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Authorities looking at possible Vang connection to 2001 hunter slaying, detective says
Associated Press
November 24, 2004 RELATED1125
MILWAUKEE -- Authorities are looking into whether the man suspected of killing six deer hunters in northern Wisconsin this week was involved in the unsolved slaying of another deer hunter three years ago, a detective told a newspaper.
``I can tell you we have been in contact with authorities from Sawyer County to address that,'' Clark County Sheriff's Department Detective Kerry Kirn told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Tuesday.
Jim Southworth was shot to death Nov. 23, 2001, as he hunted on family land 10 miles east of Neillsville and Kirn said he had exchanged frequent calls this week with investigators in Sawyer County, where the six hunters were killed and two others wounded Sunday.
But ``it is premature to speculate if there is a connection'' between the two incidents, Kirn said.
Kirn did not immediately return a call left early today by The Associated Press. Calls to the Sawyer County Sheriff's Department on the matter were referred to state Justice Department spokesman Brian Rieselman, who was not immediately available at his office early today.
Southworth was shot twice in the back, an autopsy found. Court record say several of those killed Sunday where shot in the back.
Witnesses said they saw a pickup truck with three men inside on a road near where Southworth's body was found, about 80 miles south of Sunday's shooting.
The three men were described as Asian from 5-foot-4-inches to 6-feet tall, driving a silver or gray Nissan or Chevrolet pickup truck, possibly a late 1980s model with a light-colored fiberglass topper.
Chai Vang, 36, of St. Paul, Minn., who is being held on $2.5 million bond in Sunday's shootings, is 5-foot-4, according to a court document.
Vang has owned a 1987 Nissan pickup, the Journal Sentinel said, attributing that information to an unnamed online search service.
Sawyer County authorities have said a dispute over use of a deer stand on private property was a factor in this week's shooting. One of the theories Clark County authorities have been pursuing is that Southworth was shot after confronting a trespasser.
Vang had an out-of-state license to hunt in Wisconsin during 2001, said Mike Bartz, a Department of Natural Resources warden manager. The St. Paul man also had a license in 2000, 2002 and this year, Bartz said.
Kirn described the three people sought in Southworth's murder ``persons of interest'' in that case.
``To our knowledge, those are the only three people who we haven't identified who were in that area that day,'' Kirn said.
The Clark County sheriff's detective said investigators from the state Department of Justice are investigating both cases.
``They need to do their investigation and when all facts come out, and they will relay that to me, and we'll make the comparison,'' Kirn said.
Associated Press
November 24, 2004 RELATED1125
MILWAUKEE -- Authorities are looking into whether the man suspected of killing six deer hunters in northern Wisconsin this week was involved in the unsolved slaying of another deer hunter three years ago, a detective told a newspaper.
``I can tell you we have been in contact with authorities from Sawyer County to address that,'' Clark County Sheriff's Department Detective Kerry Kirn told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Tuesday.
Jim Southworth was shot to death Nov. 23, 2001, as he hunted on family land 10 miles east of Neillsville and Kirn said he had exchanged frequent calls this week with investigators in Sawyer County, where the six hunters were killed and two others wounded Sunday.
But ``it is premature to speculate if there is a connection'' between the two incidents, Kirn said.
Kirn did not immediately return a call left early today by The Associated Press. Calls to the Sawyer County Sheriff's Department on the matter were referred to state Justice Department spokesman Brian Rieselman, who was not immediately available at his office early today.
Southworth was shot twice in the back, an autopsy found. Court record say several of those killed Sunday where shot in the back.
Witnesses said they saw a pickup truck with three men inside on a road near where Southworth's body was found, about 80 miles south of Sunday's shooting.
The three men were described as Asian from 5-foot-4-inches to 6-feet tall, driving a silver or gray Nissan or Chevrolet pickup truck, possibly a late 1980s model with a light-colored fiberglass topper.
Chai Vang, 36, of St. Paul, Minn., who is being held on $2.5 million bond in Sunday's shootings, is 5-foot-4, according to a court document.
Vang has owned a 1987 Nissan pickup, the Journal Sentinel said, attributing that information to an unnamed online search service.
Sawyer County authorities have said a dispute over use of a deer stand on private property was a factor in this week's shooting. One of the theories Clark County authorities have been pursuing is that Southworth was shot after confronting a trespasser.
Vang had an out-of-state license to hunt in Wisconsin during 2001, said Mike Bartz, a Department of Natural Resources warden manager. The St. Paul man also had a license in 2000, 2002 and this year, Bartz said.
Kirn described the three people sought in Southworth's murder ``persons of interest'' in that case.
``To our knowledge, those are the only three people who we haven't identified who were in that area that day,'' Kirn said.
The Clark County sheriff's detective said investigators from the state Department of Justice are investigating both cases.
``They need to do their investigation and when all facts come out, and they will relay that to me, and we'll make the comparison,'' Kirn said.
