Mike Longaecker
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Mike Longaecker is the regional public safety reporter for RiverTown Multimedia. His coverage area spans St. Croix and Pierce counties. Longaecker served from 2011-2015 as editor of the Woodbury Bulletin. A University of Wisconsin-River Falls graduate, Longaecker previously reported for the Red Wing Republican Eagle and for the Forum Communications Minnesota Capitol Bureau. You can follow him on Twitter at @Longaecker
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Prescott police are seeking the public's help in locating a missing teenager. Nineteen-year-old Rachel Elizabeth Hutcheson has been missing since late October when she didn't show up for work at Target in Cottage Grove, Prescott Police Office Chief Doug Ducklow said. He said she was last seen at her Prescott home, where she lives with her mother. Ducklow said there was nothing unusual that precipitated her disappearance and that it was "out of character for her to leave."
HUDSON — The passage of time is hardly detectable as Mark Gherty discusses the case of Jane Neumann's death. Distances, times of day, pieces of evidence — the Hudson attorney rattles them off with a passion and recollection about the case that suggests it's something he's arguing tomorrow in court, not events from 25 years ago.
HUDSON — Attorneys on both sides of a high-profile St. Croix County threats case shook hands in late September after delivering impassioned closing arguments. The case was now out of their hands and into a jury's. Jurors deliberated until deep into the evening, when the deadlocked panel was sent home with orders to resume discussion the next morning. Morning arrived with the revelation that a juror had brought in a printout from home that he shared with other jurors — a violation of rules governing juror conduct during deliberations.
Hudson police weren't unfamiliar with the arrival of a White House dignitary — President George W. Bush made a campaign stop there in 2004. What authorities weren't familiar with was how to plan for it. "There was no blueprint that we could just start plugging people into," Hudson Police Chief Geoff Willems said of Vice President Mike Pence's stop on Nov. 3 at Valley Cartage, where he campaigned for Gov. Scott Walker.
The woman living at the Pierce County property where more than 1,300 animals were removed amid dog- and cock-fighting suspicions tried sneaking a safe containing 5 pounds of methamphetamine out of the house, according to authorities.
WOODBURY — A bust that began with man caught toting a mattress out of a JC Penney store opened a Pandora’s Box of stolen loot that two of Washington County’s most tenured prosecutors said was the largest such retail crime ring they’ve seen.
A roofer fatally attacked a coworker at a River Falls-area job site with a saw, authorities said Tuesday. The Pierce County Sheriff's Office said a 37-year-old man died at the scene and a 24-year-old suspect was arrested on suspicion of first-degree intentional homicide. The deceased was identified as St. Louis, Mo., resident Israel Valles-Flores.
An anonymous tip led to the discovery of several ounces of methamphetamine and syringes loaded with heroin last week during a St. Croix County traffic stop. The incident led to three arrests, including a Twin Cities man who told authorities the drugs belonged to him, according to court documents. That man, Oakdale resident Daniel J. Moser, 37, was charged in St. Croix County Circuit Court with methamphetamine possession with intent to deliver and heroin possession with intent to deliver.
A boating-while-intoxicated case escalated to felony-level charges last week after a 60-year-old Twin Cities man plunged into the St. Croix River, where he allegedly battled police who attempted to apprehend him. The Cottage Grove, Minn., man, who stripped out of his clothing and a life vest during the alleged July 31 confrontation, was later charged with three felony battery counts — one for each of the Hudson police officers prosecutors say he struck. Prosecutors also charged Jerome L. Seipel with three counts of misdemeanor resisting an officer.
STILLWATER — Data from the cellphone of a North Hudson man involved in a fatal crash will be reviewed before his trial next year — nearly three years after the collision that claimed the life of a Hudson mother. According to Minnesota court records in Washington County, prosecutors and lawyers for 22-year-old Drew Fleming will now be able to utilize data from the phone he had with him at the time of the crash that killed Megan Goeltz, who was pregnant at the time of incident.