Killer of Family of Five Used Knife and Hammer
Maggie
while adults are free to put themselves in jeopardy from violent
friends/relatives, it's unconscionable to expose one's children to this kind of
risk. From the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune:
Before family was slain, Lino Lakes woman called police
Jim Adams
Star Tribune
Wednesday, October 25, 2000
Donna Mimbach called Lino Lakes police for help the night before she and her
family were killed, but she was unwilling to evict her brother so police could
arrest him if he didn't leave, police said Tuesday.
Her brother, Larry S. Dame, was charged Tuesday with five counts of
second-degree murder in the gruesome beating deaths last week of Mimbach, her
husband and their three children in their Lino Lakes home. Dame, 28, also was
charged with taking the Mimbach station wagon without permission.
(L to R) Lead Anoka County sheriff's investigator Tony Helgesen, Lino Lakes
police chief Dave Pecchia and Scott Bechtold of the Anoka County sheriff's
office talk about the case.
The officer who returned Mimbach's call last Wednesday night also offered to
take Dame into custody if he threatened the family or made suicidal statements,
but Mimbach said he hadn't, said Lino Lakes Police Chief Dave Pecchia.
"We did everything legally possible to assist Donna Mimbach on the night of
Oct. 18," Pecchia said.
Dame's bail was set at $3million by Anoka County District Judge Stephen Askew.
He approved a request by Dame's attorney, David Powers, to hire a psychiatrist
to evaluate whether Dame is mentally competent to stand trial. Dame stood
silently in court, his eyes downcast.
He is accused of killing Mimbach, 29, her husband, Todd Mimbach, 32, and their
children, 12-year-old John Mimbach, 9-year-old Amber Duval and 22-month-old
Daniel Mimbach. Police found their bodies in their beds under their covers
about 1 p.m. Thursday.
Anoka County authorities probably will wait for a psychiatric evaluation before
deciding whether to call a grand jury to consider first-degree murder charges,
which require suspicion of premeditation, said Assistant County Attorney Tony
Palumbo.
No motive revealed
Lead investigator Tony Helgesen of the Anoka County Sheriff's Office said Dame
gave police no reason for his acts.
"It was a horrific crime," Helgesen said. "Any time you have a crime scene
involving children, it is very difficult."
According to the criminal complaint, Dame beat the Mimbachs with a hammer and
stabbed all but his sister with a kitchen knife early Thursday as they were
sleeping. Then he drove the Mimbachs' station wagon to Rockford, Ill.
He told detectives that he put the hammer, the knife and his bloody clothing in
a bag and put it in a garbage bin near his hotel in Rockford, the complaint
says. Rockford police found the bag with the bloody items in the bin.
Dame returned to Minnesota and was arrested about 5 p.m. Saturday after a man
spotted him in the parking lot of an Anoka video store and alerted police.
Helgesen said Dame gave no reason for why he went to Rockford or returned to
Minnesota. Dame told police that the slayings were early Thursday but didn't
say whether he was drinking, Helgesen said.
He said Dame was calm, lucid and didn't show remorse during a police interview.
The crime scene showed no sign of a struggle, Helgesen added.
Dame had been released from prison in February after serving four years for
first-degree assault for slashing a man's throat in 1995 in Morrison County.
While he was in prison, Dame's sister and her husband visited him and bought
him a television set, said Nicole Daley, who said she had known Dame and Donna
Mimbach since she was in second grade with Dame.
Donna Mimbach loved her brother, Daley said. She said that she was the maid of
honor at Donna Mimbach's wedding and that she wrote and called Dame several
times a month while he was in prison. Daley said she worried about him when she
saw him a month ago, because he was aloof and quiet.
"In prison, he was positive and had big expectations about how life was going
to be when he got out," she said. After his release it was hard to find work,
but he finally got a factory job. "He saved his money up and bought a car, and
it broke down the next day," she said. "He was frustrated."
After his release, Dame lived with his parents in Lino Lakes until he moved
into a Circle Pines apartment in early August, family members said. They said
he had struggled with alcohol since high school and had recently talked about
hearing voices.
His brother, Walter Dame, 23, said Larry Dame said he drank to quiet the
voices. The voices told Larry Dame that his family was out to kill him because
they were trying to commit him to a mental hospital, his brother said.
Dame had been jailed for a week this month after taking one of the Mimbachs'
cars. He was released last Wednesday. Todd and Donna Mimbach picked him up at
the jail late that afternoon. After taking his wife home, Todd Mimbach took
Dame to Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids.
The Mimbachs believed that a mental-health evaluation required by Dame's
probation officer would lead to Dame being admitted to the hospital.
But he wasn't, and Todd Mimbach drove Dame back to the Mimbach home in the 500
block of Chippewa Trail.
'I can't have him stay here'
At 9:26 p.m. Wednesday, Donna Mimbach called 911 for help:
"Um, it's regarding, OK my brother got discharged from the um jail today and
the consequences were that he was supposed to go to the hospital because he
hears voices and he stole my car and all this stuff.
"My husband brought him to the hospital and the hospital will not take him, and
so my husband is bringing him back here because we can't get ahold of his
parole officer. Well, I can't have him stay here. He has to go back to jail or
something."
A few minutes later, a Lino Lakes police officer returned Donna Mimbach's call.
Officials didn't release those transcripts, but Helgesen said the officer
offered Donna Mimbach several options under which police could arrest her
brother. When none worked for her, the officer told her to call back if
anything changed, Pecchia said.
Donna Mimbach's brother Walter was at the house until about 10 p.m. and said
the family had decided to let Larry Dame spend the night, the complaint said.
Todd Mimbach intended to take Larry Dame to work with him the next day,
Helgesen said.
Relatives came by the house at 9 a.m. and again at noon, and could tell that
the TV and lights were on, the complaint said. Nobody went to the door. Police
were called about 12:50 p.m. and found the bodies.
Larry Dame's next court hearing is Dec. 21.
Jim Adams can be contacted at jad...@startribune.com
Maggie
God in His wisdom ordained so well that the young soon forget the sorrow of the
death of older people, but I don't think that the older people ever get over
the death of the younger ones.--Joseph P. Kennedy
twice_shy02
She should have gotten her children out of harms way at the very least. Good
Grief a 22 month old?? So sad... Why in the world do I read this stuff? LOL
You ever ask yourself that?
Tammy
"Maggie" <maggi...@aol.comSPAMBLOC> wrote in message
news:20001025100547...@ng-md1.aol.com...
Bruce Smith
Maggie wrote:
> Dame, 28, also was
> charged with taking the Mimbach station wagon without permission.
ROFL.
nelsonga...@gmail.com
Reading this now, 17 years later, it's so surreal. Like, I rode my bike right next to her house to go to the elementary school. I remember the stickers she had on the table connected to her wheelchair.
The school did a very nice job of having the kids open up and talk about it.
phdoug...@gmail.com
brinn...@gmail.com
ma...@mimbach.com
brigi...@gmail.com
David Ells
> Why is marijuana induced psychosis not considered ..he was a school drop out ..marijuana was involved but everyone keeps silent..a known fact is psychosis leads to schizophrenia and thus murder Reeks of it ..where is the marijuana use ever mentioned ? People should speak up especially those that smoked with him