Little Falls shootings: Drugs, other items reported stolen found in car teens used
By Christopher Magan
cmagan@pioneerpress.com
Posted: 11/28/2012 12:01:00 AM CST
Updated: 11/28/2012 05:12:28 PM CST
Cousins Nicholas Brady, 17, and Haile Kifer, 18, were shot to death Thanksgiving Day 2012 after allegedly breaking in to a man's Little Falls, Minn., home.
Authorities tied the teenage cousins killed by a homeowner after they broke into his Little Falls, Minn., house Thanksgiving Day to a similar break-in the night before.
Prescription drugs from the earlier burglary were found in the red Mitsubishi Eclipse that Nicholas Brady, 17, and Haile Kifer, 18, drove when they broke into Byron David Smith's home north of Little Falls, Morrison County Sheriff Michel Wetzel said Wednesday, Nov. 28.
Deputies are now reviewing police reports to see if other burglaries are connected to the teens.
Investigators are trying to determine whether Kifer and Brady took the medication the night before they were killed from a home just south of Little Falls near where Kifer's family lives.
The homeowner, Richard L. Johnson, was out of town when his house was ransacked and pills and coins were taken, he said.
Smith was in his basement and has told authorities he heard the break-in at his house Nov. 22. He armed himself with a rifle and a revolver and waited in a chair.
Smith shot and wounded the teens as they came downstairs and then dispatched them with close range shots to the chest and head. He put their bodies in a workshop and police were not notified until a day later when a neighbor called police.
Smith was charged Monday with two counts of second-degree murder. He remains in the Morrison County Jail on $2 million bond.
Johnson, 68, a retired English teacher, was vacationing in Spain and returned home Nov. 25,
three days after the killings, to find his home in disarray. A crowbar he keeps outback was used to break a patio door to gain entry and cupboards and drawers were pulled open, he said.
All he found missing was some foreign coins, a box of pennies and some routine prescription drugs.
"These weren't painkillers or anything," he said.
Johnson taught at Little Falls high school, but did not know either of the victims. He knew Kifer's older brother who he called "nice kid."
Deputies
Byron Smith of rural Little Falls, Minn., is charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of 17-year-old Nicholas Brady Schaeffel and 18-year-old Haile Kifer.
confronted Brady on Nov. 21, the night before he was killed, after a Hilton Road resident and neighbor of Johnson, reported a car "parked suspiciously" at the end of his driveway. Brady told the deputies he and Kifer had been driving around when their car ran out of gas and Kifer went to get more.
Officers questioned Brady in the back of a squad car and let him go, Johnson said his neighbors later told him. Deputies left the car and drove Brady into Little Falls and dropped him off.
The next day deputies discovered the red Eclipse after the bodies of Brady and Kifer were found in Smith's basement. The car was parked a few blocks from Smith's home and inside it they found prescriptions and coins believed to be from Johnson's house.
Smith's home had been repeatedly burglarized by teens looking for money for drugs, his friend John Lange said. Cash, guns and expensive camera gear had been taken over the last few months.
In October, Smith reported a burglary to police and said weapons and other items had been taken. He also mentioned two previous break-ins that he did not report because he didn't feel they were significant enough, Wetzel said.
Smith is retired from the U.S. State Department where he worked as a security engineer, a position responsible for security of embassies and diplomats around the world.
A joint funeral service will be held Saturday for the teens. Visitation is 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday at Emblom Brenny Funeral Service, 900 First St. SE. Funeral is 10 a.m. Saturday at Living Hope Assembly of God Church, 17389 Haven Road. Burial will follow at Bear Head Cemetery.
Christopher Magan can be reached at 651-228-5557. Follow him at twitter.com/cmaganPiPress.