BishopAccountability.org
	Priest Denied Involvement in Double Homicide, before Killing Himself in Dec. By Robert Imrie The Associated Press, carried in Shawano Leader [Hudson WI] January 24, 2005 HUDSON -- Not far from the office where Dan O'Connell was murdered nearly three years ago, a plaque rests on a table, urging people to remember his life with joy and dedicating an outdoor peace garden in his name to the "glory of God." "May the wind be always at your back," says the plaque, beside a large picture of the smiling, mustached 39-year-old father of two in the O'Connell Family Funeral Home's lobby. "... And until we meet again, may God hold you in the hollow of his hand." Police are now investigating whether a man of God, a Roman Catholic priest, may have fatally shot the funeral home director and one of his interns, 22-year-old James Ellison. Soon after police questioned the Rev. Ryan Erickson last month, the 31-year-old killed himself at his church. The twist in the case is almost more than O'Connell's father, Tom, can fathom. "I don't know who to be mad at," he said. "It is just bizarre." Erickson, who was found hanged Dec. 19 from a fire escape at St. Mary's Church in Hurley in far northern Wisconsin, had denied any involvement in the murders. He lived in Hudson, a town of 10,000 just east of the Twin Cities, at the time of the murders and had officiated a portion of O'Connell's funeral as associate pastor of St. Patrick's Catholic Church. Police questioned Erickson about the murders after a separate investigation was launched last fall into an allegation the priest was involved in a possible crime involving a child or children, Hudson Police Chief Richard Trende said. He has refused to provide many details about the investigation, including what led detectives to question the priest about the murders, and a judge has sealed court documents in the case. Trende will say the motive for the killings was "personal. It wasn't random." Tom O'Connell said his family knows no more about the investigation than what police have made public, even though the family hired a private investigator. "There are so many different rumors out there," he said. "I just don't listen anymore." Erickson's mother, Mary Erickson, declined comment when contacted by The Associated Press at her home in Woodruff. The murders were Hudson's first since 1978. They occurred in the afternoon, and police say nothing was stolen from the funeral home. O'Connell was a well-known and respected member of the community. Ellison, from Barron, was a senior mortuary science major at the University of Minnesota who wanted to become a funeral home director. Evidence suggests they were caught by surprise and quickly shot in the funeral home office, where several shells fired from a handgun were found, investigators say.