The Story of Russell Turcotte

The body of a missing 19-year-old Montana man last seen in Grand Forks was found Tuesday 12 miles northwest of Devils Lake, and authorities have started a homicide investigation into his death. Russell Turcotte,
Wolf Point, Mont., was found dead in a shelter belt near Penn, N.D., half a mile north of U.S. Highway 2 by a man looking for his cattle, said Steve Hamre, Ramsey County Sheriff.
He was last seen at a Grand Forks gas station July 14.

The Ramsey County coroner said Turcotte's body may have been at the
spot since late July or early August, Hamre said. The sheriff declined to
comment on how Turcotte died but said the case is being investigated as a
homicide. Surprising search Trent Haberstroh, Hansboro, N.D., said he
was transporting cattle to Devils Lake late Monday. The tailgate was open
and two cows fell out about eight miles northwest of Devils Lake, Haberstroh said.
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Attempts to round up the cows by Haberstroh and several friends
were unsuccessful, and the group decided to call it a night at about
midnight and come back in the morning, he said. Early Tuesday, Haberstroh
was out looking for his cattle again, with two friends and his wife.
Haberstroh said he found one cow, tied it up to a tree and walked through
the trees to get back to his pickup. On the way to the truck, he found
Turcotte's nearly nude body lying among the trees at about 10 a.m.

(ID check): The body was two feet into the shelter belt and partially decomposed, Hamre
said. Tuesday afternoon, the Ramsey County Sheriff's Dept. contacted the
Grand Forks County Sheriff's Dept. because Ramsey County has no reports of
missing persons and the body was similar to the description of Turcotte,
said Major Mike Fonder, Grand Forks County Sheriff's chief deputy.


Information was exchanged and Turcotte's mother, Linda Flynn
of Wolf Point, Mont., provided Turcotte's dental records after she
was contacted by the Ramsey County officials. The body and Turcotte's
dental records were sent to Bismarck for an autopsy by the state
medical examiner. Recent GF search Wednesday afternoon, after preliminary
autopsy results, Flynn was notified of her son's death.
"I knew he didn't just run away," she cried.
"I kept telling everybody that. It hurts so bad." She and other family members
and friends came to Grand Forks last month with a Texas
search team and spent four days looking for Turcotte in the area.

Turcotte was on his way home
from a hippie gathering in Michigan in July

when he called his mother in Grand Forks and asked for $75 for a train ticket.
The family became deeply worried when Turcotte, described by friends and
family as a happy and easy-going person, never claimed the
$100 Flynn wired to him and later
missed his best friend's wedding in August.

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