Secrets of the Congdon Mansion by Joe Kimball

Author:Joe Kimball [Kimball, Joe]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Jaykay Publishing
Published: 2011-06-03T04:00:00+00:00

Soon after his arrest, Roger Caldwell hired St. Paul attorney Doug Thomson. The gray-haired lawyer was considered one of the top defense attorneys in the region. He'd been involved in the T. Eugene Thompson murder trial in the early 1960s, which, until the Congdon murders, had been considered one of the state s most sensational murders. (Thompson, a hotshot lawyer, was convicted of hiring a hit man to kill his wife. Doug Thomson defended Norman Mastrian, the middleman.) That was before my time, but I'd covered Thomson in other high-profile cases like June Mikulanec, who heard voices and stabbed her old boyfriend's new wife 98 times. And he defended Donald Larson in the Virginia Piper kidnapping case; Larson and Kenneth Callahan had been convicted of the kidnapping, but in a 1979 retrial, were acquitted. Thomson also defended Lois Jürgens, convicted in 1987 in the death of her adopted son, 22 years earlier.

Thomson began preparing the criminal case out of public view, meeting with Roger in the county jail. But one day I ran into another prominent Twin Cities lawyer in Duluth. Ron Meshbesher was doing research in the courthouse. I thought he might be helping Thomson with Roger's trial, but he said he was working for Marjorie Caldwell on the civil side — the inheritance issues.

Soon after the murders, most of Marjories children from her first marriage had filed a civil lawsuit to keep her from getting any of Miss Congdon's money. The children argued that their mother had been involved in their grandmother's death. Marjorie needed a sharp lawyer to protect her interests, as forces began to mount from all sides.

In August, Marjorie appeared with a black eye and bruised face, claiming that a mysterious man had beaten her up while she was visiting one of her sons in Fridley. Police investigated and decided that her wounds were self-inflicted. Evidence of her craziness was mounting.

In September I ran into Meshbesher and Marjorie at the Hennepin County courthouse in Minneapolis, where they were doing research on their case. Marjorie proceeded to tell me she was being followed by someone, the police or private detectives, she thought. She said she'd even confronted them at a restaurant. It turned out that 10 Congdon family members had hired private detectives to keep an eye on Marjorie. At the courthouse that day, Marjorie also claimed she was penniless and had applied for welfare. And accompanying her to the courthouse were Wally and Helen Hägen of Mound, and their daughter, Nancy. Within five years, Helen would be dead and Marjorie would be the new Mrs. Wally Hagen. And much later, Nancy would lead the charge of voices who claimed Marjorie had killed both of her parents.

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