CHETEK, Wis. –  The two police officers killed by an armed motorist in a traffic stop were Emily Breidenbach of Chetek and Hunter Scheel of nearby Cameron. The motorist also died.  His name was not released immediately.  In Chetek friends and family and fellow police officers from miles around draped the Chetek squad car with flowers in remembrance of Breidenbach. In Cameron dozens of well-wishers shared their grief online and on the street. It was the same for Breidenbach. She was a second-generation police officer. When she was growing up, her father was chief of the four-officer Chetek department.

Briedenbach.

Scheel.

Earlier: Three die in Wisconsin traffic stop shootout

HOMER, Minn. – Deputies found an injured man walking along Highway 61 and connected him to a nearby accident. Marshall Dillon Loth, 20, of Winona, was arrested for having driven drunk. His blood was 0.20% alcohol, police said.  This was about 10:05 p.m. near the County Road 15 intersection.

Loth. Had abandoned wrecked car.

WINONA, Minn. – A Rochester driver failed several field sobriety tests after police stopped him on a report of a car all over the road, going up the grass, and almost striking a parked vehicle. Arrested was Drew Troy Aurentz, 39. This was about 7:10 p.m.

Steeple bell still peals in vale

FOUNTAIN CITY, Wis. – Sunrise services begin a 6:30 hidden in the bluffs behind Fountain City up County Road G. Pastor Deb Kunkel is conducting.  Her home congregations are in Fountain City and Cochrane.

Legacy from “the Old Country.” The message engraved by farmer-worshippers over the arched entrance and latticed glass in 1905: “Ev. Reformirt Kirche.” Translated from the German-speaking pioneers of Eagle Creek Valley at the time: “Evangelical Reformed Church. “ Image: Steve Lunde

WINONA, Minn. – Police have questions but few answers on what happened to Maddi Kingsbury between 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. the day she disappeared. From her finance, Adam Fravel, police say they were told this much this much:

> The couple returned home from leaving their children at daycare about 8:15.

> Fravel left Maddi about 10 and drove off in her dark blue minivan.

> Fravel returned home in the minivan about 1:30 – 2-1/2 hours later – and Maddi was not home.

Fravel was the last person known to have seen Maddi. So what happened in those intervening 2-1/2 hours? Police have found no evidence that Maddi left the house. They don’t think she went for work as scheduled 40 miles away at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. If she did, she never arrived. In fact, they suspect she didn’t leave the house at all. It was a chilly morning, Her jacket, which she had worn in taking the kids to daycare, was where apparently she had had taken it off when she and Fravel returned about 8:15. With the jacket were her keys and wallet. There were no signs that she had left even for a brief walk. Such would seem unlikely, considering she would have been running tight on time for the commute to Rochester.

Spokesprson. Bonney Bowman welcomes  reporters and introduces Police Chief Tom Williams for a news conference on the Maddi Kingsbury disappearance.  To Bowman’s left, Williams waits with a prepared statement. Bowman is  a former news anchor at KBJR in Duluth. She’s a broadcast journalism graduate form the University of Missouri.

Cutting a news conference short

Winona police have leaned heavily on the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for news media relations. Bonney Bowman of the BCA investigations unit has been acting as public information for the investigation because the 40-officer Winona department didn’t have a full-time media liaison agent. She handled logistics for the two news conferences conducted by Police Chief Tom Williams. At the second conference Bowman intervened and ended the session at 9 minutes and 53 seconds after reporters were pressing Chief Williams about the 2-1/2 hour gap. The reporter questions:

> “Can you expand at all on Maddi’s partner’s whereabouts during those two hours and whether he has been cooperating?” Williams: “I cannot comment.”

> “When the van was seen, do you. know whether (Fravel) got out of the van at this point or whether he was driving?” Williams: “It’s an open and active investigation.”

> “Has (Fravel) been involved in the search” Williams: “I’m not going to comment on that.”

> “Do you have a message for any suspect or person of interest?” Williams: “We don’t have a suspect or a person of interest.”

After ending the news conference, Bowman told reporters that no more daily briefings were planned. She said the investigation has kept officers busy. “We don’t want to take their time by doing daily updates.” She invited reporters to contact her if they have questions.

Earlier: Maddi fund tops $15,000 to defray hotel costs

WIINONA, Minn. – An online donation project for lodging for family and friends in town for the Maddi Kingsbury search surpassed its $10,000 after two days. A new goal, $20,00,00, was set by organizer Krista Naber. By midnight Saturday 296 people had pledged more than $15,000 at the GoFundMe site.

