On this Date in Minnesota History: August 28

August 28, 1996 –While driving from a youth group meeting at the Hermantown Community Church on this date, 17-year-old Paul Antonich of Two Harbors, Minn., accidently rear-ended the car in front of him at a stoplight on Sixth Avenue and Ninth Street downtown Duluth. The driver and four passengers got out of the car that was hit and began arguing with Antonich and assaulting him. One of the young men pushed Antonich into the passenger seat of his car and got in the driver’s seat. Both cars were driven to a rural area in neighboring Carlton County.

“The next morning authorities responded to a call from a logger who had discovered a Toyota Tercel partially submerged in a drainage ditch near the Ditchbank Road in rural Carlton County. After the car was pulled from the ditch and identified as belonging to Larry and Mary Antonich of Two Harbors, authorities found Antonichs' body in the trunk. The St. Louis County medical examiner determined Antonich's death resulted from multiple gunshot wounds inflicted after Antonich had received a severe beating.”¹

The five young men were eventually arrested; three of them were convicted of first-degree murder and serving mandatory life sentences, one received a reduced sentence after cooperating with authorities after the murder.² The fifth man also received a plea bargain that “called for 30 years in prison, which translates to less than 18 years with credit for time in jail and good behavior in prison.”<sup>3

1</sup>http://caselaw.findlaw.com/mn-supreme-court/1208039.html
²http://www.northlandsnewscenter.com/news/local/30454399.html
³http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-62475824.html

Paul Antonich

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/image/id/23885/