North Dakota
Grand Forks murder suspect refuses to appear in court
GRAND FORKS — Prosecutors are calling the beating death of a Grand Forks man murder.
The accused killer is calling it self-defense.
Donald “DJ” Bartlette, 45, was supposed to make his first court appearance on Monday, Oct. 28, to face a murder charge, but the jail staff said he refused to leave his cell.
According to court documents, Tony Kiehl, 49, and Bartlette are seen on surveillance video going into Kiehl’s first-floor apartment at Cherry Heights just after 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 24.
Bartlette is seen leaving the apartment about 30 minutes later with blood on him.
Grand Forks County Correctional Center
About an hour later, detectives say Bartlette returned to the apartment with Nicholas Wride-Arnold, 35.
Police say the men leave again and Bartlette goes outside and sits at a picnic table, where he told someone he knew he just beat someone up “pretty bad,” but claimed he had to because the person came at him with a knife, according to court documents.
Kiehl’s girlfriend found her boyfriend’s body at about 9 p.m. Thursday and called police.
Wride-Arnold was arrested later that evening inside an upstairs apartment.
Bartlette was arrested on Friday, Oct. 25, when police said he made several self-defense claims before asking for a lawyer.
Inside the apartment, police said they found a bloody knife that had a 5-inch blade, along with two bloody coffee table legs that had been broken off, according to court documents.
Prosecutors said Kiehl died from blunt force trauma to the head. The medical examiner also noted cuts from a knife.
Grand Forks police said they can’t comment on a potential motive other than they have a “working theory.”
They also would not comment on claims by Kiehl’s sister that Bartlette had attacked Kiehl a few weeks earlier.
Bartlette was ordered to make a court appearance on Tuesday, Oct. 29.
A GoFundMe has been set up
to help Kiehl’s family plan a funeral and help his family travel from Texas to North Dakota.
Matt Henson is an Emmy award-winning reporter/photographer/editor for WDAY. Prior to joining WDAY in 2019, Matt was the main anchor at WDAZ in Grand Forks for four years.
North Dakota
North Dakota voters to decide single-subject requirement for future constitutional amendments on June 9
BRECKENRIDGE — Coaches, teammates, friends and family gathered in the south parking lot of Breckenridge High School for another state tournament sendoff.
Corbin Abner Lee / Wahpeton Daily News
This year, it was Troy Berndt taking the ceremonial convertible ride. He is headed to St. Michael-Albertville High School for the Minnesota Class A State Track and Field Meet on June 4-6.
Corbin Abner Lee / Wahpeton Daily News
He will be running in the third heat of the 400-meter prelims, scheduled for 4:52 p.m. June 4. There are seven athletes in each heat, 21 total, and nine will advance to the finals at 6:20 p.m. June 5.
The top two finishers in each heat advance, along with the next three best times. Berndt’s personal best time of 50.67 has him seeded 13th, but the 10th-, 11th- and 12th-seeded runners are less than five hundredths of a second ahead of him. The eighth- and ninth-seeded runners are also close, at 50.33 and 50.39, respectively.
Berndt dropped nearly seven-tenths of a second from his previous personal best at the Section 6A West Subsection Meet on May 21, running 51.35, and shaved another 0.68 seconds off at the Section 6A Championships on May 28 with a time of 50.67. If he keeps lowering his time, he will have a shot at reaching the podium against the best runners in Class A.
Corbin Abner Lee / Wahpeton Daily News
Results and photos will be available online immediately following the race June 4 and in the June 10 print edition of the Wahpeton Daily News.
Corbin Lee is a sports reporter for the Wahpeton Daily News and Richland County News-Monitor. Corbin can be reached by calling (701) 291-3551 or emailing corbin.lee@wahpetondailynews.com.
On this day in 1971, Rugby repeated as North Dakota’s high school sand greens golf champion behind medalist Dwight Stempson’s winning performance.
Here is the complete story as it appeared in the paper that day:
Rugby Repeats As Sand Greens Golf Champion
RUGBY, N. D. — Rugby repeated as North Dakota high school sand greens golf champion here Wednesday, posting a four-man total of 293 strokes for 18 holes.
Led by medalist Dwight Stempson’s medalist 36-35 — 71, the Panthers were eight strokes ahead of runnerup Stanley, which had a 301. Following were Garrison 311, Beulah 315, Leeds 322, Ashley 323, Bottineau 328, Pembina 329, Tioga 332, Parshall 341 and Hettinger 342.
Stempson and teammate Bruce Carlson each had one-under par 71s, but Carlson was unable to be at the regional and wasn’t qualified for individual honors.
Rounding out the Rugby totals were Delwin Wilson 40-37 — 77 and Dennett Hutchinson 35-39 — 74. Gary Kirchoffner, 41-39 — 80, was Rugby’s fifth entrant with the best four-of-five scores counted.
Runnerup Stanley was led by Steve Springan’s 34-38 — 72 and Joe Springan’s 36-38 — 74. Their two-man total of 146 strokes was good enough for the doubles title. Two strokes back with a 148 was the duo of Stempson and Wilson. Stan Saathoff and Mike Stepina of Garrison each had 76s for a 152 total and the Ashley combo of Steve Maier (76) and Dave Kretschmar (78) was fourth with a 154.
Stempson was the driving contest winner with a distance of 280 yards. Chris Knutson of Garrison headed the pitch and putt competition.
Kate Almquist is the social media manager for InForum. After working as an intern, she joined The Forum full time starting in January 2022. Readers can reach her at kalmquist@forumcomm.com.
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