Earlier: Volunteer foot hunt for Maddi ended

Earlier: Maddi Kingsbury friends create GoFundMe site

WINONA, Minn. — Police don’t plan further volunteer ground searches for missing Maddi Kingsbury. “We are announcing the end of the large organized search ,” said an unsigned announcement from the Police Department. “Due to this incredible turnout, we were able to cover substantially more ground in a shorter time than expected.”  There had been 2,600 volunteers over two days covering hundreds of acres in Winona and Houston counties. “We want to thank the community for this overwhelming show of support for Maddi and her family, which brings us that much closer to finding her and bringing her home,” the statement said. The statement emphasized  that neither the search nor investigation was ending.

Earlier: Volunteers log 15,000 hours seeking clues

St. Paul. The hand-picked Prince performer in the St. Cecilia Theatre.

Electro funk-rock from Cities to bump, thump

WINONA Minn. – Nine high school bands will perform at the Cotter Jazz Festival next weekend. The main evets:

> Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. The nine high school jazz bands will perform. Free.

> Saturday, 7 p.m. St. Paul and Minneapolis Funk All-Stars will perform. Tickets: $20 to $45.

> Sunday, 5 p.m. Paul Peterson and Cotter’s three jazz bands and perform with a guest artist in the annual Cotter Jazz Concert. Free.

WINONA, Minn. – Another 700 volunteers registered for a second day of a massive organized ground search for missing Winona woman Madeline Kingsbury. Like the day before, volunteers brought back hundreds of items from roadsides, fields and woods that seemed out of place. The items have been logged for investigators building a mosaic of the day that Kingsbury disappeared. Over two days of searching, Friday and Saturday, almost 2,600 volunteers worked in foot teams in areas that investigators could not have covered themselves in a time-sensitive way. Saturday was the ninth day since Kingsbury disappeared.

Earlier: Police mum on Fravel role in Kingsbury probe

A fun moment. Maddi Kingsbury doing a selfie at home.

Baseball: Winona State 6, Mary 3

Baseball: St. Olaf 9, Saint Mary’s 8

Baseball: St. Olaf 1, Saint Mary’s 0, doubleheader

Baseball: UW-Stevens Point 12, UW-LaCrosse 3

Baseball UW-LaCrosse 12, UW-Stevens Point 6, doubleheader

Softball: Winona State 4, UM-Crookston 1

Softball: Winona State 2, UM-Crookston 1, doubleheader

Softball: Carleton 9, Saint Mary’s 7

Softball: Saint Mary’s 2, Carleton 0, doubleheader

CAMERON, Wis. – Two police officers were killed in a shootout with a motorist during a traffic stop. The motorist, himself wounded, died later at a hospital. The encounter was about 3:40 p.m. The traffic stop was  eight miles from Rice Lake — on Barron County Road SS between Cameron and Chetek.

NORTHFIELD, Minn. – A St. Olaf student arrested for warehousing terroristic devices in his dorm also had blueprints for an attack, police said. In Waylon Kurts’ room, according to the criminal complaint, were:

> A hand-drawn map of the Skoglund-Tostrud gym on campus with arrows to entry and exit points.

> Evidence that suggested Kurts was not alone in planning a mass casualty event, including messages on three areas to target — the upper thoracic, the T-zone of the face, and the pelvis.

> Texted photos of a box filled with rifle magazines with the words, “Kids’ve got no idea whats in here, haha.”

> Notes that said “combat is much faster and closer than you think” and “the average door takes 2.5 kicks.”

> A tactical knife, a folding knife, firearm earmuffs, six propane canisters, fireworks, lighter fluid, a battery with wires, and a lock pick set.

> A tactical vest.

> Empty boxes for ammunition and high-capacity magazines

> Notes detailing police radio frequencies.

> Notebooks with detailed plans to steal .308 ammunition from a local Walmart.

> Cellphone texting about buying guns from unlicensed sellers.

Earlier:  College student arrested for huge tactical hoard

Kurts. Had been target practicing at a  range. 30 miles away in the Minneapolis suburb of Burnsville.

WINONA Minn. – Police asked the Fire Department for shovels and manpower to dig into a suspicious mound in the woods near the McNally boat landing on Prairie Island. Nothing was found. Police had thought they might find buried clues in the disappearance of Maddi Kingsbury nine days earlier.

Earlier:

WINONA, Minn. – The father of Madeline Kingsbury’s pre-school children, Adam Taylor Fravel, has been a mystery in the investigation into her disappearance. Without mentioning his name, Police Chief Tom Williams has confirmed that Fravel was with Kingsbury the morning of March 31 to drop off the children at daycare. Asked several times for additional detail, Williams has said that investigators have neither a suspect nor a person of interest. About Fravel, Williams repeats only that the case is “open and active.” Period. A few things are known from friends and public documents:

> Fravel, age 29, grew up in Mabel in Fillmore County and graduated from Mabel-Canton High School in 2012.

