Henry Layer confessed to murdering eight people, seven from the same family, in 1920. But now experts say he might have been protecting the real killer. Photo courtesy: The Murdered Family with edits by Emma Vatnsdal.

The Vault 10:00 am, Apr. 14, 2021

Dying words from man convicted of North Dakota’s worst mass murder suggests he was protecting real killers

In Episode #1 of The Turtle Lake Murders podcast, reporter Tracy Briggs recapped the horrific crime that happened on the farm of the Jacob and Beata Wolf family on April 22, 1920, when seven of eight family members were killed along with their farm hand. While a neighbor confessed to the homicides, several experts are now saying it appears the wrong man might have gone to jail all those years ago.

Aging software created a projection of Tammy Haas' appearance if she were alive. Haas, a Yankton native, was found dead in a ravine just south of the Nebraska border in 1992. (Photo courtesy of FBI)

The Vault 4:30 pm, Apr. 13, 2021

FBI, South Dakota police offer $15K reward for information on 1992 cold case death of Tammy Haas

This photo of the family was taken Wednesday, April 28, 1920, at the Wolf family farm several miles north of Turtle Lake in McLean County, North Dakota. The picture was most likely taken before the funeral service for the seven members of the Wolf family and their 13 year old farm hand murdered by gun and hatchet. Emma Wolf, the only member of the Wolf family to survive, is the baby in white just to the right of the second coffin from the left. She is being held by her aunt, Christina Hofer, her mother's older sister, who later adopted her. Photo courtesy: State Historical Society of North Dakota

The Vault 10:00 am, Apr. 13, 2021

Mystery still surrounds North Dakota's worst mass murder; who might really have killed 7 members of one Turtle Lake family?

Russell Bertram, 64, of Sioux Falls, right, is escorted in January from the Tripp County Courthouse by Gregory County Deputy Chelsea Biehl following an evidentiary hearing. (Forum News Service file photo)

The Vault 10:01 am, Apr. 6, 2021

Jealousy, greed marked 2016 murder trial of former South Dakota police chief Russell Bertram

Anita Ann Carlson, 22, was murdered in Bemidji in the summer of 1987 after being abducted from her job at Pete's Place West. Her killer has never been found. File photo.

The Vault 10:01 am, Mar. 30, 2021

The 1987 murder of Anita Carlson in northwestern Minnesota remains unsolved 34 years later

Mabel "Mae" Agnes Boyer Herman's body is removed from her home at 804 West Sixth Street by Willmar police officers Sanford Larson and Roger Klinghagen. Herman was found dead in her home on Jan. 27, 1974. Willmar police have made an arrest in the homicide that had remained unsolved for 46 years.
Mike Gunter / West Central Tribune file photo

The Vault 7:01 am, Mar. 24, 2021

South Dakota man faces possible trial for a decades-old west-central Minnesota murder case

Russell Turcotte, whose body was found in November 2002 in Ramsey County, N.D. Turcotte, from Wolf Point, Mont., was last seen alive in the summer of 2002 in Grand Forks.

The Vault 10:01 am, Mar. 16, 2021

Nearly two decades later, murder of Montana man who went missing in Grand Forks remains unsolved

The location on North Shore Drive in Duluth Township near the area where the body of Dale Wheeler was found in 1983. Wheeler, whose killing in 1983 remains unsolved, was found along the lakeshore, 75 feet from the roadway, between the lake and road, hidden under a tree and other debris. (Clint Austin / caustin@duluthnews.com)

The Vault 10:01 am, Mar. 9, 2021

'Still painful' homicide on Duluth's North Shore remains unsolved

"A Better Search for Barbara Cotton" is a five-part investigative podcast about the 1981 disappearance of a Williston, N.D. teen.

The Vault 2:00 pm, Mar. 5, 2021

What happened to 15-year-old Barbara Louise Cotton, vanished from the streets of Williston 40 years ago?

