Ryan Erickson was a Roman Catholic priest in northern Wisconsin whom a St. Croix County judge found had probably committed the February 2002 murders of Hudson funeral home director Dan O’Connell and mortuary intern James Ellison. The killings, prosecutors concluded, were meant to stop O’Connell from exposing Erickson’s sexual abuse of minors. Erickson hanged himself in December 2004, one day after police searched his rectory, and was never charged. The Ryan Erickson priest murders case was resolved instead through a Wisconsin John Doe proceeding in 2005, which named him as the likely killer without a trial or conviction.
The Killings at the Hudson Funeral Home
On February 5, 2002, Dan O’Connell, the 39-year-old owner of the O’Connell Family Funeral Home in Hudson, Wisconsin, and James Ellison, a 22-year-old mortuary science intern from Barron, were shot to death inside the funeral home’s office. O’Connell was shot behind his desk. Ellison was shot in the back as he tried to leave the room.1CBS News. Judge: Priest Likely Killed Two TIME later reported that three bullets were fired and both men were shot in the head.2TIME. A Priest and Two Murders The case produced few leads and went cold within months.3Hudson Star-Observer. The O’Connell Murders: 15 Years Later and Still Healing
Erickson had been ordained in June 2000 and assigned to St. Patrick’s Church in Hudson as associate pastor. He was a polarizing figure in the parish, known for elaborate liturgical rituals, an email list he used to critique congregants, and a concealed pistol he carried.4Bishop Accountability. The Sins of the Father
Why Investigators Believed He Killed Them
On the morning of the murders, Dan O’Connell approached a school bus driver named Mary Pagel and asked whether she had ever seen Erickson touch a child inappropriately. O’Connell told Pagel he had a meeting scheduled with the priest that afternoon to confront him about his conduct with children. Pagel warned him not to meet Erickson alone and urged him to call police first.1CBS News. Judge: Priest Likely Killed Two By that afternoon O’Connell and Ellison were dead.
St. Croix County District Attorney Eric Johnson said emails and other files later recovered from Erickson’s computer pointed to a confrontation between O’Connell and Erickson the day before the killings, in which O’Connell threatened to expose the priest as a child sex abuser.4Bishop Accountability. The Sins of the Father Ellison, prosecutors believed, was killed because he was present and saw the shooting.3Hudson Star-Observer. The O’Connell Murders: 15 Years Later and Still Healing
How Erickson Became the Suspect
For more than two years, investigators had no clear suspect. The break came in the fall of 2004, when St. Croix County investigators Sean Pettee and Jeff Knopps began looking into allegations that a Catholic priest had sexually abused a minor. A young man reported that Erickson had given him alcohol and sexually fondled him at the St. Patrick’s rectory when he was 16 or 17, in 2000 and 2001.1CBS News. Judge: Priest Likely Killed Two
During questioning about the abuse allegations, Erickson volunteered details about the O’Connell crime scene that police had never released, including that O’Connell had been found behind his desk.4Bishop Accountability. The Sins of the Father In a separate interview, he described owning a Ruger Redhawk .44-caliber Magnum revolver.5Minnesota Public Radio. Evidence Against Priest in Hudson Murders
Police questioned him twice in the five weeks before his death and executed a search warrant at his rectory in Hurley, Wisconsin, on December 18, 2004. On his computer they found more than forty images of child pornography hidden in a nested folder labeled with innocuous names such as “holy Mass Prayers.” Post-it notes recovered in the rectory were signed “Ryan” or “Ryan XOXO” and contained suggestive messages.6Podles.org. Rev. Ryan Erickson Case Study
The Deacon Who Heard Him Confess
Russ Lundgren, a deacon at Erickson’s Hurley parish and his closest acquaintance there, later testified that on November 12, 2004, the day after police first questioned Erickson about the murders, the priest stood gazing out a window and said, “I done it, and they’re going to get me.” Erickson then asked, “Do you know what they do with young guys in prison, especially priests?”7Bishop Accountability. Judge Says Priest Probably Committed Hudson Murders
Lundgren told others in the church but did not report the statement to investigators. Asked why at the later hearing, he said, “I was praying to God it didn’t take place.”7Bishop Accountability. Judge Says Priest Probably Committed Hudson Murders
The Suicide and the Notes