> Fravel and Kingsbury met in college. He graduated in 2016 from Winona State, where he studied management information systems. She graduated in 2019 in health sciences.

> They lived together in a townhouse with their children, 5 and 2, on leafy Kerry Drive on the Far West End off Highway 14. Friends describe them variously – as husband and wife, as engaged to marry, and as boyfriend-girlfriend.

> Fravel lists himself on online biographical sites as an officer of Do My Realty Ads and also Five Star Media. In college he clerked at Walmart in electronics. He had a campus job in computer support.

> In 2013, when he was 19, Fravel pleaded guilty in Black River Falls, Wisconsin, for felony theft involving goods valued between $500 and $5,000. He was placed on probation for two years.

Fravel was not present April 5 when the Kingsbury family assembled en masse for a news conference to ask for public help to find Maddi. In attendance were her parents, siblings and nephews and nieces. It was not believed that Fravel participated in large-scale searches Friday with almost 1,900 volunteers.

Earlier: Kingsbury search tally: 1,860 volunteers

Williams. No comment except that investigation is “active and open.”

WINONA, Minn. – Another 1,100 volunteers signed up for a second round of searches, in the afternoon, for missing Winona mother Maddi Kingsbury. The Winona County manager of emergency services, Ben Klinger, put the total at 1,860 for the day. People queued single file to register at search headquarters in suburban Goodview for Winona County segments of the search and in Rushford for Fillmore County segments. They were told to look for for anything that could be a clue. Hundreds of items were recovered and logged for analysis. Most, however, appeared unrelated to the Kingsbury case. A second day of searching, again with morning and afternoon rounds in both counties. Registration can be online or at the Goodview and Rushford assembly points.

Earlier: 700 volunteers trek for clues in disappearance

Ground search. One team along a Fillmore County tree line, as seen from a camera-equipped KAAL drone.

Search for missing woman grows to Houston County

WINONA, Minn. – Phalanges of volunteers – 400 out of Winona and 300 out of Rushford – fanned out in organized search tams through rough terrain in southeast Minnesota to scour inch by inch for clues in the disappearance of 26-year-old Maddi Kingsbury eight days ago. The volunteers were transported to search areas by 40-passenger to 80-passenger school buses in a morning shift. A second shift was scheduled for afternoon. A Civil Air Patrol pilot has flown some areas with spotters.

Widened search

The search has widened from Winona and Fillmore counties to include Houston County also. All together the three counties comprise 2,070 square miles. Asked at a news conference whether there was evidence that Kingsbury’s minivan had entered Houston County, the lead investigator, Police Chief Tom William of Winona declined to say. Williams noted that the investigation was “open and active” which, he said, precluded him from discussing details. The chief did say: “We actually are looking for a larger scale area than what we originally had looked at based on the number of individuals who came out and volunteered today.” The search area, he said, grew to a distance that could be  traveled in the given  period of time.

Search challenges

At a mid-day news conference Winona Police Chief Tom Williams explained difficulties for search volunteers this way: “We have a lot of bluff country and an awful lot of valleys. Some of those valleys are extremely steep and very difficult to walk up and down.” Aircraft have limitations on what can fly over and how spotters see down into crevices in the landscape, he said.

Earlier: Maddi Kingsbury friends create GoFundMe site

WINONA, Minn. – A GoFundMe donation site raised $8,700 the first day to help pay for lodging for friends of Maddi Kingsbury who have come to town to support her family and help search for her. Kingsbury, 26, mother of two, disappeared March 31. Police suspect foul play. A friend, Krista Naber, organized the GoFundMe site and set $10,000 as a goal. There were 170 donations first day, ranging from $25 to $500.

Earlier: Ground sweeps set for Maddi Kingsbury search

Maddi Kingsbury. Her photo at GoFund Me.

EAGLE RIVER, Wis. – At the Eagle River hospital they call her “Kate.” She’s a wild turkey who has been hanging around the grounds for weeks and raiding neighborhood bird feeders. Unlike most of her kin, Kate never retreats to the woods, not even now that spring has sprung. Why “Kate”? Nobody remembers.

Her talons extended. Curious about Kate? Keep eight feet distance. You never know.

WINONA, Minn. – A Minnetonka man, Derron Dean Wahlen, 56, was cited for drunken driving after a traffic stop on Riverview Drive. His blood tested at 0.16% alcohol, deputies said. Impairment begins at 0.08%. Wahlen had been clocked at 57 mph in a 40 zone about 2:15 a.m.