•  CASE STUDIES
   by Leon Podles
• Philip Anthony Magaldi
• Peter Kramer
• Donald Matthew Osgood
• Canon N.
• Clive Lynn
• Edward Donelan
  
•  MURDER CASE STUDIES
   by Leon Podles
• Joseph J. Pilger
• Michael Mack
• John Patrick Kerrigan
• Alfred J. Kunz
• Reynaldo Rivera
• Irene Garza
• Patrick Ryan
• John J. Geoghan
• Ryan Erickson

The Rev. Ryan Erickson Case Study

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by Leon J. Podles

Published by the Crossland Foundation, December 19, 2008
© Copyright, Crossland Foundation, 2008

 

 

A Shadowed Past1After the John Doe Hearing on October 3, 2005 (State of Wisconsin, Circuit Court of St. Croix County: State of Wisconsin vs. John Doe, Case #03-JD-05; henceforth John Doe), the Hudson police released all investigative files about the murder except those that could not legally be released. The documents that could not be released were medical evaluations, letters of complaint from parishioners to Bishop Fliss (because they could have been used to take a personnel action), and the pornographic pictures found on Erickson’s computer. The files used in this case study were obtained from the Hudson Police Department and the transcript of testimony at the John Doe hearing was obtained from the Clerk of Court.

Ryan Gene Erickson was born in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin on January 17, 1973.  His father, Dennis, a Vietnam veteran, was a prison guard and an alcoholic, in part because of horrendous experiences he had had while he was a soldier in Vietnam.2Ryan Gene Erickson, “My Autobiographical Sketch for Clinical Pastoral Education,” obtained by police from hard drive of Erickson’s computer.

 

When he had a psychological evaluation as part of his seminary training, Ryan Erickson admitted that at the age of six he had had sexual contact with his 4-year-old male cousin.3Letter from [signature page missing] to Rev. Kevin M. Gordon, Vocation Director, Diocese of Superior, August 28, 1996.

 

After attending St. Matthew’s parish school and a public school, in 1988 Erickson went to high school in Campbellsport. He was active in wrestling, football, track, and cross country. A teammate on the wrestling team later said that Erickson tried to assault him sexually in 1991 when the boy was fifteen years old. They drank, watched a pornographic movie, and fell asleep. The boy woke to find Erickson groping his genitals.4 Heron Marquez Estrada and Randy First, “Horrors Are Still Emerging Three Years After the Slayings,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, October 5, 2005. An anonymous caller who said he went to high school with Erickson told the Hudson Police that he was on the wrestling team with Erickson, and that Erickson had molested him on several occasions when the caller had visited Erickson’s home (Hudson Police Department, Case J-02 0477, Supplemental Report Form, December 23, 2004). This may have been the same incident that Erickson admitted to seminary officials when he said that when he was seventeen years old, he had sexual contact with a boy who was fourteen.5Letter from [signature page missing] to Rev. Kevin M. Gordon, Vocation Director, Diocese of Superior, August 28, 1996.

 

The young Ryan Erickson was polite and deferential to adults,6Howard Sinker, Richard Meryhew, Randy Furst, and Paul Levy, “‘Father Ryan’ Cloaked Himself in Many Faces,” Minneapolis Star-Tribune, December 11, 2005. but also drank and had violent outbursts. He later said that one of the few things he felt guilt about was being a bully.7Hudson Police Department, Case J-02 0477, Interview of December 7, 2004, p. 42, ll. 31-32. A schoolmate remembered that Erickson would “spin around and claim to be ‘Wonderwoman,’” and would “intimidate” younger students.8Hudson Police Department, Case J-02 0477, Supplemental Report Form, January 14, 2005. Because the names of informants have been redacted in many of these reports, I have given only the date of the report. Erickson was cruel to animals: he filled gopher holes with water and then waited with a golf club to smash the gophers as they tried to escape. He burned the remains of the animals or put them on stakes, and he made a small electric chair to fry a gopher. He threw cats into the air and shot at them.9Heron Marquez Estrada and Randy First, “Horrors Are Still Emerging Three Years After the Slayings,” Minneapolis Star-Tribune, October 5, 2005; Kevin Harter, “Priest Role Gave Erickson Cover: Hints of Violence Trailed Devout Man,” St. Paul Pioneer Press, October 16, 2005.

 

After his father was transferred from the area, Ryan, then seventeen years old, lived with a priest, Rev. Michael Moran, for about eighteen months so that he could finish high school in Campbellsport.10“Diocese Says Tests Showed Erickson Fit for Priesthood,”Hudson Star-Observer, October 7, 2005. During the time he stayed with Father Moran in Campbellsport, he formed “strong religious beliefs” to the point of being “opinionated” and if challenged he became “aggressive” to the point “of being angry.”11Hudson Police Department, Case J-02 0477, Supplemental Report Form, January 14, 2005. Because the names of informants have been redacted in many of these reports, I have given only the date of the report. The source on this report indicated that there had been “rumors” that “there may have been some homosexual activity occurring” at the rectory. Erickson graduated in May of 1992.

