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March 21, 2003
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Bemidji woman
stabbed to
death
Sharlene Denise
Lussier, 37,
of Bemidji, was stabbed to death Monday, apparently by her husband,
police
said. She was found dead in her kitchen at 1721 Delton Ave. N.W.
Police were called to the bloody crime scene by the
woman’s
11-year-old son, who witnessed the stabbing, Bemidji Police Chief Bruce
Preece
said.
According to the criminal complaint against file
against
Lussier on March 19th, when Police Officers
Ortness, Winskowski, and
Sheriff’s Deputy Cross arrived at the scene at approximately 2:00 pm on
Monday,
they were “told by people in the yard that ‘she is dying, she’s been
stabbed,
she is dying’.”
“The husband, who is the suspect, was standing close
to
the victim with a knife in his hand,” Preece told the Bemidji
Pioneer.
“He attempted to cut himself also. He had a couple of knife wounds on
his
neck.”
When Lussier was led from the home, according to the
complaint, “he attempted to pull away from Officer Orness and bent
over”
Sharlene’s body, saying “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
The suspect, Frank Duane Lussier, 34, was
hospitalized
Monday afternoon. He had attempted to cut his throat after law
enforcement
officers arrived at the Lussier home.
Three Lussier children were at home at the time of
the
assault and stabbing, Preece said. An 11-year-old boy and an
18-year-old girl
witnessed the assault and left the house. According to the police
report, the
18-year old girl, who is eight months pregnant, “was also physically
assaulted
by Frank Lussier” on Monday. The
12-year-old boy hid in the bathroom with a mobile phone and called in
the
emergency. According to Preece, the
children are staying with relatives.
Preece
said the couple had a history of domestic abuse and police have
answered calls
at the home in the past.
“He has served time for domestic assault,” Preece
said of
Frank Lussier.
Preece said Sharlene Lussier had been advised by
Beltrami
County service workers that the relationship was unhealthy but she
insisted on
staying with her husband.
“In this case, the system was there for these people
and
did all the right things, but the people didn’t want to cooperate,”
Preece
said.
Frank Lussier was charged with the death of Sharlene
Lussier, and arraigned for murder on March 19, before Judge Paul E.
Rasumussen. He is represented by
Kristine Kolar, Chief Public Defender for the Ninth Judicial District. Shari Schluchter, Chief Assistant Beltrami
County Attorney, is prosecuting the case. The
next court date is March 31, 2003, at 9:00 a.m.
Bail was set in the amount of one million dollars.
According to the Bemidji Pioneer, Sharlene
Lussier’s death is the third killing of a wife by her husband in
Beltrami
County in less than one year.
On May 28, Joseph Wayne White murdered his wife,
Rhoda
Stately, at their home in Red Lake and assaulted her two children who
tried to
interfere. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in October.
On Oct. 5, Quentin Roy shot Franschesca Gonzalez at
their
home in Nymore and then turned the gun on himself, committing suicide.
Two children,
ages 9 and 10, were witnesses to the killing.
“It’s really violent times we’re living in,” said
Cynthia
Cran, domestic violence awareness coordinator at Northwoods Coalition
for
Battered Women. “Our community is grieving this loss and many who are
in a
domestic violence situation in their home may need our crisis number to
call us
for support, resources, shelter, or one of our other services.”
The shelter crisis lines are 751-0211 or (800)
588-6229.
Advocates are available 24 hrs a day, seven days a week.
“We take psychological abuse as seriously as
physical or
sexual abuse. Things can escalate without warning,” Cran said.
She said the shelter also offers support for
children and
other family members mourning their loss.
This article
includes
information from the Bemidji Pioneer.
[more on domestic
violence] |
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