// Grizzly Groundswell

It’s been a while since I last talked about crime, but the random murder of Katherine Ann Olson has jump-started my interest again. To be honest, I got burnt out on crime and very disheartened. Writing about random crime is a difficult thing to do, and you can only do it so much before it starts to eat away at you. However, I have been haunted by a comment left by the sister of one of the men who had been murdered earlier this year and that I had talked about at length. The comment was from Michelle Wright, sister to Michael Trinity:

“I was just now coincidentally posting comments to 3 other “news” reporters at other sites pertaining to my brother’s murder. They are all sadly outdated, and then I stumbled onto your website. Michael Trinity is my brother, and he lived here in California before being murdered in Minnesota. I see no updates on the criminal proceedings; or anything else about this story at all since April, when it happened. As far as I’m concerned, this story is far from being over, and should not be shelved away just yet. Your concern alone is more help than you can imagine right now, and the only thing I have come across so far. Being here in California, I hear nothing about it and have had a hard time getting any info at all. We should continue to keep this story alive, I would like to know the fate of the 3 teens involved in my brother’s murder. The full story has yet to come out. Our mother will be comforted to know somebody out there still cares. Thank You.”

Of all the posts I’ve ever gotten to this blog, I think that perhaps this is the most important one I’ve ever had, and is a constant reminder to me as to why I blog. I don’t blog to get the news out there. I am not a news source. There are plenty of blogs that are, but I am not one of them. I blog because there are things that I care about and I hope to help build a better community by bringing these things out into the open. Even if it means just connecting one single family member of a murder victim living half a country away to my community, I feel that I have succeeded in my goal.

Maybe that is the point of blogging (for those who take it seriously anyway). It helps to build bonds and open up lines of communication within communities that were never there before. It is doing something that the flash in the pan mainstream media doesn’t do; connecting people in the community.

With that said, I want to turn to the community and ask a couple of questions before I really get into the story:

• Without looking it up, do you know the names Michael Trinity and Richard Christianson?
  If so, do you remember what happened to them?

Don’t feel bad, most people I’ve talked to don’t remember. I won’t get into the details of the crime here. For those who are interested, please read up on my original posting on the crime as well as my follow up. To summarize if you don’t want to read the details, Rich and Mike were randomly executed after being forced to kneel in an alley and give up their wallets. It was a senseless crime. A thrill kill committed by some kids who thought they were really bad ass. And while this was an interesting morsel for the media, it was nothing more than a passing interest before it disappeared into distant memory. I guess the world moves too fast for stories like this. Yet, where does that leave the families and friends of these people? As Michelle stated above, “I hear nothing about it and have had a hard time getting any info at all… The full story has yet to come out.”

That is not the sort of thing that we like to see, especially when asinine topics get beat into our heads day after day. This is not how you build strength in a community. If the mainstream media isn’t interested in anything other than controversial or sexy stories, then perhaps it is our duty as members of the new media.

I tried to find some information regarding the status of the crime and found the last update to appear was back in July (the last press release from Hennepin County was back in April). So I tried to contact the Hennepin County Attorney’s office and got no response back from them. It’s aggravating, yet this is the sort of thing we have come to expect. But is this the sort of treatment that the family of these two men deserves? In a world where Britney Spears can’t blow her nose without the media following the story through until they know where that kleneex ended up, why can’t we follow the story of the three scumbags who executed these two members of our own community?

So I did a little bit of snooping around, and was at least able to come up with some information on the kids involved:

Mattea Denise Thurman, age 18. Charged with 2 counts of felony aiding an offender - accomplice after the fact, and 1 count of 1st-degree felony aggravated robbery. She is due in court on November 5th.

Dontaro Lashaun Riddley, age 29. Charged with 6 counts of 1st-degree murder, 1 count of murder, and 1 count of 1st degree felony aggravated robbery. So far, only the single count of murder has been formally charged. He is due in court in December 10th.

I cannot find the name of the third suspect as he was a juvenile (15-years old) and I haven’t been able to find out if he has been certified as an adult. Given the circumstances, I would assume he will be tried as an adult, but it is not information that the Attorney’s office has officially released. Hopefully I will have that information if their office ever gets back to me.

So there you have it. Maybe this is what it takes; just an average citizen who’s takes a little bit of time out of his day to help put the pieces together for people in the community. Sure it isn’t as sexy or interesting as global warming, Britney Spears or Larry Craig, but when it comes down to it, are those really elements that impact our community? I would think that keeping track of the status of these three murderers for the friends and family of the victims is important too - if not more important. Yet it takes the sister of one of these men to contact me, a virtual nobody, to keep this story alive and updated.

If that is indeed the case, then I will gladly continue to do my work and get this sort of information out there. It may not be “pop” but it is certainly culture and community. Maybe this is what this new media really is all about. If I can help one person or touch just one life, then this blog and my work is all worthwhile.