Another suspicious death in Grand Forks: GFPD has lost its credibility to conduct homicide investigations

by Timothy Charles Holmseth on January 9, 2017, 10:42 P.M. CST

The Grand Forks Police Department (GFPD) is investigating an unattended death that has been described as suspicious.

First responders were dispatched to the 1100 block of North 55th Street on Saturday at approximately 4 p.m. Lt. Brett Johnson, GFPD, identified the deceased female as 24-year-old Kristen Guillemette.

Grand Forks citizens should have ZERO FAITH in this investigation.

Here’s why.

On February 27, 2015 the GFPD responded to the unattended death of Caitlin Jenna Erickson.

Write Into Action obtained police files and body-cam from the Erickson case. The reason Write Into Action became interested in the Erickson death was because it happened in the exact same time window as the pursuit and shooting of David James Elliott.

THE HOMICIDE OF CAITLIN JENNA ERICKSON

Caitlin Jenna Erickaon

On February 27, 2015, shortly after 10 P.M., GFPD responded to a call for assistance made by a man named Mario Parson.

Parson told police that he was with Caitlin Erickson in the hours before her death. He said she was trying to obtain some money at a pawn shop. He said he left her at her apartment to go take care of some business that involved money. He said Erickson was fine when he left. He said that when he returned Erickson was unconscious – never to be revived.

What Parson told the police was a total lie.

Erickson’s next door neighbor in the apartment complex, Desiree Gomez, told police she heard fighting and arguing next door. She said she heard banging around in the bathroom and the shower turning off and on. She identified the two voices as being male and female – she identified the female voice as Erickson and the male voice as Parson.

Body-cam of GFPD interviewing Gomez reveals the officer was already telling Gomez that everything appeared innocent.

It is impossible the GFPD officer could have been coming to that conclusion when a witness and her husband are standing in front of him telling him they heard fighting and banging around at the time of the death.

This is really sick, folks.

Write Into Action attempted to follow up on Parson’s alibis, but the GFPD did not even use real or entire names of Parson’s alibis in their reports. In one instance the interviewing officer made sure to not reveal an alibi’s name by calling him “the dude”.

This is really, really sick, folks.

It was a cover-up that is linked to pills, medications, and drugs.

Here’s the deal.

The GFPD (and other law enforcement) is in collusion with the Grand Forks Herald to cover up drug trafficking and other crimes.

This is not rocket science.

Erickson’s death involved pills and medication.

 “I then looked around the apartment to see what the female might have taken. Cpl. Buzzo found empty pill bottles on the end tables in the living room next to the couch. I again spoke with Parson who said that the female, Caitlin Erickson, said something about taking “Benzos.” 
     - GFPD Cpl. W. Holtz

“I yelled at Mario from the bedroom to the living room and asked him what kind of medication Caitlin had been taking. He stated she had taken pain medications and heroin in the past. He did not know for sure if she had taken narcotics on this occasion” 
     - GFPD Officer Wes Vert  

“A quick look of the apartment only revealed a small baggie of pills located on the kitchen counter.” 
     - GFPD Sgt. W. Wyatt

“He stated that he knew the victim had a drinking problem and had done drugs in the past.” 
     - GFPD Sgt. W. Wyatt

“Parson said that the female had taken some pills.” 
     - GFPD Cpl W. Holtz

But watch this and you will see how the police and The Herald are preying upon the gullible public to fool people into believing their bull-shit.

Go ahead and read it.

You will not see one reference to narcotics, pills, and/or medication, which is exactly what the police found in Erickson’s apartment (unless they try to add something now).

The police reports clearly showed pills were found, and body-cam shows GFPD officers at the scene, inside Erickosn’s apartment, looking at each other very suspiciously and making cryptic statements that something seemed very wrong. 

I have the videos, folks.

The responding officers knew.

It appears somebody higher up directed the cover-up (probably scum-bag corrupt Police Chief Mark Nelson). 

The bizarre feature story in the Herald is an utterly obnoxious piece of propaganda that is intended to drive into the readers head that Erickson died of alcoholism.

No need to mention Erickson’s use of drugs, pills, or heroin – right???

Why are law enforcement and their propaganda arm - the Grand Forks Herald – trying so hard to cover up pills being found in Erickson’s apartment?

Well…

Let’s see…

While the police officer is interviewing Gomez on body-cam, you can actually hear the radio crosstalk of the police pursuit of David James Elliott that was taking place at the exact same time.

Elliott is the unarmed man that was shot three times in the head in the parking lot of Altru hospital in Grand Forks by a UND police officer.

Visit www.writeintoactiion.com to read about the drug trafficking and bust that occurred at UND that involved multiple members of the football team.

BCI investigation files reveal thousands of medications and pills were found in Elliott’s vehicle after he was shot. During a recorded interview, BCI special agent Michael Ness told David Elliott’s wife, Jennifer Elliott, the pills were in bags.

Jennifer Elliott told the BCI that her husband was getting all his pills from Altru doctors. She was flabbergasted and posed the rhetorical question ‘who prescribes morphine for headaches?’

Here’s what was going on right around the time-window Caitlin Erickson was dying.

David Elliott called 911 after a GFPD officer attempted to pull him over for running a stop sign.

David Elliott fled and was trying to stay away from the police as he talked to an officer over PSAP. He told police he overdosed and was committing suicide. He was simultaneously arranging to meet a police officer at the Emergency Room of Altru hospital.

