South Dakota
A mother and 2 sons shot dead in their beds: South Dakota’s gruesome Mathis killings examined in new book
![A mother and 2 sons shot dead in their beds: South Dakota’s gruesome Mathis killings examined in new book A mother and 2 sons shot dead in their beds: South Dakota’s gruesome Mathis killings examined in new book](https://cdn.forumcomm.com/dims4/default/71ef0c7/2147483647/strip/true/crop/720x350%200%2052/resize/1440x700!/quality/90/?url=https://fcc-cue-exports-brightspot.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/mitchellrepublic/binary/copy/3e/47/1e652a7f28165f40b5784f44e0ec/3279580-mathis-history-1-binary-7072681.jpg)
It was a blood-soaked evening that rocked South Dakota and reverberated across the nation: A mom and two of her youngsters shot useless of their beds on a farmstead close to Mount Vernon, South Dakota, within the early morning hours of Sept. 9, 1981.
Her husband, shot by the arm however alive, referred to as regulation enforcement to the scene. He reported {that a} masked intruder, who will need to have killed his spouse and boys, had additionally shocked and shot him, then left, leaving him unconscious.
“Somebody has shot my household,” Mathis informed regulation enforcement.
However from the very starting, the questions piled up.
Months after that fateful evening, John Mathis was charged with killing his spouse, LaDonna Ann Mathis, and two of their youngsters, 4-year-old Brian and 2-year-old Patrick.
After a tempestuous trial involving among the state’s high legal professionals, riveting testimony and .22-caliber rifle bullets meant for jury members to search out — a possible plant that will have performed a key function in deliberations — John Mathis was discovered not responsible.
The Mathis case, the trial and the questions that stay to at the present time are the topic of a brand new ebook,
“South Dakota’s Mathis Murders: Horror within the Heartland”
by long-time South Dakota journalist Noel Hamiel.
At 116 pages (the writer had a phrase depend restrict for the ebook, Hamiel says), “South Dakota’s Mathis Murders” is a slim however replete account of the 1981 crime, the homicide trial and its aftermath.
Submitted picture
Hamiel, a local South Dakotan, was a reporter at a Kansas newspaper on the time of the murders, however recalled how information of the killings unfold nationwide. Now, after a full journalism profession, he says he was compelled to jot down a ebook concerning the case on account of its nature, the shortage of a conviction and ongoing questions.
“It simply struck me … the diabolical nature of the crime. Two little children. Farm spouse. No one’s ever punished for it. Technically, no person’s ever discovered responsible of it,” he mentioned. “After I retired, I believed, ‘you understand, I feel that might be worthy of a extra in-depth look.’”
The matter is frequently recounted in South Dakota newspapers,
together with the Mitchell Republic
, the place Hamiel retired from journalism as writer in 2007.
However Hamiel had new entry to the case, being granted uncommon entry to investigative information from each the Davison County Sheriff’s Workplace and the South Dakota Division of Felony Investigation.
“One of many enduring questions that just about everyone related to the case has is why the prosecution was unsuccessful. And I did attain some conclusions on that,” he mentioned.
Hamiel may have produced an attention-grabbing true-crime learn by merely rehashed the already intensive reporting on the case. As a substitute, true to his intensive journalism profession, he carried out a public service by spending two years synthesizing outdated reporting, scouring case information and interviewing members of the family and plenty of of these concerned within the case and trial.
“A lot of the principals, by advantage of what I did for a dwelling, I had not less than met them, maybe interviewed them, actually knew that knew who they had been, and that was advantageous for me,” he mentioned.
Hamiel’s new ebook extensively covers the crime and trial, however transcends the “whodunit” style by respectfully memorializing those that had been killed that evening (LaDonna Mathis will get her personal chapter), and charting the aftershocks of the acquittal that resonate to at the present time. Of particular observe, ostensibly because of the case, South Dakota was one of many first states with obligatory youngster abuse reporting necessities.
“I additionally needed these two youngsters and the mother to be remembered,” he mentioned. “They had been cheated out of life, their lives had been minimize brief, no person was ever held accountable or accountable for his or her deaths. They need to be remembered.”
