They talked with John for several minutes, asked questions, and then left. They gave no further indication of what actually had happened at Byron’s home. As we wondered about our friend, Facebook was a source of information about the two teenagers that had been shot and killed burglarizing a home on Thanksgiving. My heart sank as I discovered that the red car was the car of the teens and our friend was now in jail for shooting them as they broke into his home.
Nick Brady and Haile Kifer were teens unknown to me even though I had a son who went to Little Falls High School and knew who they were. Their Facebook pages appeared to show that they were very troubled teens, obviously as they were breaking into someone’s home on a holiday. Rumors from schoolmates spread that Haile had recently been in rehab for chemical dependency. Another rumor insisted that she had moved away from her parents and had been living with a boyfriend right after she turned eighteen. Nick had the reputation of being a bully. He had been attending school in Pillager, a town thirty miles from Little Falls, and had been living with his grandparents. His Facebook page showed him holding a gun, and it wasn’t a hunting picture. His best friend, Cody Kasper, was said to have gone on this burglarizing mission along with the other two, but an invitation from a friend, Logan, to go snowboarding trumped the burglary. Little did he realize then that decision saved his life that day. Cody had been hired by Byron to do yard work during the summer of 2011. John said that Byron had been talking about what a great kid he was and how he wanted to teach him to deer hunt with a bow and arrow and what a hard worker he was. Cody happened to be at our home one day, and when my son got home from school, he asked what that kid was doing in our yard. John had hired him to stack some wood, along with another young man, Colt, who was a classmate of Dilan’s at the time. Dilan was very upset with his dad for hiring Cody. He stated that Cody had a bad reputation and seemed to always find trouble. Dilan was so adamant about Cody John immediately told Cody he was done working.
On October 27, 2012, Byron had gone to St. Cloud, a thirty-mile trip, and was gone for about six hours. When he arrived home, he noticed the door to the basement had been kicked in and as he entered, every drawer had been overturned, and every room upstairs had been turned upside down. He called the police right away. A deputy, Jamie Luberts, arrived thirty minutes later. After the deputy reviewed the scene and left, Byron later discovered a shoe print from the door panel that had been knocked out. It was the print of a skateboard-type shoe, so it was determined by Byron himself that the burglars were likely younger in age, not adults. He actually took the shoe print from the door to the sheriff’s office on the following Monday as the deputy had missed this piece of evidence. He spent about one and a half hours at the sheriff’s department waiting to show the deputy this piece of evidence. During that time, he talked with another deputy about the hopelessness, the despair, and the fear he had felt in the last several months due to missing guns and cash. The deputy stated that “if they want to get in, they’ll find a way.” This was not the first break-in to Byron’s home. The first known burglary started in July that summer with about three thousand dollars in cash stolen. He had recently decided to pay for things with more cash and less credit cards. He had not reported the theft because he knew there would be nothing that could be done about it, and a small part of him thought maybe he had misplaced it. Someone had gained entry without force, saw the envelope of cash, and helped themselves. Many times as he did yard work on his acreage, he would leave the house unlocked, as many of us do in our seemingly safe, quiet neighborhood. But in September, he also noticed that a new chainsaw had gone missing from his garage, among other small tools. Again, he thought maybe he misplaced the items. Then he realized, around the beginning of October, a couple of guns his father had purchased long ago in the upstairs closet were not there. He was unsettled and didn’t know what to think. He kept wondering if he had misplaced the items, so he never reported anything at that time. During this time, he had also been frightened by the ringing of his doorbell at strange times during the night. When he got up to answer and turned the light on, there was no one at the door. Then came October 27. Not only was thirty-two thousand dollars’ worth of gold coins and cash taken, but also his father’s 1962 Rolex watch given to him by the French government for being a POW, a camera he purchased overseas with a one-of-a-kind lens attached that was worth about six thousand dollars, and a video camera. He believed that thieves who steal guns use guns. His panic turned to sheer fear as he went to Walmart and Iron Hills Pawn to replace the stolen rifle and shotgun. Byron gave the deputy a list of all the neighbors to question that might have seen something that day. None of the neighbors even knew about this break-in at the time as that deputy assigned to investigate never contacted any of the close neighbors or notified any of us to be on our guard for possible burglars in the neighborhood. Byron was in constant fear of his own life as not only did they take sentimental valuables but these thieves also had his guns and ammunition. The garage of his other property adjacent to his family home had also been broken into on the same day in October, the door kicked in and tools taken, just as the door had been kicked in at his other home. It was obvious that a pattern was emerging, and it was not if they would come back but when. He dared not leave his home for fear of it being burglarized again. And he was fearful of staying there, as he knew the burglars were getting more violent and they now had his weapons. Every break-in had occurred when he was not at home, seemingly in broad daylight. Who was watching to know when he left his home so burglars could come in and take whatever they wanted? He started sleeping with a pistol and carried it all times while on his property. Since he didn’t have a permit, he left it at the end of his driveway when he went to the grocery store. He started taking sleeping pills for the first time in his life. He could only sleep about three hours each night even with the sleep aids. Was there someone in the neighborhood watching him leave? Since his home was at the dead-end of Elm Street, only a few neighbors could see his comings and his goings. Pine trees sheltered the house, so it was hidden from street view. No one would ever see suspicious activity. During the past several months, unusual doorbell ringing was concerning. This had happened so many times that he reversed the tone, so that instead of ding dong, it rang dong ding. He did this because he thought he was dreaming and this would convince him otherwise. He was correct. He knew by early October that when the doorbell rang, it went dong ding and he was not dreaming this. He knew someone was wondering if he was home or not. If he wasn’t home at night, burglars would be then free to do another home invasion. Several of the other neighbors had stated they heard their doorbell ring in the middle of the night too. On the Monday before Thanksgiving, Byron cleaned out a space in his garage to store his 1969 Nova. John had told him about the recent vandalism in Swanville, a nearby town in Morrison County, in which car windshields had been broken to steal contents in cars on the main street. He feared that the same people committing those crimes were possibly breaking into his home. On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, he cleaned out another stall to store his SUV. On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, he continued to secure two motorcycles into the same garage to protect against vandalism or theft. As he was cleaning, moving, and storing, Byron noticed a flicker of light near his home. He sped off at once, running toward his house for fear it was being robbed again. When he discovered no one at his home, he continued to move more items in the garage.
Nick Brady and Haile Kifer had entered his home on Thanksgiving Day by breaking a bedroom window. Nick was the first to enter. Byron had installed surveillance cameras after the October burglaries upon the recommendation of the deputy. The cameras showed Nick Brady casing the house, trying to get in through doors, and then noticing the camera and trying to turn it away from him. Byron had locked and dead bolted all doors and windows in order to deter anyone from entering. This was an everyday habit. Since October 27, he set up an audio recorder every day to record any sound of a burglary. With his extensive background installing security systems, his ultimate fear was that he might die a violent death one day and wanted a recording so police had some clues to the crime. He had become a prisoner in his own home. It was likely that someone watching, possibly in the neighborhood, had to have notified Nick and Haile as they saw Byron leave in his silver pickup, undoubtedly, they thought for a Thanksgiving dinner with friends. Byron had to pass over twenty homes with his truck that morning. Was there someone watching him leave? He left his yard to move his pickup that day to continue his moving and storing and also to prevent that vehicle from the dangers of vandalism. The garage he was moving things for storage was about a quarter mile from his home, so at times his property would not be visible to him. As he left his yard around 11:30 a.m., he
