REGIONAL BRIEFS: Stolen building found

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Credit: Forum News Service

South Dakota

Woman arrested in death of child

GANN VALLEY, S.D. — A Gann Valley woman has been arrested in connection with the death of a 4-year-old child.

Donika Gonzales, 22, was arrested Friday and charged with one count of abuse or cruelty to a minor, a felony with a maximum punishment of 15 years in prison and a $30,000 fine.

According to a press release issued Friday by the state Attorney General’s Office, the charge stems from an incident that happened Thursday at a residence in rural Gann Valley.

The South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation and Buffalo County Sheriff’s Office were involved in the investigation.

(DR)

North Dakota

Man charged with murder after suicide story unravels

FARGO - A Fargo man is being held on $1 million bail after being charged with shooting his wife to death, and then lying to police by telling them she had committed suicide.

Police said the first call to the couple’s home at 3255 30th Ave. S. came in about 10:15 Tuesday night as a suicide by gunshot to the head. The victim was Elizabeth Rogers, 40, who lived there with her husband, Ronald Rogers.

Cass County District Court documents state that Ronald William Rogers Jr., 46, told police he and his wife had been arguing when she fired two rounds from a handgun over his head. Rogers told police he tried to disarm his wife, but that she turned the gun on herself.

Fargo police Chief Keith Ternes said at a news conference Friday that “as a result of some fairly exhaustive forensics,” including scene reconstruction and an autopsy, investigators found inconsistencies in the information Rogers gave them.

According to court documents, Rogers admitted during a second interview that he had taken control of the gun after she fired the first two times, and then shot her in the head.

Rogers was arrested and booked into the Cass County jail at 5:30 Friday morning on one charge of Class AA felony murder, which carries with it a potential life sentence without parole.

(FF)

Man dies after jumping from building

FARGO – A man has died after jumping from the ninth floor of the 22-story Fargo High Rise.

The man jumped about 5:30 p.m. Thursday, said Assistant Fargo Fire Chief LeRoy Skarloken.

The man landed on the roof of a one-story section of the building on the south side, and was alive when he was retrieved by Fargo firefighters, Skarloken said. The man was taken to the emergency room by F-M Ambulance, and was still alive when Skarloken left the scene around 6 p.m., he said.

The man later died, said Pat Claus, Fargo’s deputy police chief. He didn’t know when.

(FF)

Minnesota

Stolen building found

BAKER, Minn. – A metal building reported stolen here this week has been found in the possession of a Barnesville-area man who made a deal for the building five years ago, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office says.

Detective Jason Hicks called it “simply a misunderstanding” and said authorities have no reason to suspect any criminal activity on the man’s part.

Lance Akers reported the building stolen on Wednesday. He said he took possession of the building, which sat along the railroad tracks next to the grain elevator in Baker, about three weeks ago and prepped it to be moved to his landscaping business northeast of Pelican Rapids.

But when Akers drove by the site early Wednesday, everything was gone, he said.

Akers said Friday he now expects to take possession of the building next week.

According to Akers and Hicks, the Barnesville-area man who took the building had made a deal with the lessee of the elevator about five years ago.

Hicks said the building later went into tax default and was sold by the county at auction. Akers said the Otter Tail Valley Railroad owned it at the time he made a deal for the building in exchange for taking down some grain bins for the railroad.

(FF)

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