And Hamiel reveals what occurred to John Mathis and his final remaining son, Duane, all these years later.
Hamiel’s ebook is probably the most definitive single accounting of the Mathis case so far. It will likely be of nice curiosity to true crime aficionados and people curious about a disturbing piece of historical past in South Dakota, the place Hamiel nonetheless resides.
“We’re an enormous wide-open state and we do not have a excessive crime price,” he mentioned. “However it’s type of a darkish chapter in our historical past, and now we have to be careful for one another.”
“South Dakota’s Mathis Murders: Horror within the Heartland” is revealed by The Historical past Press, and is obtainable starting April 25. readers can
order a replica on Amazon.com
.
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South Dakota
Videos: Gundy, Players Recap Win against South Dakota State
![Videos: Gundy, Players Recap Win against South Dakota State Videos: Gundy, Players Recap Win against South Dakota State](https://pistolsfiringblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/53962121679_afc402ad55_k-1000x600.jpg)
STILLWATER — The Oklahoma State football team beat South Dakota State 44-20 on Saturday to start the season 1-0. After the game, Mike Gundy, Ollie Gordon, Alan Bowman, De’Zhaun Stribling, Collin Oliver, Korie Black and Trey Rucker met with reporters to recap the game.
South Dakota
South Dakota State vs. No. 17 Oklahoma State live stream (8/31/24): Watch college football, Week 1 online
![South Dakota State vs. No. 17 Oklahoma State live stream (8/31/24): Watch college football, Week 1 online South Dakota State vs. No. 17 Oklahoma State live stream (8/31/24): Watch college football, Week 1 online](https://www.nj.com/resizer/v2/P2NH7TDAORCA3K2CFKZ3D37LHE.jpg?auth=27a73779c5e6defa1fa563e3ee42ddc0fe62687da0c8b6ecc5664751c4c0c4a2&width=1280&quality=90)
The South Dakota State Jackrabbits face the No. 17 Oklahoma State Cowboys on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024 (8/31/24) at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Fans can watch the game with a subscription to ESPN+.
Here’s what you need to know:
What: NCAA Football, Week 1
Who: South Dakota State vs. Oklahoma State
When: Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024 (8/31/24)
Where: Boone Pickens Stadium
Time: 2 p.m. ET
TV: N/A
Channel finder: Verizon Fios, AT&T U-verse, Comcast Xfinity, Spectrum/Charter, Optimum/Altice,Cox,DIRECTV, Dish, Hulu, fuboTV, Sling.
Live stream: ESPN+
***
Here’s a college football story from the Associated Press:
Y’all ain’t played nobody!
It might as well be college football’s slogan. Debates about strength of schedule are part of the fabric of the sport, like marching bands, cheerleaders and tailgating.
With the size of the College Football Playoff tripling in size from four teams to 12 this season — including seven at-large bids — expect the arguments over the relative difficulty of teams’ schedules to increase exponentially.
The posturing and politicking has already begun.
“This is the NFL of college football in my mind,” Nebraska coach Matt Rhule said during Big Ten media days. At Southeastern Conference media days, the NFL was also invoked when the topic steered to schedules.
“As coaches we want to play the best. People forget that when you’ve spent time in the NFL, every week was like that,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “So when Texas and Oklahoma came into the conference, every schedule was going to get harder.”
The debates aren’t just about which conferences are the best. With super-sized conferences of 16-18 teams, the differences in strength of schedule within leagues can be significant.
The CFP selection committee uses a strength-of-schedule rating provided by SportSource Analytics that includes components such as wins and losses, scoring differential and game location.
Balancing who you played with how you played will be harder than ever.
“There’s a weight on the committee that’s new. I want to see how the committee processes that,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said during spring meetings. “And my encouragement is that this, ‘Well, we have an undefeated team so they’re in’ is not the standard. It never was the standard. Obviously, that stirred up controversy last year.”
Toughest schedules in the Power Four
There are dozens of data-based rating systems to measure the relative strength of college football teams, and all have some type of schedule-rating component.
The AP took three systems — ESPN’s SP+, FEI and KFord Ratings — and averaged their strength of schedule rankings for all 134 Bowl Subdivision teams to determine where each Power Four team’s schedule ranks nationally (all games, not just conference games, are factored in).
