I have a bit of a treat for you folks who are fascinated with Al Capone. Forum journalist Tracy Briggs put together a three-part series on some incredibly fascinating — and definitely NOT well known — stories of Capone and his shocking connections to Minnesota and North Dakota.

Expert insight into the death investigation of Refugio Rodriguez reveals critical errors in police procedure that compromised key evidence collected from the crime scene and failed to document critical details related to the hose found around Rodriguez's neck.

The review by a retired crime scene investigator comes as police in Montevideo, Minnesota, have referred the Rodriguez case to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension after a series of Forum News Service investigations revealed oversights and questionable decisions in the original police investigation.

Rodriguez was found dead in Chinhinta Park in Montevideo, Minnesota, on Sept. 20, 2020. The initial incident report indicated Rodriguez was found hanging from a tree by a passerby. He was, in fact, found on his knees, with a hose, attached to a tree, wrapped around his neck. Montevideo police later ruled the death a suicide and closed the case .

Sal Rastrelli, a retired crime scene investigator with more than 30 years of experience, specializes in cases involving suicides and homicides. He was provided with investigative documents obtained by Forum News Service related to the death of Rodriguez, including the police report, medical examiner's report and crime scene images.

Full story, written by Trisha Taurinskas, can be found here. https://www.inforum.com/news/the-vault/national-expert-weighs-in-on-refugio-rodriguezs-death-investigation-as-new-image-of-body-surfaces

According to The Forum, the first person to notice the fire that night was Kathryn. She later told investigators she had gone downstairs just after midnight and when she flipped a light switch fire erupted. The Jenkins' son-in-law Dean Bienusa started trying to put it out.

He said he told his family along with Kathryn to take refuge from the flames in a black 1961 Ford parked outside. Eventually, the family, including a barefoot Kathryn, ran to the neighbor's house.

Written by Tracy Briggs

A Minnesota police investigator who closed the case on a possible murder after labeling it a suicide was simultaneously under fire for shoddy police work in another case, according to court records.

The matter raises serious concerns for the family of Refugio Rodriguez. Montevideo, Minnesota, Police Department investigator Carmen Beninga closed the investigation into Rodriguez's September 2020 death despite multiple credible leads indicating his death might have been a hitjob, a Forum News Service investigation has shown.

Full story can be found here.

On this episode, Forum Digital Managing Editor Paula Qualm interviews Forum columnist Jim Shaw about the deadly Medina Shootout. Jim recently wrote a 3-column series on the infamous shootout that occurred four decades ago.

https://www.inforum.com/news/north-dakota/the-medina-shootout-40-years-after-the-tragedy-that-didnt-need-to-happen

Sharon Hensley left her home in Bismarck, North Dakota, in the summer of 1970 with peace and love on her mind.

She wanted to experience life in a way that she hadn't before, alongside fellow free spirits etching their existence into the aftermath of the now famous "Summer of Love."

San Francisco was Hensley's ultimate destination. She succeeded in her journey, yet the life that unfolded looked nothing like the idyllic lifestyle Hensley dreamt up in her North Dakota bedroom.

Instead, that life intersected with Felix Vail, her one-time boyfriend who is now known as the nation's oldest serial killer.

https://www.inforum.com/news/the-vault/missing-north-dakota-woman-may-be-victim-of-nations-oldest-serial-killer

Sheltered, wealthy and enamored with alternative medicine, Dorothea and Claire Williamson were the perfect marks for Linda Hazzard, an osteopath-turned-fasting fanatic.

The British sisters, both in their 30s, had wealth and a life of leisure, which made it possible to travel whenever they wanted.

Orphaned at a young age, the siblings had grown especially close and came to view themselves as their own little family unit. Dorothea, also called Dora, saw herself as the mother figure, treating Claire, just four years younger, like a pampered child.

The Williamsons had another peculiarity. They were hypochondriacs. Although nothing was seriously wrong with them, they were sure they weren't well. Dora talked of swollen glands and rheumatic pains, while her younger sister was told by a physician that she had a dropped uterus.

While staying at a posh hotel in British Columbia, the sisters spotted an ad for Linda Hazzard's book, "Fasting for the Cure of Disease."

And so began their journey with Linda Hazzard...

Written by Tammy Swift

https://www.inforum.com/news/the-vault/hazzard-ous-healer-how-this-minnesota-womans-deadly-fasting-methods-finally-caught-up-with-her

Linda Hazzard was a force of nature.

She stood nearly as tall as her 6-foot husband, although some wondered if her personality was so imposing that she simply seemed larger than she actually was.

A formidable figure with sharp cheekbones, a resolute chin and an unflinching gaze, everything about Hazzard exuded authority. She spoke with unwavering assurance — as if she were absolutely right and anyone who disagreed with her was a fool. While studying osteopathy in her quest to be a nurse, she became convinced that drastic fasting — ingesting only thin vegetable broths for weeks or even months — was the key to healing all disease.

Hazzard's followers, who included prominent intellectuals and politicians, swore by her methods and proclaimed her a "gifted and intelligent" healer.

Others considered her a serial killer.

Written by Tammy Swift

https://www.inforum.com/news/the-vault/minnesota-woman-linda-hazzard-was-infamous-starvation-doctor-whose-brutal-fasting-methods-may-have-killed-14

Every Thursday for 11 years, from 1982 to 1993, millions of Americans settled into their sofas as the notes started playing: "Making your world in the world today takes everything you've got…"

The theme song to the sitcom "Cheers" was recently ranked by "Rolling Stone" magazine as the 13th best. Writers praised the song for its initial "somber" lyrics about life's challenges to its "rousing" conclusion about the simple beauty of going somewhere warm and welcoming where "they're always glad you came."

A Minnesota man found dead on walking path told family he was a 'goner' after identified as confidential informant. Yet despite the suspicious death, his case was closed after suicide determination.