Despite claiming he wanted to die, David Elliott was deadly afraid of the police and believed he was going to be harmed.

The 911 call reveals he was deadly afraid of former Walsh County Sheriff Lauren Wild and thought Wild was among the police following him.

David Elliott contacted Write Into Action and said UND officer Jerad Braaten, that cop that shot him in front of the Emergency Room, actually tried to shoot him minutes before, while he was atop the Columbia Road Bridge, but his gun jammed.

While the body-cam of the event on the Columbia Road Bridge was redacted by the GFPD, Write Into Action used available files to show what occurred.

View the You Tube...

Nobody was ever charged regarding the thousands of pills found in David Elliott’s truck and the case was closed.

No foul play was found in Erickson’s death and it was closed.

But hey - what's another huamn life - right Mr. Jones?

The David James Elliott pursuit and shooting

• David James Elliott telephoned Grand Forks PSAP (911) almost immediately after GFPD Dan Harvala attempted to pull him over for running a red light. David Elliott had no meaningful criminal history and there is no known reason he would feel compelled to flee at very high speeds. He stayed on 911 with a police officer, GFPD officer Matthew Bullinger, for some two hours until he was shot while holding the phone.

• David Elliott made arrangements to meet GFPD officer Matthew Bullinger at Altru. After arriving in front of the E/R David Elliott is seen pointing in the direction where UND officer Jerad Braaten is approaching him. He fled again on four flat tires and was shot through his back window by Jerad Braaten.

• David Elliott was unarmed.

• David Elliott had thousands of prescription pills in his truck that BCI agent Michael Ness said where in “bags”.

• Jennifer Elliott, David Elliott’s wife, said all the pills her husband possessed were all coming from Altru doctors.

•  Grand Forks PSAP deleted the 911 call.

• UND police officer Jerad Braaten was not scheduled to work on the night he interjected himself into a slow speed pursuit and shot David Elliott. 

• UND police officer Jerad Braaten, a rookie cop on his first job, was inexplicably training an intern (on a night he was not even supposed to work), Heather Hopkins, on the night of the shooting. 

• David Elliott was nearly completely stopped atop the Columbia Road Bridge where he was trying to meet GFPD officer Matthew Bullinger. He continued inching forward as Jerad Braaten was pointing a gun at him.

• The audio portion of UND police officer Jerad Braaten’s body-cam captured him telling Hopkins he hoped to provoke David Elliott into ramming him.  

• David James Elliott told Write Into Action (Timothy Charles Holmseth) that Jerad Braaten attempted to shoot him minutes before the actual shooting, while atop the Columbia Road Bridge, but his gun jammed.

• The audio portion of Jerad Braaten’s body-cam reveals a clicking sound on Braaten’s gun that sounds like a misfire atop the Columbia Road Bridge.  

• Jerad Braaten’s dash-cam was never found and/or entered into BCI evidence. 

• Jerad Braaten’s body-cam was found underneath his squad car where he tried to hide it.  

• Jerad Braaten did not put his body-cam on his shirt until a few minutes before he joined the pursuit and shot David Elliott (although he had supposedly been on-duty for hours). 

• Jerad Braaten had UNDPD intern Heather Hopkins put the body-cam on his shirt, which was placed on him improperly and captured no visual (except the moment it’s thrown under the car).

• After the shooting, the audio portion of Jerad Braaten’s body-cam reveals he asked Heather Hopkins if she saw David Elliott try to run a police officer over. Hopkins promptly replied yes. Braaten then told her he would need a witness statement confirming it and she said she would give it. However, when Hopkins was interviewed by the BCI she balked, and said she didn’t see what happened.

• GFPD Sgt. Mark Ellingson, the officer that Jerad Braaten said he was worried about, is captured on audio at the scene telling Jerad Braaten he was never in any danger.

• UNDPD chief Eric Plummer reprimanded Jerad Braaten in writing regarding issues with his police-cams.

• GFPD chief Mark Nelson subsequently hired Jerad Braaten onto his Department.

• Videos obtained by Write Into Action have been tampered with by someone using a video editor. For instance – dash-cam from the squad car of GFPD officer Dan Harvala is in clear crisp color on most of the footage. However, the portion that actually shows the shooting in the distance has been converted to black and white which obscures the details.

• Video showing what happened atop the Columbia Road Bridge has been redacted.

• Videos obtained by Write Into Action reveal the time-stamps on the dash-cams do not even remotely match the events taking place on the officer body-cams.

• David Elliot was shot three times in the head and his ear drum was blown out. Two of his fingers were shot off but re-attached.

• After being hired by the GFPD, Jerad Braaten was at the scene of a fireworks accident in Grand Forks where a man’s fingers were blown off. The fingers disappeared. They were found later on a picnic table in East Grand Forks.

The following is my investigative opinion.

• It is my investigative opinion that Jerad Braaten sounds like a psychopath when he is talking to Heather Hopkins.

• It is my opinion Jerad Braaten may have taken the fingers from the fireworks scene and kept them. He may have placed them in the Red River Valley Campground as a trophy of what he did to David Elliott and/or an ominous message to the drug trafficking underworld. 

• It is my opinion GFPD chief Mark Nelson has violated his oath, betrayed the public, and is engaging in extensive efforts to cover up events that involve drug trafficking, shootings, and homicide(s).

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