Using those projections, SEC teams on average will be facing the toughest schedules this season.
The average strength-of-schedule ranking among the 16 SEC teams is 11.2, from Florida (a unanimous No. 1 among all three systems) to Missouri at 36.7.
Half the teams in the SEC have schedules with an average national ranking of 10 or better, including No. 1 Georgia at 3.7. No. 11 Missouri is the only SEC team with an average schedule-strength ranking below 25.3.
Rating the rest
The Big Ten, now including Southern California, UCLA, Oregon and Washington, is next with an average strength-of-schedule ranking of 26.9 among its 18 teams.
Purdue’s 7.7 average ranking is the highest followed by No. 23 USC at 9. Big Ten favorite No. 2 Ohio State’s average is 34. No. 3 Oregon’s is 26.7.
The ACC and Big 12 are about the same. The 17-team ACC has an average strength of schedule ranking of 49.9. The 16-team Big 12′s average ranking is 47.3.
Assessing strength of schedule
Straight up rankings can be deceiving. How to quantify the difference between facing the sixth-ranked schedule and 26th?
Brian Fremeau, the creator of FEI, does it three ways, asking three questions: How many games would an elite team lose facing a particular schedule? How many would a good team lose? How many would an average team lose?
AP used FEI’s strength of schedule ratings based on good teams in its composite rankings, since good teams are going to be the ones in the CFP race.
Based on FEI projections, the difference between playing Georgia’s schedule (rated 3.4 among the hardest in the nation) and Ohio State (34) is about one more loss for a good team against the Bulldogs’ slate. The difference between Alabama’s schedule and Big 12 favorite Utah’s is about two losses for a good team against the Tide’s.
If these schedule strength projections held — they will change throughout the season — it would then be reasonable to compare an 11-1 Utah to a 9-3 Alabama.
Reasonable to compare doesn’t necessarily mean the one with the tougher schedule should automatically be ranked higher.
“I don’t judge a team on its schedule. I judge a team on how it performs against a schedule, or my system does. And that is a little more of a nuanced take then, ‘Well, we played a tougher set of opponents than you did, therefore, we’re better,’” Fremeau said. “There’s a bit of a balancing act between the two.”
Intraconference debates
The SEC and Big Ten are both bigger and division-less for the first time. That necessitated new tiebreaker procedures to determine which teams qualify for conference title games featuring the top two teams in the standings.
Within the guidelines is an acknowledgment that the rigor of conference schedules will vary when teams are playing barely half the league. After head-to-head and record vs. common opponents are used to break ties, both leagues go to results that favor the team that fared better against the better conference opponents they play.
The ACC, a year ahead of the the SEC and Big Ten in abandoning divisions, has a similar nod within its tiebreakers to strength of schedule.
ACC Associate Commissioner Michael Strickland said the conference used 10 years of data that measures the success of its football teams to help create a new schedule rotation that would be competitively balanced. But the ACC also to had weigh travel now that Stanford, California and SMU are members, as well as protecting some traditional annual rivalries.
The ACC’s fourth two-team tiebreaker is combined winning percentage of conference opponents.
“Our head football coaches suggested that we insert that during our review process,” Strickland said.
The CFP choices
The CFP field announced Dec. 8 will be comprised of the five highest-ranked conference champions, regardless of league, and seven at-large selections. There is no limit to the number of at-large bids a conference can receive.
The most interesting comparisons for the CFP selection committee might end up being between the many conference rivals that do not play each other in the regular season.
What to do with a 10-2 Missouri and a 9-3 Alabama (composite strength-of-schedule ranking, 9.3)? Or Iowa (37) at 10-2 and Michigan (16) at 9-3? Over in the ACC, what would happen while assessing a 10-2 Virginia Tech (68) and a 9-3 Florida State (30.3)?
“Especially when we’re picking (seven) teams now, we’re looking at the loss column with a bit more scrutiny,” Fremeau said. “They’re going to be debating teams like that with a one or possibly two-game difference in record, but a comparable difference in expected schedule rating and they’re going to have that debate about which one they value more.”
(The Associated Press contributed to this report)
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South Dakota
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