crime scene affected officers
. . . . This kind of thing doesn't happen in Red Wing."
-- Staff writer Bob von Sternberg contributed to this report.
-------------------------------------------------
The following appears courtesy of the 12/7/98 online edition of The Portland
Press-Herald newspaper:
Caribou man kills wife, children, self
CARIBOU - A woodsman killed his wife and two young children before setting
their house afire and fatally shooting himself, state police said today. The
bodies were found in the master bedroom.
Flames were shooting through the roof when firefighters arrived seven minutes
after receiving a call from a passerby at 3:50 a.m., said Stephen McCausland,
spokesman for the Maine Public Safety Department.
Identical suicide notes were found in the family's two vehicles parked outside
the house, McCausland said.
The dead were identified as Leigh Cousins, 34; his wife, Tina Cousins, 30; and
their two children, 4-year-old Cortina and 2-year-old Cote, McCausland said.
The bodies remained in the house late this morning after the fire was doused as
a team from the Maine medical examiner's office made its way to the scene,
McCausland said.
Investigators believe the father killed his family, then used flammable liquid
to start the fire before shooting himself, McCausland said.
"The fire was reported at 3:50, firefighters arrived at 3:57 and the roof was
engulfed in flames. The home was gutted. The walls are standing but the roof is
gone," McCausland said.
The scene near the Funland Amusement Park on the Presque Isle Road was cordoned
with yellow tape.
McCausland declined to divulge details of the suicide notes. The medical
examiner's office will determine how the mother and children died, he said.
Investigators do not know what set the father off. "We have investigators who
are talking to friends, family and neighbors," McCausland said.