MN MN - Roger Vaillancourt, 17, Foley, 6 October 1957

Marilynilpa

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FOLEY, Minn. -- Almost 50 years after Roger Vaillancourt died in what was thought to be an accident, authorities have reopened the case to see if his death was a homicide.



When Vaillancourt died in 1957 at age 17, police thought he had died in a car crash four miles north of Princeton.

But new information has come to light suggesting his death might have been "violent in nature'' and that it might have been a homicide, Mille Lacs County Sheriff Brent Lindgren told the St. Cloud Times.

more: http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/5727113.html

I wonder what "new information" could have surfaced after almost 50 years?
 
Marilynilpa said:
I wonder what "new information" could have surfaced after almost 50 years?
Interesting case to say the least. Apparently the investigation was revived following the publication of a book written by a local Catholic priest which raised doubts about the conclusion of the original investigation. I don't think the book was specifically about the Vaillancourt case but what they found in it was serious enough to prompt local LE to exhume Vaillancourt's body and have the ME conduct a new autopsy.

More info here:

http://www.hometownsource.com/2005/November/16murder.html
 
http://www.unioneagle.com/2007/March/8vaillancourt.html



Posted: 3/8/07

Insufficient evidence for Vaillancourt murder case
By Dawn Slade

The 1957 death of Roger Vaillancourt, originally ruled as an accident, may have been murder as suggested by a book published in 2005, but we may never know the truth of the teenager’s death.

Mille Lacs County Attorney Jan Kolb released a statement last week saying there is not enough evidence to charge anyone with a crime.

More at the above link........
 
Thanks so much for posting this update. Although it's a shame the family didn't get the result they had hoped for, maybe the attention to this case will cause someone to come forward with information that will either confirm or put to rest the idea that this young man was beaten before his death.
 
I agree about someone coming forward, Marilyn. Too bad the medical people involved with this case didn't do their jobs back in 1957. Considering the conditions of the grave Roger's body was in for so many years, and the fact that current medical examiners could tell there was damage other than damage caused by being hit by a car, this case was probably completely solvable.



Quote from the article..........

Authorities did not reveal the results until the county attorney’s press release.

“The manner of Roger’s death was not able to be determined,” Kolb’s statement read.

She later said, “The autopsy certainly suggests he suffered other injuries other than being run over. There was definitely an assault.”
 

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