HORNET TOWNSHIP, Minn, — A Blackduck, Minnesota man is in custody after being accused of kidnapping his ex-girlfriend. Joshua Smith, 31, was arrested after a search warrant was conducted on a residence in Hornet Township, about 30 miles northeast of Bemidji. Authorities found the woman walking away from the residence when they arrived and they sought the search warrant. The…
GRAND FORKS, ND — A Bemidji motorcyclist is dead after a crash in Grand Forks. The crash happened at the intersection of 32nd Avenue South and South 34th Street. Police say 29-year-old Anthony Lossing was thrown from his motorcycle after turning into a vehicle driven by 28-year-old Marcus Lee of Grand Forks. Police say Lossing ignored a traffic signal…
Bemidji, MN – On July 27th, 2017 at approximately 22:34 hours Bemidji Police Officers responded to the Beltrami County Jail on a report of a fight between two inmates. During the course of the investigation it was determined that one of the inmates should be brought to Sanford Hospital for evaluation of injuries sustained in the fight. A Beltrami County…
BEMIDJI, Minn. — A pregnant woman and her mother in Bemidji were robbed at gunpoint in a case of mistaken identity. Authorities say the suspects thought they had followed the dark colored SUV of a person involved in a drug deal. They followed the SUV to the victim’s house early Monday morning and three men demanded money. They didn’t…
BEMIDJI, Minn. — A woman has potentially life threatening injuries after driving her pickup into the path of an oncoming train. It happened Sunday afternoon just south of Highway 2 about 12 miles west of Bemidji. ONSTAR alerted dispatchers of the crash. Emergency crews took the driver, 73-year-old Janice Callahan of Chatfield, to a hospital in Robbinsdale with serious injuries….
BEMIDJI, Minn. — The search for a Bemidji woman reported missing last week has reached an end. Officers found the body of 26-year-old Chelsea Batchelder in the woods at the south end of Bemidji this morning. Investigators say she went missing after walking north along Little Norway Avenue on the night of June 19th. Her body was transported to the…
BEMIDJI, Minn. — The man accused of killing a Bemidji woman before setting her home on fire and kidnapping and sexually assaulting her five-year-old daughter has changed his plea. Jacob Kinn, 33, pleaded guilty to second degree murder and first degree criminal sexual conduct. Kinn admitted to strangling Melissa Norby on June 21st, 2016 and setting the house on fire…
ST. PAUL, Minn. — A former Bemidji assistant principal now faces federal child sexual exploitation charges. Brandon Bjerknes, 34, was arrested Tuesday and appeared today in U.S. District Court in St. Paul. He is charged with the production and distribution of child porn and enticement of a minor. Court documents show Bjerknes posed online as a 13 to 15-year-old male…
BEMIDJI, Minn. — A motorcycle driver is dead after crashing with a cargo van in Bemidji Township. Dispatch was alerted about the crash on Wednesday around 5 p.m. Authorities say 62-year-old Vicki Inkel of Bemidji was driving northbound on her motorcycle when she was hit by the eastbound van. Inkel died at the scene. The driver of the van has…
BELTRAMI COUNTY, Minn. — Authorities have identified the two drivers involved in a Bemidji school bus crash in Beltrami County. Police say 29-year-old Thomas Nielson of Chattanooga, Tennessee was driving a passenger vehicle when he drove through a stop sign and hit the school bus, being driven by 47-year-old Patrick Stout of Bemidji. They say Stout lost control of…
