Restless Again
By
Cat West
June 11, 2025
Revenge Testimony
Print (7)
By the way, I know that Werner changed his last name to Rümmer, but “Kunkel” is the familiar.
Patrick Springer of Fargo Forum fame, has done a bang up job of connecting the dots of not only the lies and deceptions by the prosecution and law enforcement in convicting the wrong man for Gilbert Fassett’s murder, but also in tying up the same patterns of lies and deceptions that led to the wrongful convictions of 11 young men who went to prison for the murder of Eddie Peltier, none of whom had anything to do with it, or even knew about it until about a week after his body was identified.
Not too surprising when you also start to realize the similarities between the murders of Gilbert Fassett and of Eddie Peltier a few years earlier. Both bodies were horrifically abused; Eddie was stomped into unrecognizable swelling, bruising and bashing, while Gilbert’s body wasn’t found for a few weeks, and was not only stabbed too many times to count, but was also sexually mutilated, genitalia removed.
Both men were murdered by James Yankton and his accomplices. I know this because I read the files on Eddie’s murder and before I even knew about Gilbert Fassett’s murder I kept getting emails from people who wanted to know what I knew about the pickled penis that James Yankton kept in a jar, in his office when he was head of Security for the Casino. “Was that real?”
“Where did it come from?”
“Why is he keeping it?”
People he was trying to impress, company reps and some former military, were not impressed—they were appalled and disgusted.
So, about a year later, when someone told me about Gilbert Fassett’s murder, and that he had been sexually mutilated, I put 2 & 2 2gether.
Both bodies were dumped in the vicinity of Ski Jump Hill. I see it reported as “Ski Lift Hill” but I don’t think that’s a real place. I could be wrong. I occasionally am.
Convictions in both murders relied upon perjured testimony, the concealment or destruction of evidence proving innocence, the concealment of statements, witnesses who could prove innocence, and most of all, a prosecutor with no scruples and of course, a judge who dined with prosecution.
We are all familiar with the previous blog, “Restless Spirit: The Murder of Eddie Peltier”. 20 years of blogging that should stick with some people.
Now we return to Werner’s case. It unfolds as only a fall guy’s life can unfold:
Werner was not the perfect boyfriend. He had on occasion been violent with his girlfriend, the mother of his two sons.
Her name was Sandra Kjosa. They were together 5 years and it wasn’t pretty. He ended up going to prison for domestic battery.
While serving time for that he met the current BF of his ex: Kevin Austin. (She sure can pick ‘em!).
Werner & Kevin were not friends. Long story short, Werner heard from Kevin how he had gotten away with murdering an elderly couple, the Abernatheys, in 1985. Kevin was a suspect, but they did not have enough to arrest or convict him. Werner reported it to authorities, wore a wire, recorded the discussions and testified against Kevin Austin in court.
Kevin’s ex was continuing her streak of bad decisions by marrying Kevin Austin in 1992. Werner testified against him in 1993. She mad. Big mad.
She made up a story about Werner confessing to her that he murdered Gilbert Fassett. With a lot of help from those involved in the murder and those involved in covering it up, she built a story and they built a case around her story. It required a bug expert who was not an expert and was neither certified nor qualified (Lonnie Olson, prosecutor, had a history with Werner as he bullied Werner all through school. This was just another opportunity to exercise that gleeful pursuit that had given him so much satisfaction back in the day).
Lonnie had to conceal witnesses who came forward and who had seen Gilbert three or more days after he had supposedly been murdered, which threw off the whole timeline they were concocting, so they just didn’t tell the Defense that these people and their statements existed <Brady Violation.
Lonnie the Bully didn’t even try to find the witness who Werner claimed to have given a ride. The man was enlisted in the army and trust me, those personnel are easy to track down every minute of the day. So that man couldn’t give a statement or testify.
Now Werner’s attorneys, past and present, having uncovered concealed files and learned of destroyed evidence (you bet they destroyed the evidence… it would’ve convicted the real killers), send out a petition for a new trial and list over 200 points that were absolute violations of law and Werner’s Rights. Remember: Our Rights are the only protection we have against illegal behaviors by Law Enforcement, and prosecutors are considered Law Enforcement.
How does the prosecution side respond? With utter contempt for the law and the Rights. They say that Werner’s side should have known they had evidence and witnesses they were hiding! (And here we all are told on every TV Propaganda Program that the Prosecution always obeys the law!)
That Werner’s team could have discovered it if they wanted to…. ?? How? Break into the offices and search? Merely requesting it (which is all they were and are allowed to do) wasn’t sufficient? The Brady Rule wasn’t enough?
Let me remind us all how this works:
People who come forward with evidence or statements on a case they hear about, see on tv or read about, typically go to the prosecutor’s office and give their evidence, statements there. They trust that the prosecutor will do the right thing. (We ALL watch too much TV. We think it’s real!)