 

When he was eighteen years old, Erickson was at the Eagle River campground in Wisconsin. A woman remembered him: “My son was 14 and all the kids ran around together. It was pretty obvious to me that he was gay. He talked constantly about becoming a priest, and I just assumed it was because he didn’t want to come out to his parents…. How do I know he was gay? His attitude toward girls, for one thing. He was a good-looking kid, and the girls were always flirting with him, but he wouldn’t have anything to do with them, which I can tell you is quite unusual for an 18-year-old boy.” Ryan also, according to this woman, drank heavily.12Bruce Rubenstein, “The Sins of the Father,” City Pages, October 5, 2005.

 

Investigator Albert L. Thompson of the Vilas County, Wisconsin, District Attorney’s Office reported that a boy, who was about fourteen or fifteen years old at the time, met Erickson at the Eagle Lake Resort in the summer of 1992. The boy went to Erickson’s trailer around midnight; Erickson told him scary stories about the devil and massaged the naked boy to calm him.

Erickson fondled the boy’s genitals and then offered to give the boy oral sex. The boy refused.13Vilas County District Attorney’s Office, Case CSO 94-2231, Investigator’s Report, March 14, 1994. The boy reported this incident to his mother, who went to the police. But by then the boy was depressed and undergoing therapy for emotional trauma. He had grave doubts about his sexual orientation and was thinking of enlisting in the Marines in order to prove his manliness. Therefore, Thompson concluded, the boy “may not be a reliable witness” and, without any other witnesses, this allegation would have to be considered “uncorroborated” and therefore “I do not feel that the burden of proof ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ can be met.”14Vilas County District Attorney’s Office, Case CSO 94-2231, Investigator’s Report, May 10, 1994; Paul Levy, “Erickson Was Dogged by Sex Accusations,” Star Tribune, October 13, 2005.  But Thompson said that he “was not totally convinced that Ryan is totally innocent of some impropriety” but because Ryan is in the seminary “that the benefit of any doubt should be given to him.”15Letter from Albert L. Thompson, Sensitive Crimes Investigator to Father Kevin Gordon, Archdiocese of Northern Wisconsin, July 13, 1994.

 

Before he entered the Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary, which was on the campus of St. Mary’s University in Winona, Wisconsin, Erickson in July 1992 had a psychological evaluation by Dr. Anthony Mullozzi16Hudson Police Department, Case J-02 0477, Homicide Assessment. that concluded that he was “problem free, appeared healthy, psychologically stable and would make an outstanding priest.”17“Diocese of Superior Statement on the Late Rev. Ryan Erickson,” Winona Daily News, October 8, 2005. This was the same summer as the incident at Eagle Lake.

 

In 1994 the Superior diocese received the report about the Eagle Lake incident from the Vilas County District Attorney that “a teenage boy told police that Erickson fondled the teen’s genitals and asked to perform oral sex on him in 1992.” But the district attorney had decided not to file charges.18 Paul Levy, “Erickson Was Dogged by Sex Accusations,” Star Tribune, October 13, 2005. Bishop Fliss acknowledged receipt of this letter.19Steve Scot and Kevin Harter, “Sex Charges Go Back Years,” St. Paul Pioneer Press, October 5, 2005. The investigator wrote in May 1994 that “the bishop has relieved Erickson of all responsibilities associated with young people and directed that he undergo another psychological examination, this time devoted entirely toward Erickson’s sexual orientation and persuasion.”20Heron Marquez Estrada, “Horrors Are Still Emerging Three Years After the Slayings,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, October 5, 2005. The diocese was concerned because of this allegation and “another unproved allegation within his extended family and a compromising situation with his classmate and close friend.”21Letter from [page with signature missing, but on letterhead of Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary] to Rev. Phillip J. Rask, Rector, St. Paul Seminary, May 16, 1996. These later two incidents are not explained; the first may be the one that occurred between Erickson and a cousin when Erickson was six years old; the latter may be the incident in which a seminary student woke up and found Erickson sitting on his bed. Erickson received therapy from Dr. George Planavsky, who detected some problems because Erickson was the adult child of an alcoholic, but who indicated he had “no significant reservations regarding Ryan’s continuance as candidate for priestly study.”22Letter from Rev. Kevin M. Gordon to Rev. Ron Powers, Director of Admissions, St. Paul Seminary, August 1, 1996.