On December 19, 2004, one day after the rectory search, Erickson was found hanged from a fire escape at the back of the St. Mary’s Church rectory in Hurley. He was 31 and wearing the cassock he typically wore in public. Two friends from Hudson, Rick Reams and Tom Burns, had traveled to Hurley to check on him after a phone call in which he sounded nervous, had dinner with him the night before, and found his body the next morning.8Bishop Accountability. Evidence Points to Priest in Hudson Double Homicide
He left several notes. In one to Reams and Burns, he wrote, “I’ve lived a hard, but exciting life. I learned and I taught. I helped people, and I hurt them. But I NEVER killed anyone.” He listed ego, pride, lust, and envy as personal failings and wrote that he was “tired.” A separate note to his parents also denied any role in the murders. Another apologized to a church secretary for losing his temper. A final note, attached to an envelope containing eighty dollars, asked that the money be used to “have Masses said for my soul to rest.”9Star Tribune. Second Erickson Suicide Note Released8Bishop Accountability. Evidence Points to Priest in Hudson Double Homicide
The John Doe Hearing
Because Erickson was dead, no criminal charge was possible. Under Wisconsin law, a John Doe proceeding is a judicial investigative tool in which a circuit court judge subpoenas witnesses and examines evidence to determine whether a crime was committed and by whom. The O’Connell and Ellison families requested one to establish responsibility on the record.10NBC News. Judge: Priest Probably Killed Funeral Home Director, Employee
On October 3, 2005, St. Croix County Circuit Judge Eric Lundell presided over the closed-door hearing. District Attorney Eric Johnson presented fifteen witnesses,6Podles.org. Rev. Ryan Erickson Case Study including Lundgren on Erickson’s statement, Pagel on O’Connell’s planned confrontation, and the young man who said Erickson had abused him as a teenager. A second young man, 22 at the time, testified that he had socialized with Erickson and the other witness at the rectory and feared Erickson was grooming him.7Bishop Accountability. Judge Says Priest Probably Committed Hudson Murders
Judge Lundell ruled: “I conclude that Ryan Erickson probably committed the crimes in question. On a scale of one to 10, I would consider it a 10. It is a very strong case of circumstantial evidence.”1CBS News. Judge: Priest Likely Killed Two He also found it likely that Erickson had sexually abused a teenage boy.9Star Tribune. Second Erickson Suicide Note Released
The ruling established probable cause. It was not a criminal conviction. Attorney Buck Schilling, representing Erickson’s parents Dennis and Mary Erickson, argued that the probable cause standard was “much lower than the proof needed for a finding of guilt” and said he did not believe Erickson would have been found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt before a jury.1CBS News. Judge: Priest Likely Killed Two No one has ever been criminally charged or convicted in the deaths of Dan O’Connell and James Ellison.
The Diocese’s Admission of Failure
After the John Doe ruling, Bishop Raphael Fliss of the Diocese of Superior publicly acknowledged that he had mishandled Erickson. On November 1, 2005, Fliss told parishioners at St. Mary’s in Hurley, “I look back on it and I have to say that I certainly failed. I should have gone further and inquired more.”11Bishop Accountability. Families Not Satisfied With Bishop’s Apology In a broader statement he accepted “ultimate responsibility,” citing a “lack of proper supervision” and “failings, omissions and lack of attentiveness.” He said he had received both complaints and letters of praise about Erickson and should have appointed a group to investigate the complaints, and he acknowledged that he had believed Erickson’s denials of involvement in the murders.12Ladysmith News. Diocese of Superior Statement on Rev. Ryan Erickson
The O’Connell family rejected the apology. Dan’s brother Tom O’Connell called the bishop’s comments “ridiculous and phony and forced” and said Fliss “offered no concrete steps that might lead to healing or prevention.”11Bishop Accountability. Families Not Satisfied With Bishop’s Apology
The Family’s Federal Lawsuit
In August 2006, members of the O’Connell family sued the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and all 179 U.S. bishops in Washburn County Circuit Court. The suit sought no money. It sought disclosure of the names of priests suspected of sexual abuse contained in a 2002 internal church audit.13Anderson Advocates. Lawsuit Against Bishops Halted; Hudson Family Vows to Fight On
In December 2007, Washburn County Circuit Judge Eugene Harrington dismissed the case, ruling that the court lacked jurisdiction because adjudicating disputes over a church’s supervision of its clergy would violate the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. Harrington called the suit “ambitious litigation” that would “dramatically affect the internal practices of the Catholic Church.”13Anderson Advocates. Lawsuit Against Bishops Halted; Hudson Family Vows to Fight On