drew.
i looked him up online, and i found this story on the winona university website. here's what happened, froma bias point of view of course.
WINONA, Minn., March 30, 2006 -- The vicious pool cue-beating of a Winona couple in their 50s shocked decent people. Not only was it the ferocity of the attacks but also the apparent senselessness. Why had such a thing happened to innocent victims? The following is a reconstruction of events leading up to the early Tuesday attack and also the attack itself. The information is based on interviews and on court documents and proceedings. The acount includes fictitious names for the beating victims, who, initially fearing followup atacks, have asked not to be identified in news stories.
Sometime before the attack, John Michael Fitzgerald, 21, a Winona State University junior, and a buddy, Drew Nicholas Steinquist, 19, who grew up in Winona, partied at SteinquistÕs apartment. At the party was the younger son of the beating victims, who, in deference to his parents request for anonynity, is called Richard in this account. Richard had known Steinquist at least since their days as Winona High School classmates.
After Richard left the party, Steinquist discovered that his safe was missing. Everyone at the party attributed the theft to Richard. According to Steinquist, the safe had contained as much as $2,000 and between one and four ounces of marijuana, which, according to word on the street, would be worth between $300 and $1,600 in Winona.
Two days before the attack, Fitzgerald showed up at the home of Richard's parents and asked for him. Told that Richard didn't live there any more, Fitzgerald left without incident. Richard, who himself has a criminal record in Winona County, had in fact been kicked out of the house by his parents just days earlier, and wound up in Texas, where he was arrested on unrelated matters and remains jailed.
On the night of the attack, Fitzgerald and Steinquist drove Fitzgerald's Chevy Tahoe to the house of Richard's parents. Fitzgerald was drunk. Like always, he had his pool cue stored in a case in the truck. The two men broke into the house by pushing in a panel of plexiglass on the front door and turning the deadbolt lock. Steinquist, who wearing gloves, a bandana to covering his face, hid in a closet. Richard mother, whom we'll call Sarah, 55, was asleep with her husband upstairs but heard a noise and cautiously went downstairs. She held a flashlight in one hand and a cell phone in the other. It was then, around 1:30 a.m. that the vicious beating began.
Steinquist sprang from the closet and knocked Sarah Jones to the floor. Fitzgerald than began beating her. The husband, whom we'll call Robert, 57, heard his wife screaming and raced downstairs to find Fitzgerald bludgeoning his wife with a pool cue. Steinquist and Fitzgerald then ordered the husband to the ground and beat him as well. All the while, taunting the couple by saying their son Richard was illegitimate and had stolen $2,000 from them and that they were going to kill them. Fitzgerald then ordered Steinquist to tie up the couple, which he did with towels from another room. Fitzgerald and Steinquist then left. All told, the home invasion and beating lasted about an hour.
Steinquist ditched a piece of the towel in a neighboring yard. The two drove off to dump the gloves and pool cue in a dumpster of a grocery store. They then drove to a Kwik Trip, where Fitzgerald coolly bought a pack of cigarettes.
Meanwhile, the badly beaten couple struggled to free themselves to call for help. It took them about 20 minutes to break free from the towels. Sarah called 9-1-1 at 2:45 a.m. Both the husband and wife were rushed to the Winona hospital, then airlifted to Gundersen Lutheran Hospital in La Crosse. Sarah's eyes were completely swollen shut. Paramedics initially thought that both the husband and wife had sustained fractured skulls because of their psychological conditions. Amazingly, neither suffered a broken bone or fracture. Robert was released after two days. Sarah has yet to be released, her eyes still swollen shut. The majority of the trauma was to their heads and necks.
The next day, another of the couple's sons, whom we'll call Jeff, arrived at the Winona Law Enforcement Center with Steinquist's roommate. The roommate told police that he had been at the party when the safe had been stolen and that Steinquist had blamed Richard. Using that information, and the initial criminal descriptions given by the victims, police obtained an arrest warrant for Steinquist. Steinquist was arrested later that morning while driving out of Winona on Highway 43.
In custody, Steinquist was quick to offer his confession and gave up Fitzgerald as an accomplice. Fitzgerald was arrested that night at his apartment. He also immediately admitted his guilt. Police then searched Fitzgerald's Chevy Tahoe and apartment and added to their list of evidence: the safe, clothes and shoes, the gloves and a bandana thought to have been worn by Steinquist, a pool cue, a pool cue case, the towel used to tie up the victims, and a Kwik Trip surveillance video of Fitzgerald immediately after the beating.
Fitzgerald and Steinquist remain in jail in lieu of $250,000 and $200,000 bail, respectively. The two men are next due in court at 9 a.m., April 13.
