On This Date in Minnesota History: April 29

April 29, 1971 – Thomas Joseph Williams was indicted by a Carlton County grand jury for the deliberate, premeditated “assault on Susan Poferl with [a pair of] nylon pantyhose with intention to cause her death.” The following day, Williams was arraigned in District Court, and pleaded not guilty to a charge of first degree murder. Williams was appointed a district public defender, John D. Durfee of Duluth, as he claimed “he did not have the necessary funds to hire his own attorney.”

Williams was one of the last persons seen with Poferl at the Cloquet Labor Temple on March 21, the morning she was murdered.

The Pine Knot; “Williams Pleads Innocence In Susan Poferl’s Murder”; Cloquet, Minn.; May 6, 1971; p. 1.

Cloquet Labor Temple

Photo taken by Pamela J. Erickson. Released into the public domain March 25, 2013, as long as acknowledgement included.  

Murder of Susan Poferl; see March 21, 2013 blog
Body of Susan Poferl discovered; see March 25, 2013 blog
Thomas J. Williams acquitted of the first degree murder of Suan Poferl; see November 24, 2013 blog