David Brom's booking photo on Feb. 19, 1988. (Olmsted County Sheriff's Office photo)

The Vault 3:00 pm, Mar. 2, 2021

33 years later, this teenager’s crime still shocks Rochester

This photo of Rachel Anthony still hangs in the former Ultimate Liquors store, now Barstock Liquors, on Highway 371 in Pine River. Submitted photo

Crime and Courts 7:00 am, Feb. 28, 2021

20 years later, Rachel Anthony's murder still unsolved

Edward and Charlene Shega sit for an undated photo with their three children, Cheryl Shega (from left), Greg Shega and Nancy Weiser. Cheryl lived at the family home in Hibbing her entire life, while Greg and Nancy moved to Arizona and Utah, respectively. (Photo courtesy of the Shega family)

The Vault 11:00 am, Feb. 27, 2021

Lawsuit claims couple swindled $250,000 from Hibbing vulnerable adult, faults local bank for negligence

The Vault 9:59 am, Feb. 11, 2021

Six months after he was found dead, North Dakota parents say son's murder was staged to look like a suicide

In this 2012 photo in Bismarck, Billy Carns lies on the same bed where he and his then-girlfriend were attacked by "Night Stalker" serial killer Richard Ramirez, when they lived in California in 1985. The drawing over the bed is of the couple, when they were still together. The Orange County Register

The Vault 1:50 pm, Jan. 27, 2021

The 'Night Stalker' serial killings have North Dakota ties featured in new Netflix documentary series

Jordan Grider appears hiking along the Appalachian Trail in late March 2018. Grider, 29, died October 2018 in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. (Submitted photo)

The Vault 2:51 pm, Aug. 21, 2020

Jordan Grider died while camping alone in the Boundary Waters. Was he devoured by wolves?

Sgt. Chad Nelson, left, and Officer Jason Evans flip through case reports dating back to the mid 1970’s that they read to help determine the primary suspect for the killing of Mabel "Mae" Agnes Boyer Herman this past July.

Erica Dischino / West Central Tribune

The Vault 7:00 pm, Aug. 14, 2020

Taking a closer look at the work of Willmar Police Department's cold case team on the "Mae" Herman homicide

The Vault 6:50 pm, Jul. 29, 2020

Arrest made in 1986 Chisholm homicide

In this screenshot from body cam video, Albert Dashow is talking with Rochester Police Officer David Dezell during a traffic stop on March 27, 2019, in the Cub Foods parking lot in Rochester.

The Vault 6:00 am, Jun. 18, 2020

What happened the night Albert Dashow died?

The Vault 10:00 pm, Oct. 25, 2019

10 years ago today: Go behind the scenes of Fargo's infamous murder-for-hire case

Mary Stauffer looks at a photo of the closet where she and her eight-year-old daughter were imprisoned after Ming Sen Shiue kidnapped them in 1980. The pair escaped after 53 days. (Steve Kuchera / skuchera@duluthnews.com)

The Vault 10:13 am, Oct. 3, 2019

In 1980, a Minnesota woman and her 8-year-old daughter were kidnapped and held for 53 days. This is their story

Forum photo illustration

The Vault 5:45 am, Sep. 16, 2019

NDSU freshman's cause of death uncovered, raises more questions about unsolved 2014 homicide

Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind's baby, Haisley Jo, is seen here with her grandparents. The family plans to celebrate her second birthday on Aug. 21. Special to The Forum

The Vault 6:00 am, Aug. 19, 2019

Stolen from her mother's womb two years ago, Haisley Jo is sweet reminder of Savanna and the law that has yet to pass

Dru's Homecoming queen crown from 1999 rests among a bouquet of flowers atop her casket in the Grand View Lodge before her funeral. Eric Hylden / Forum News Service

The Vault 6:00 am, Nov. 18, 2018

Even 15 years later, the memory of slain UND student Dru Sjodin lives on

Kayleene Danielle Greniger

The Vault 4:46 pm, Oct. 16, 2017

Woman sentenced to 30 years in Itasca County beheading case

The Vault 8:15 pm, Sep. 6, 2017

When accused abductors left for lunch, teen ran and swam to escape before finding help