Posted: 11/22/05
Priest's book about death of Vaillancourt may reveal more
By Dawn Slade
Rumor and fact blend together in the story of how Roger C. Vaillancourt died 48 years ago, but the Mille Lacs County Sheriff's Office and county coroner are working to find the truth.
Vaillancourt's story is making headlines across the state and Father Charlie Kunkel of the Onamia Crosier Community will be autographing and selling books in the next weeks and months.
But if the investigation and autopsy of Vaillancourt's exhumed remains don't shed new light or confirm what the priest believes, the family may never have the answers they want.
The police report say Vaillancourt was killed on Oct. 6, 1957, a mile north of the former Kitten Club at Long Siding about four miles north of Princeton.
He was accidentally hit by a car but there's a question that another car hit and possibly ran over Vaillancourt purposely before the second car hit Vaillancourt.
And there are lots of questions by family, authorities and those who knew Vaillancourt as to whether or not there was more to his story.
Kunkel's book, "Raising Roger's Cross - A Minnesota Story of Torture, Murder and One Community's Search for Truth," tells of sexual experimentations, sexual "lessons" being taught, violence, alcohol and the possibility of drugs.
It suggests a cover-up by authorities and Vaillancourt's own father, Vern Vaillancourt, who is accused of abusing his wife Carol. Vern didn't involve her in their son's funeral arrangements or apparent interviews with authorities.
It tells of a group of "Foley youth" who went wild, went too far and murdered a 17-year-old boy.
Many people close to the case have died and that will make the investigation into Vaillancourt's death difficult.
Both the Mille Lacs County sheriff and the Benton County sheriff at the time are deceased, the funeral home director, the deputy, the State Patrol officer, Vaillancourt's father and two possible suspects have all died and cannot tell what they know about the death.
Former deputy
disputes "cover-up"
One man who says he was there the night of Roger's death is angry that the word "cover-up" has been used.
Former Mille Lacs County Sheriff Al Wilhelm, 88, was a part-time, on-call deputy when Roger was killed.
He insists there was no cover-up.
"This was all brought up so Father Charlie could sell books," Wilhelm said.
At first Wilhelm said there was no other deputy on duty that night and that he was the deputy on duty that evening.
But further into the telephone interview, when the name of the officer (James R. Johnson, who died two years after the incident) was mentioned, Wilhelm remembered that Johnson had ridden with Sheriff Bruce Milton to the scene.
Wilhelm said officer Phil Dahlberg of the State Patrol (also deceased) was the first on the scene and Wilhelm was second.
"Nobody else was there that's living today," Wilhelm said.
He said that by the time Milton and Johnson arrived, Vaillancourt's body was gone.
What limited records are available show that Vaillancourt died while being taken by ambulance to the Princeton Community Hospital.
According to Kunkel's investigation, Vaillancourt died on the highway and was never taken to the Princeton hospital.
Wilhelm said he left the scene when Milton and Johnson arrived. He's unsure why he left - maybe Milton told him to leave, maybe he had another call, he said. He doesn't recall.
Kunkel's book suggests Vaillancourt was being taught a lesson in sex that evening by a group of "new" friends who ran on the "fringe."
It suggests Roger was experimenting with sex and was intimate with another man.
The story tells of several youths who rode in two vehicles to the Kitten Club that evening.
Roger was drunk, according to the "Foley youth" who were interviewed by Kunkel.
None of those who are still living admit to hurting Vaillancourt, to being in the cornfield near the Kitten Club, to having anything to do with his death.
Vaillancourt was "taught a lesson"
Kunkel's book, which is described as non-fiction, tells that sometime before 1 a.m. the group ended up in the cornfield to continue teaching Vaillancourt a lesson.
One person in the group, referred to as Mack, was older and not a regular part of this "Foley youth" group.
He is blamed with the brutal acts that took place in the cornfield - corn cobs that were allegedly inserted in Vaillancourt's mouth and rectum and the alleged castration that followed.
Wilhelm said he does not know if Vaillancourt was castrated. When he arrived on the scene, Vaillancourt was quite bloody, his clothes were torn up and he had been dragged 12 to 16 feet.
He did not look, he said, to see if he had been castrated.
"I didn't investigate it, the sheriff did," he said. "It was dark and in the middle of the night. They'll find out when they examine [him]."
When asked if he had heard Vaillancourt may have been a homosexual, Wilhelm said he was told by Vaillancourt's cousins three days following the incident that he was homosexual.
Kunkel interviewed the "Foley youth" who are assumed to be involved in Vaillancourt's death. None of them admitted to any crime.
Was there a hate crime? Was there a cover-up? Or is it the story the family believed for 48 years, that Vaillancourt had been in an argument over a girl and that he committed suicide by walking onto Highway 169?
Wilhelm doesn't want the word "cover-up" mentioned but, when asked if there really was a cover-up, shouldn't the family know? He replied. "Sure, the family should know.
"The only thing I don't like is that they're talking about dead people who can't defend themselves."
He then added in a solemn voice, "It was buried for a long, long time."
The question some are asking is if those who knew Vaillancourt, those who were with him that evening, those who may have been involved in his death, can continue living with their secrets now that the Vaillancourt incident has been resurrected?
Princeton Union-Eagle
P.O. Box 278
Princeton, MN 55371
Telephone: 763-389-1222
Fax: 763-389-1728