Minnesota News Roundup: Missing Indiana boy found in Minnesota years later
Minnesota News-- A five-year-old boy abducted from Indiana by his grandparents has been found alive and living in Minnesota.
LONG PRAIRIE, Minn. - A five-year-old boy abducted from Indiana by his grandparents has been found alive and living in Minnesota.
Nearly 20 years ago, Richard Wayne Lander Jr., of Wolcottville was taken following a custody dispute. Landers was listed as a missing child and arrest warrants were issued for his grandparents, but after the case went cold the charges were dropped in 2008. Last September, new information gathered by the boy's parents led Indiana detectives to Long Prairie, where a man was found using Landers Jr.'s Social Security number and date of birth. Working with local authorities, police located the grandparents, who were also living in Minnesota and using aliases. They did admit their true identities and that of Richard Landers Jr., who is now 24 and married. In a news release, LaGrange County, Indiana Sheriff Terry Martin said it's nice to close the case and now the family can begin the process of reconnecting with their loved one.
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The 23 influenza-related deaths in the first week of the year indicate the flu season is severe in Minnesota. The death toll is 27 so far and between 30 and 50 people will die from the flu in a normal season. Kris Ehresmann with the state Health Department says most of the victims have been older patients. She says there was one death in someone under 18, two in persons 50 to 50, four in the 60-69 age group, three in the 70-79 age group, and 17 in the 80-plus age group. Ehresmann says it's too early to say if we've reached the peak of the flu season because there's data and reports still coming in. Last year, the peak came in early March.
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Hundreds of people turned out Thursday in Cold Spring in honor of fallen police officer Tom Decker. A fundraiser was held at the Rocori High School gym, the same school Officer Decker attended as a kid. A St. Cloud radio station organized the event and hoped to raise between 40-and-50 thousand dollars for the Decker family. In November, Officer Decker was ambushed outside Winners Bar in Cold Spring while responding to a call. No arrests have been made in the case.
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Jury selection has wrapped up and opening arguments are scheduled for today in the case of a Hutchinson man accused of killing a Little Falls man in October of 2011. 37-year-old Jason Dominguez is charged with first and second degree murder in the death of 30-year-old Dustin Brown of Little Falls. According to the criminal complaint, Brown was shot seven times after the two got into an argument over drugs and money. Dominguez is facing life in prison if convicted.
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