 

Erickson was only provisionally admitted to St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, because the admissions committee was concerned about “allegations of some form of sexual misconduct.”23Letter from [signature page missing] to Rev. Kevin Gordon, Vocations Director, August 28, 1996. Erickson in an earlier evaluation had admitted to two incidents, one when he was six years old and one when he was seventeen. The admission committee consulted Dr. Mark Hansen, who had serious reservations about Erickson. Hansen “found Erickson’s grasp of the allegations unreflective.” Hansen thought that Hansen’s two sexual experiences could be classified as “sexual experimentation, a normal experience” and did not appear to be criminal especially since Erickson was only six years old when one incident occurred. But, Hansen noted, Erickson said “police investigated both events.” This puzzled Hansen: “If there was no criminal behavior, why was there an investigation?” Hansen also questioned Planavsky’s favorable comments, on the general ground that “it is inappropriate for a psychiatrist or psychologist who is in a therapeutic relationship…to be involved in an evaluative process.”24Letter from [page with signature missing] to Rev. Kevin M. Gordon, Vocation Director, August 28, 1996. But Hansen later agreed that Erickson was a “good candidate” (Letter from Rev. Phillip J. Rask to Ryan Erickson, October 25, 1996).

 

The seminary hired an evaluator, Dr. Jay McNamara, who concluded that Erickson’s behavior was within normal limits and Erickson did not appear to be “predatory or exploitative in his overall orientation and he does not seem to be a high risk for acting in a sexually aggressive or manipulative manner in the future.” To McNamara it was clear that Erickson was “not a sexual predator.”25Memo from Rev. Ronald J. Bowers, Admissions Committee Chair, to Rev. Phillip J. Rask, Rector, October 14, 1996.

 

The rector of the St. Paul seminary, Rev. Phillip Rask, asked the Superior diocese about a sexual misconduct allegation about Erickson.26Steve Scot and Kevin Harter, “Sex Charges Go Back Years,” St. Paul Pioneer Press, October 5, 2005. Rask was concerned about Erickson’s inability to control his impulses. One student complained that he woke up to find Erickson in his bed.27Steve Scot and Kevin Harter, “Sex Charges Go Back Years,” St. Paul Pioneer Press, October 5, 2005. Erickson was also disciplined for an unspecified heresy and between his third and fourth year at this seminary suddenly became a conservative or traditionalist. He began wearing a cassock28Kevin Harter, “Priest’s Peers Expressed Concern,” St. Paul Pioneer Press, March 11, 2006. to cover up, according to Rask, his impulses but Erickson was “unable to control his promiscuity.”29 Hudson Police Department, Case J-02 0477, Supplemental Report Form, February 21, 2005; “Interviews Show That Many Expressed Concerns,” Hudson Star-Observer, March 23, 2006. His fellow seminarians called him “the Monsignor” because of his views.30Bruce Rubenstein, “The Sins of the Father,” City Pages, October 5, 2005.

Because Erickson was ha

ndy with guns and was an excellent shot, Rask had him shoot the rabbits which were destroying the seminary garden.31Hudson Police Department, Case J-02 0477, Supplemental Report Form, February 21, 2005.

 

Erickson’s drinking problems did not escape notice at the seminary. During his semester in Israel, the seminary received repeated reports that Erickson was “out drinking every night.”32Ryan Erickson, Third Year Review, Summary of Faculty Comments, April 12, 1999. After a trip to Israel, he was asked to undergo an assessment for alcoholism. In 1998 he told a fellow student, “I’m an alcoholic, but I can fool the testers.”33Heron Marquez Estrada and Randy First, “Horrors Are Still Emerging Three Years After the Slayings,” Minneapolis Star-Tribune, October 5, 2005.Heron Marquez Estrada and Randy First, “Horrors Are Still Emerging Three Years After the Slayings,” Minneapolis Star-Tribune, October 5, 2005. Erickson had promised seminary officials that he would not use alcohol and said he was attending an AA group.34Fr. Phillip J. Rask, Ryan Erickson’s Deacon Review, October 20, 1999. On the return trip from Jerusalem, Erickson stopped in Rome and attended a private Mass with Pope John Paul II.35Letter from Ryan Erickson to [redacted], February 18, 1999.

 

While he was at the seminary Erickson was an intern at St. Anne’s parish in Somerset, Wisconsin, and worked there one weekend a month. His supervisor there, Rev. James Brinkman, remembered Erickson as “happy-go-lucky” and “very friendly,” in fact, “your normal, everyday, good-hearted American seminarian.”36 “Former Hudson Priest Says Clergy Feels Betrayed by Erickson,” Hudson Star-Observer, October 27, 2005. While on this stint at St. Anne’s, in 1999 Erickson met a visiting altar boy, Thomas Smith.37 “Former Hudson Priest Says Clergy Feels Betrayed by Erickson,” Hudson Star-Observer, October 27, 2005.

One seminary professor voted against ordaining Ryan. Quinn stated that “I have serious reservations about his strength of character, I see him as one who deflects responsibility for his actions, loose with his tongue, and somewhat manipulative.”38Faculty Canonical Vote for Students Petitioning Ordination to the Priesthood. Fourteen faculty members voted to ordain Erickson.

 

 

 

 

Footnotes

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