WINONA, Minn., March 30, 2006 -- The vicious pool cue-beating of a Winona couple in their 50s shocked decent people. Not only was it the ferocity of the attacks but also the apparent senselessness. Why had such a thing happened to innocent victims? The following is a reconstruction of events leading up to the early Tuesday attack and also the attack itself. The information is based on interviews and on court documents and proceedings. The acount includes fictitious names for the beating victims, who, initially fearing followup atacks, have asked not to be identified in news stories.
Sometime before the attack, John Michael Fitzgerald, 21, a Winona State University junior, and a buddy, Drew Nicholas Steinquist, 19, who grew up in Winona, partied at SteinquistÕs apartment. At the party was the younger son of the beating victims, who, in deference to his parents request for anonynity, is called Richard in this account. Richard had known Steinquist at least since their days as Winona High School classmates.
After Richard left the party, Steinquist discovered that his safe was missing. Everyone at the party attributed the theft to Richard. According to Steinquist, the safe had contained as much as $2,000 and between one and four ounces of marijuana, which, according to word on the street, would be worth between $300 and $1,600 in Winona.
Two days before the attack, Fitzgerald showed up at the home of Richard's parents and asked for him. Told that Richard didn't live there any more, Fitzgerald left without incident. Richard, who himself has a criminal record in Winona County, had in fact been kicked out of the house by his parents just days earlier, and wound up in Texas, where he was arrested on unrelated matters and remains jailed.
On the night of the attack, Fitzgerald and Steinquist drove Fitzgerald's Chevy Tahoe to the house of Richard's parents. Fitzgerald was drunk. Like always, he had his pool cue stored in a case in the truck. The two men broke into the house by pushing in a panel of plexiglass on the front door and turning the deadbolt lock. Steinquist, who wearing gloves, a bandana to covering his face, hid in a closet. Richard mother, whom we'll call Sarah, 55, was asleep with her husband upstairs but heard a noise and cautiously went downstairs. She held a flashlight in one hand and a cell phone in the other. It was then, around 1:30 a.m. that the vicious beating began.
Steinquist sprang from the closet and knocked Sarah Jones to the floor. Fitzgerald than began beating her. The husband, whom we'll call Robert, 57, heard his wife screaming and raced downstairs to find Fitzgerald bludgeoning his wife with a pool cue. Steinquist and Fitzgerald then ordered the husband to the ground and beat him as well. All the while, taunting the couple by saying their son Richard was illegitimate and had stolen $2,000 from them and that they were going to kill them. Fitzgerald then ordered Steinquist to tie up the couple, which he did with towels from another room. Fitzgerald and Steinquist then left. All told, the home invasion and beating lasted about an hour.
Steinquist ditched a piece of the towel in a neighboring yard. The two drove off to dump the gloves and pool cue in a dumpster of a grocery store. They then drove to a Kwik Trip, where Fitzgerald coolly bought a pack of cigarettes.
Meanwhile, the badly beaten couple struggled to free themselves to call for help. It took them about 20 minutes to break free from the towels. Sarah called 9-1-1 at 2:45 a.m. Both the husband and wife were rushed to the Winona hospital, then airlifted to Gundersen Lutheran Hospital in La Crosse. Sarah's eyes were completely swollen shut. Paramedics initially thought that both the husband and wife had sustained fractured skulls because of their psychological conditions. Amazingly, neither suffered a broken bone or fracture. Robert was released after two days. Sarah has yet to be released, her eyes still swollen shut. The majority of the trauma was to their heads and necks.
The next day, another of the couple's sons, whom we'll call Jeff, arrived at the Winona Law Enforcement Center with Steinquist's roommate. The roommate told police that he had been at the party when the safe had been stolen and that Steinquist had blamed Richard. Using that information, and the initial criminal descriptions given by the victims, police obtained an arrest warrant for Steinquist. Steinquist was arrested later that morning while driving out of Winona on Highway 43.
In custody, Steinquist was quick to offer his confession and gave up Fitzgerald as an accomplice. Fitzgerald was arrested that night at his apartment. He also immediately admitted his guilt. Police then searched Fitzgerald's Chevy Tahoe and apartment and added to their list of evidence: the safe, clothes and shoes, the gloves and a bandana thought to have been worn by Steinquist, a pool cue, a pool cue case, the towel used to tie up the victims, and a Kwik Trip surveillance video of Fitzgerald immediately after the beating.
Fitzgerald and Steinquist remain in jail in lieu of $250,000 and $200,000 bail, respectively. The two men are next due in court at 9 a.m., April 13.