Becker County sheriff, staff still seeking answers for families

By Matthew Johnson

Reporter

The evening of April 3, 1976, was one that family members of Bernard Rusness, his common law wife Peggy McKay and their eight-year-old son Brian Rusness will never forget.

Late that evening around 11 p.m. the family’s recently remodeled, two-story farmhouse southwest of Wolf Lake in Evergreen Township of Becker County burned to the ground leaving the remains of Brian and no verifiable trace of his parents. The Becker County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) continues to treat this as a suspicious death investigation over 50 years later, similar to a homicide investigation, in regard to Brian. Bernard and Peggy remain “missing persons” to this day. Current Becker County Sheriff Todd Glander, who is set to retire in January, was 10 years old at the time of the tragic event. He and Lt. Luke Sweere, who is campaigning to be the county’s next sheriff, recently confirmed that their department would like nothing better than to provide the families with answers yet this year that would bring them some kind of closure in terms of what really happened to their loved ones.

“If somebody shows us new information, we will follow up on that,” said Sheriff Glander on Wednesday, April 15. “Obviously, we will continue to follow up with any new leads that come in.”

Glander and Sweere say “numerous leads” have already been followed up on in the past 50 years, including over the last 10-plus years while they’ve been investigating it, and none of those leads have provided them with definitive answers. They say the case remains “active” and they continue to encourage anyone with information related to the case to contact the sheriff’s office at (218) 847-2661.

Officials say they are not ruling out the possibility that Bernard and Peggy could’ve died in the fire, only that nothing was found in the ashes that could identify them and that Brian was identified through dental records. As hot as that fire reportedly got, burning up everything down to ashes in the basement floor, officials from the state fire marshals office report never seeing a house fire with individuals believed to be inside where their remains were not found. They, too, however, are not completely ruling out the possibility that three bodies burned in the fire, not just one. 

Officials also explain that, at that time, fire officials labeled fires such as this, where the cause was undetermined, to be caused by arson. Whereas today, fires with no cause determined are not labeled as arson but typically as undetermined.

Small materials discovered through a meticulous sifting process after the fire did uncover some small bone fragments along with other items including coins. Glander and Sweere said any materials found believed to possibly be of human remains were sent to the Minneapolis War Memorial Blood Bank following the examination of the coroner’s office, and that the results revealed human remains from only one body.

Forensic DNA testing of the day, however, was not as effective for identifying individuals as it is today and Glander and Sweere said it was not uncommon for any other leftover materials from cases to be discarded after 20 years. They say it’s also possible that any and all bone fragments found at the site were buried with Brian once the family interred him. The BCSO has brought in cadaver dogs to the burn site and they did not discover any human remains, said Glander. The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) additionally reviewed the case around 2004, also without a resolution, he said.

Officials have confirmed that, in terms of Bernard and Peggy, neighbors also assisted in a search for them after the fire within about a mile of the house, including surrounding tree groves and marshes in the event that one or both of them may have escaped the fire only to succumb to their injuries there. But they were not found.

Glander said someone had reported hearing an airplane coming from the direction of the property that evening and some tracks were discovered on the ground that someone thought may have been made by a plane’s landing gear, but it was unconfirmed. Someone else thought the tracks could’ve been made by another vehicle, such as a hay wagon, said Glander.

Peggy’s brother, the now late George Parmenter, was among those attempting to locate them and assist authorities. He reported being at a neighboring farm when he was alerted about the fire. Records show he sold the property to Terry Paurus in 1998 and that the property is now owned by Andy Paurus, son and grandson, respectively, of the late Clarence Paurus, who was sheriff of Becker County from 1985 to 1994. Paurus was a sheriff’s deputy at the time of the fire and Jerod “Jerry” Townsend was sheriff at that time, serving from 1975 to 1978. 

“This whole area was pretty well scoured” by search teams, Clarence was quoted as saying about the area around the burn site in The Sunday Forum of June 27, 1976.

The same article said that, according to Clarence, it was determined the fire remains did not include the two missing adults. That dovetails with what C.C. Tallman, a deputy state fire marshal in Detroit Lakes, was quoted as stating in that same article. He said he believed at that point in time that Bernard and Peggy were still alive.

“We have no reason to believe anything else,” Tallman was quoted as stating.

If the couple were alive today, Bernard, born on April 22, 1927, would be 99 years old and Peggy would be around 91.

Glander is the eighth sheriff to serve in Becker County since the fire occurred. He and Sweere confirmed that any leads where people reported that they saw Bernard and Peggy, including in such places as Minneapolis, Savage and Paynesville, were proven false. It was discovered that, although the people resembled them, the follow up process discovered that they were not them.

The entire process has yielded more questions than answers, but officials hope to some day be able to provide those answers that family members have been waiting for.

“That’s the goal is to find an answer for the families,” Glander said. “That’s our job is to hopefully have an answer.”

Numerous people have spoken that they believe foul play was involved in this case, but nothing has ever been proven, for the record.

Glander confirmed on Friday, April 17, that there is a marked gravesite for Bernard in Moorhead, Minn., but that there is no body buried in that plot. He said he believes it was established, complete with a headstone, by family but unsure which individual family members. The headstone, as pictured on the findagrave.com website, indicates he was a U.S. Navy veteran who served during World War II. Additional information about Bernard can be found on the website along with copies of newspaper articles written about the case. A picture of him is also shown on the site along with a picture of his headstone at Riverside Cemetery in Moorhead. A notation on the site states: “Remains were never found when home burned down on 3 April 1976.”

“Were they kidnapped?” Glander said when interviewed for a TV segment earlier this month by KARE 11 reporter Felicity Dachel. “Did they leave on their own? Did something happen before the fire? I think that’s all speculation, because we just don’t know. Anybody who has information, please, please come and talk to us.”

Valley News Live reporter Kortney Arnold also recently interviewed Sheriff Glander on the 50th anniversary of the fire. He said it would make him happy, before he retires in January, to be able to finally give the families answers, as well as the families of two other individuals in Becker County who went missing years ago and have never been found. 

Milda McQuillan was 71-years-old when she left her residence on Round Lake on June 17, 1975, to visit friends on the West side of Bad Medicine Lake. Her vehicle was located in a heavily wooded area west of Bad Medicine, but she has been missing ever since that day. The other missing person case involves Melissa Eagleshield who was last seen by friends at an Island Lake residence near County Road 126 on Oct. 5, 2014. The then 42-year-old was reported missing to authorities the next day after family and friends did not hear from her.