A tragedy in Kelliher

Sheriff: Shooting deaths murder-suicide

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

Oct. 23, 1999

By Devlyn Brooks

Staff Writer

Daryl Latterell of Kelliher killed his wife and then turned his .357 caliber revolver on himself early Thursday morning, Beltrami County Sheriff Keith Winger said Friday afternoon at a news conference.

Winger also said that Daryl Latterell, who was the president and chairman of the Citizens State Bank of Kelliher, was being investigated for "irregularities" reported in the Kelliher Fire Fighters Relief Association's charitable gambling fund. He was the fire department's gambling manager.

But Winger, speaking in his office at the Bemidji/Beltrami Law Enforcement Center, stopped short of connecting the two incidents.

"(The state's) investigation is completely separate of the deaths," he said, adding that to connect the two "would be purely speculation."

Winger said the Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety is investigating the "irregularities" of the Kelliher firefighter's gambling fund.

The state initiated the investigation after a complaint was forwarded by the Minnesota Lawful Gambling Control Board and it involves missing funds. Winger said, however, he did not know the amount.

He added that he thought the investigation was opened just recently.

The state's Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division did not return phone calls Friday, and the Latterell family was unavailable for comment. The Kelliher fire chief also did not return calls Friday.

A woman who answered the phone at the Kelliher fire hall said the fire department had no comment on the matter.

Citizens State Bank of Kelliher loan officer James Brown said Friday that the Latterells were "well respected people in town and Daryl donated a lot of his energy to many things in this town."

He added that the investigation of Daryl Latterell had nothing to do with the bank, which Latterell and his brother owned.

Brown said that bank officials would meet next week to determine who will replace Daryl Latterell as bank president and chairman.

Daryl Latterell, 51, and his 47-year-old wife, Sally, were found shot to death about 10:20 a.m. Thursday by Beltrami County officers.

The bodies were found by two female employees of Citizens State Bank who went to check on the two when Daryl Latterell didn't report to work by 10 a.m. Thursday.

Winger said the shootings took place in the early morning hours Thursday. Sally Latterell was found dressed in "night attire" and lying on a bed in the couple's bedroom. She was shot in the head, and there was no sign of a struggle.

Winger said he did not know if Sally Latterell had been sleeping.

Daryl Latterell was found dressed in daytime clothing dead on the floor next to the bed, Winger said. He also was shot in the head.

Latterell fired three bullets from the revolver, which he owned, with one piercing the house's wall and burying itself in the front lawn of the house at the corner of Fourth Street and Gould Avenue.

Winger said the county's autopsy showed no signs of alcohol in Daryl Latterell's body.

"The autopsy revealed nothing that deviated from our original opinion that it was a murder/suicide," Winger said. "There's no indication why he killed his wife. There was no note."

Although three shots were fired, the sheriff said none of the couple's neighbors reported hearing any shots. He added, however, that it is not unusual that the neighbors didn't hear anything because this time of year their windows would be shut. He said the shots would have been muffled being fired indoors.

Winger said Daryl Latterell had attended a meeting concerning the firefighters' gambling fund Wednesday night.

A boy who was near the crime scene Thursday said as he was walking by their house about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, he saw the two through a window. He said a television was turned on and that one person was reading a book.

Other than waiting for some lab results, Winger said that his department was finished with its investigation of the Latterells' deaths.