In the Eddie Peltier case, witnesses who were alibi witnesses for the defense or who had seen the Yanktons with Eddie Peltier the night he was murdered, were threatened, beaten, their families threatened, (one man was beaten, tied up, held down while his wife was raped in front of him) and several were told that if they didn’t change their story, they would become defendants.
I suspect that in this case, the witnesses were assured that they did the right thing and that their information would go where it had to go in order for the trial to be honest. (Into the trash can?) Now it is ‘discovered’ through years of digging, red tape and such… and the prosecution’s side of it is essentially: “Nanner, nanner boo-boo! You should’ve known we were lying and cheating to begin with!”
I don’t know what judge is weighing this case. But the former prosecutor, Lonnie Olson, is now one of them. He’s a judge. I can only imagine the levels of quackery he goes along with in his courtroom. HE SHOULD BE DISBARRED, but judges tend to cover for each other, so we will see.
Meanwhile, I can’t imagine what Werner’s two boys believed about their dad from what lies their mom told them. Imagine going through school being told that your dad is a murderer while your mom is living with a real murderer? What kind of shit show would a therapist have to deal with to untangle that garbage knot? Some people are just sick.
Keep following Pat Springer’s work in Fargo Forum. He’s on it.
Update on Kristin Bruce
The woman who went missing on May 27th was found June 6th and no further information is available. We are told that the FBI is investigating.
The FBI Investigating? Just like the murder of her brother in 2019? As recently as last year the DLPD and the FBI were saying they were “investigating” that one, and requesting anyone that had any information to come forward…
But when people did come forward, they just sat there, didn’t ask any questions, didn’t jot down any notes. (Get the impression they had more pressing concerns and someone handing them a video of that “missing man” being murdered, was inconveniencing them?)
The man was beheaded and it was video recorded. When I inquired about it I was told by DLPD that yeah, they’d seen that video and shared it with the FBI, but both DLPD and FBI decided “it wasn’t one of ours”, so they ignored it.
Now, instead of asking me about who gave me the video, where it originated, what had I heard about who killed, dismembered, beheaded and cut up the bones of the missing man, they asked “What do you know about Joe Bruce?” Seriously!
I’ll tell you all what I know: He was missing, he was murdered, and his killers don’t have anything to worry about because no one is looking for them or even AT them when given the chance. They prefer to investigate the victim, not the crime. Oh North Dakota Law Enforcement, how I have missed you! The insanity, incompetence and sheer contempt for the people of Spirit Lake hasn’t changed a bit in 30 years… it’s gotten worse.
And people wonder why there’s so much crime, addiction, sexual abuse, murder in Indian Country? Because there are only bullies in charge of every aspect of government. Well, there’s also the apathetic and the ignorant, but regardless, the Good People of Spirit Lake have to endure this every day for generations.
Besides, most of the worst offenders out there are given Confidential Informant status, so law enforcement can not only ignore their worst crimes, but maybe pay them a little more for it.
The people who killed Joe Bruce have never been investigated. They are considered Confidential Informants.
Question: Has the FBI solved any Murdered or Missing persons anywhere in Indian Country? I know of 2 cases where they set up fall guys to take the blame for their confidential informants… other than that, anyone?
Alerts: Amber, Silver, Feather
We are all familiar with Amber alerts for a missing child. Call the police, say your child is missing, they issue an Amber Alert.
If there is an elderly or diminished capacity adult gone missing; you call the police, you tell them who is missing, they send out a Silver Alert.
Now, for the NEW one: The Feather Alert.
When a First Nations person goes missing you phone the police, they tell you to contact your tribal police and the tribal police have to go to the tribal council and the tribal council has to have their chairman(?) phone the police to tell them there is a First Nation’s person missing and then if the police think it’s valid, they will issue a Feather Alert.
It may take you awhile to get ahold of your tribal police, tribal councilors or tribal chairman, but hey, it’s not like they aren’t giving you an alert to call your own, right?
If the Feather Alert was working in the way that either the Amber Alert or the Silver Alert was working, there would be hundreds of Feather Alerts going out all across the nation every day.
The truth is, the police don’t want to be bothered. Indians are somehow just neither the same nor of equal value in society as the others are.
So yeah, if you have any information on the murder of Joe Bruce in 2019 or the more recent murder of his sister, Kristin Bruce, do rush right over and tell DLPD and the FBI. Don’t expect them to take notes or ask serious questions. But do your part.
Tell me how that works for you. I would be happy to keep track for you, over here.
You know where to find me.
~Cat
June 6, 2025
In the process of...
Creating a new blog post on Werner's situation and the people involved...
Update: Kristin Bruce has been found, deceased and the FBI is investigating.
_____________________________
But meanwhile, another woman is missing from Spirit Lake Nation. Kristin Bruce. If you have any information or can get me a clearer copy of the poster, pleases do!
Remember: You can find all the previous blogs in "Previous" tab.
You know where to find me.
~Cat