MONTEVIDEO, Minn. — Nearly three years after a 36-year-old man was found dead on a popular Montevideo hiking trail, a postal worker found the body of a 69-year-old man with fatal stab wounds just blocks away. far.

The two deaths are unrelated, according to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. But their research has similarities.

In both cases, information provided by the Montevideo Police Department to the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office played a critical role in determining the cause and manner of death.

Both cases were investigated as suspicious deaths, and the death certificates in both cases list suicide as the manner of death.

Refugio Rodriguez was found on her knees in Chinhinta Park on September 20, 2020, with a hose tied around her neck and tied to a tree.

Forum News Service’s investigation showed that police failed to investigate credible leads pointing to threats against Rodriguez’s life. Critical details in the police report contradicted the final summary of the autopsy, and evidence collected at the scene was ignored. It is not yet known where the tornado originated. Instead, police immediately closed the case and labeled Rodriguez’s death a suicide.

Forum News Service reports on Rodriguez’s case

Demanded a reconsideration of the investigation

by BCA. The investigation continues.

Mitch Twite was discovered with a stab wound in the early morning hours of September 18, 2023.

In a grassy area adjacent to the parking lot of the Montevideo post office, which is across the street from the bar where he works.

His death was deemed suspicious, according to a press release issued by the Montevideo Police Department on September 18, 2023.

“The Montevideo Police Department is investigating a suspicious death after a postal worker discovered the body of a man at 6:30 this morning,” the press release states.

The statement stated that there was no known threat to the public.

A year later, his investigation is still open, and his publicly available death certificate, signed by the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office, states that he “stabbed himself with a knife and deliberately jumped over a high wall.”

Trisha Taurinskas / Forum News Service

Despite the information on Twitter’s official death certificate, the Montevideo Police Department’s official investigation has not yet been closed. Twitter’s case is considered an open and active investigation. The investigation file will become public when and if his case is closed.

The Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office’s general guidelines for concluding cause and manner of death include three basic components: death scene examination, knowledge of the circumstances, and autopsy.

In Chippewa County, information regarding the death scene investigation and the circumstances surrounding his death was forwarded to the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office by the appropriate law enforcement agency.

In the Tweet case, the Montevideo Police Department responded to the scene with the assistance of BCA.

Montevideo Police Chief Ken Schule declined to comment on information on the death certificate that showed Twite stabbed himself before jumping from a fenced ledge. The fence stands approximately 3 meters high.

Schule told Forum News Service in May that the investigation was open and ongoing.

“We hope to be able to provide a case update soon once we are able to provide more information,” Schule said in an email at the time.

Schule said in a follow-up email on October 31 that “there are no new updates at this time.”

Contributed / Inn Like Flinn’s

The Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office declined to answer questions about the circumstances surrounding Twite’s death, citing the investigation’s classification as open and active.

The autopsy process in cases involving suspicious deaths in Chippewa County begins when law enforcement contacts the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office to notify them that a body has been found.

Then the investigation begins.

In cases within Chippewa County jurisdiction, where Rodriguez and Twite are both located, local law enforcement is responsible for the death scene investigation and investigation to uncover information regarding the circumstances leading to death.

In Rodriguez’s case, BCA was not called to the scene.

The initial investigation was conducted solely by the Montevideo Police Department.

In the Tweet case, the Montevideo Police Department responded to the scene and received assistance from BCA. However, the Montevideo Police Department is considered the lead investigative agency.

The third part of the process to determine the manner and cause of death involves a full autopsy, including a toxicology report conducted by Midwest Medical Examiner pathologists.

After all steps such as crime scene investigation, death investigation and autopsy are completed, the manner and cause of death are determined.

A death certificate is issued and made public, and the full autopsy report is made available to family members of the deceased.

However, the conclusion of the autopsy report does not automatically end the investigation of law enforcement forces.

The law enforcement investigation ends only when the lead agency’s investigators conclusively determine the cause of death. When a case is closed in Minnesota, the contents of the file become publicly available through a formal data request.

If an agency does not formally settle a case, the case will remain open and not available to the public.

This is part of an ongoing series about Twite’s death.