Morbid Fact Du Jour for July 29, 2014

Today’s Vengeful Yet Truly Morbid Fact!

On November 10, 1992, the police in Green Bay, Wisconsin received an anonymous tip that one Keith Kutska was planning to steal some electrical cable from his place of work, the James River Paper Mill. They notified the company, and when Kutska was leaving work that night, a security guard asked to look into his duffel bag. Kutska refused and was consequently suspended for five days without pay.  Thomas Monfils, a colleague of Kutska’s, had been the one to tip off the police about the planned theft. He was concerned about repercussions and asked that his anonymity be protected. No one knows exactly how Keith Kutska got hold of the recording of the telephone call Monfils made to the police, but he did, and he recognized Monfils’s voice. Kutska played the tape for several of his colleagues and they concurred that the voice was Monfils’s.  Kutska then played the tape for some other colleagues and Monfils, who acknowledged that he had been the caller. Kutska denied having stolen the electrical cable (though he had stolen it) and words were exchanged. Two other employees told Monfils that they couldn’t believe he had snitched on Kutska and that he should thank his lucky stars he hadn’t done it to them, as they would have killed him.

On November 21, 1992, after Kutska had returned to work after his suspension, he, Michael Piaskowski, Michael Johnson, Michael Hirn, Reynold Moore and Dale Basten confronted Monfils at the water cooler. Monfils was slapped, and then it was later alleged he was knocked out by a wrench or a board and left unconscious on the floor.  A few minutes later, Kutska told Piaskowski to report Monfils missing from his work station, saying he wanted to get Monfils in trouble for leaving his station. At about the same time, another employee saw Johnson and Basten walking toward a pulp vat; they appeared to be carrying something five or six feet long between them.  Monfils’s body was found the next day at the bottom of the pulp vat. A heavy weight was tied around his neck and his cause of death was asphyxiation due to the inhalation of paper pulp.

It took over two years, but eventually Kutska, Piaskowski, Hirn, Johnson, Basten and Moore were charged and convicted of Monfils’s revenge killing. A seventh man, John Mineau, was implicated but never charged.

Culled from: Open Jurist
Submitted by: Aimee

Special thanks to my paralegal brother for running across this case and pointing it out to me.