The Apple River stabbings: less than clear facts

The tubing pastime (matador image)

A reason why true crime stories can grip us: too many blanks left to fill in. An initial report in the media can almost seem like a disservice: too sketchy. Problem is, a few tantalizing details get tossed out but they are grossly insufficient. You consume an article like this, then search voraciously for more, often with less than complete satisfaction. 

I view the notorious tragic Apple River incident in this light. The initial reports left us with furrowed brow as we tried to reconstruct in our minds. So futile was this, it leaves us wondering if law enforcement should make public statements at all, until a more complete picture emerges. 

The story reached the New York Times. Like it or not, some of the people involved in the incident could end up in a fishbowl. Some of the people are seriously hurt or dead. One fatality actually, as of today (August 5). 

How? All this happened amidst "tubing" fun on the Apple River. The Apple River in Wisconsin is a magnet for this kind of activity. I have often heard of "tubing" but never participated in it. What could be more harmless than going out for an outing of this type? Let's chalk up the July 30 tragedy as a reminder of the frailty of life. The pandemic has already drilled that into us. Would be advisable to take a moment to thank God for every day you have in this existence, n'est-ce-pas? 

How unspeakably sad: a 17-year-old young man from Stillwater being pronounced dead. Other victims went from critical to stable condition, thank the Lord. 

We shout from the rooftop: "How? Why?" 

The New York Times article and other early articles seemed fleshed out: plenty of paragraphs. This did not prevent us from collectively scratching our heads. We tried forming a picture in our mind of what happened. A conflict developed. But how? Why? We got only snippets. The Star Tribune article by Paul Walsh tells us the case vs. the alleged bad guy "leans heavily on a video." Honest to goodness, how was justice ever achieved in pre-digital days? Well, there must have been a system that worked. 

The story gets thick with intrigue where Walsh tells us that some in a group of tubers shoved the alleged bad guy and accused him of "looking for underage girls." So much left unanswered here. Actually, if anyone is going to submit a statement as provocative as the one I just cited, there ought to be more. The person making the statement should be required to provide a basis for how the bad guy was seen to have prurient motives. Being accused of "looking for underage girls" is as bad as it gets, but can this be verified factually or something approximating factually? 

The alleged bad guy's name is out in public - it's Nicolae Miu, age 52. I have a hard time picturing the onset of the dispute, according to the Strib review. Miu's explanation is that he was looking for a cellphone that was lost by a friend. Certainly seems unusual, but. . . He claims that those accosting him produced weapons, hit him, and "were on top of him" while calling him a child molester. 

Whoa, now he's a child molester? We need to know the basis for this deduction. Miu comes across as suspicious. But he is legally presumed innocent. And I would have profound concerns if suspicions were based on Miu being a relatively old person, compared to the tubing norm. And, being alone.

He may in fact be guilty of over-the-top murder. Of course, we seem only in the early stages of piecing things together. Conclusions are so tentative now, it might be best to lay off following the matter - let the investigation proceed. The limited details so far could push many people to flail away with dodgy conclusions. I'd be in that category because we have no choice. 

Isaac Schuman (kare11)

But the magnet for interest here is that it's a true crime story that includes murder. Isaac Schuman RIP. 

The incident happened in late afternoon. The location was close to the Minnesota border, northeast of Stillwater. 

Were all of the parties here on tubes or was Miu on foot? The tubers decided to abort their tubing? Based on what actual observable behavior? An "older man" by himself, doing something that seemed incongruous? Was it something that actually spelled "child predator?" If the person or persons who made that suggestion, to be quoted in the national media, could elucidate, it would be so helpful.

 

Put on my moccasins

I have a special interest here. I happen to be a 67-year-old male who is alone a lot. I have come to sense that my way of life goes against the grain. I am attuned to that. I remember a stand-up comedian who had a routine where he noted that people who go into a restaurant to dine alone are considered strange. The patron is approached by a hostess and he tells her it's a party of one. "One?" The reaction is one of surprise. 

Some people by their nature are comfortable being alone. I am not averse to being with others at all. I was a caregiver for my aging parents for a long time, got focused on them, so my social life atrophied. It has come back to only a limited degree. I switch around with the restaurants I go to, not wanting to become a fixture at any one. "Who's that guy sitting alone?" Well, it's me. Maybe I would enjoy having a female significant other. It's one thing to want that, another to have it. 

So I am fundamentally content, I really am, and would feel disappointed if people became standoffish. Our society has gotten more sensitive too. A few years ago, I was sitting with two friends at McDonald's and recalled my days when I jogged long distances frequently. I told them that at times I came upon small groups of children out waiting for their approaching school bus. I said that in earlier, less tense times in our society, I'd smile and wave at the kids - they responded in kind. But then as time passed and the tenseness ramped up, I kept to myself, opted to not even look at the kids in a situation like this. Which was sad. 

One of my friends imagined a schoolkid going back to his parents and saying "you know, that guy who jogs by here sometimes, he's awfully friendly." "Friendly" might be said with a suspicious inflection. Sad to say, it's best to not take any chances. 

 

Attending youth sports

Oh, and here's a better example of what I'm talking about: By way of background, I used to cover area high school sports for the commercial media. Today I sometimes blog about it. I have a friend who had two daughters go through our girls basketball and other sports programs. After the years passed and I became less well known to the public, it might have been delicate for me to attend games, I guess particularly girls games: if I was an older man with gray hair and by himself. 

With a friend, no problem! No problem at all. But not by myself. And with a camera? Maybe to shoot a couple of pix to post online in the spirit of journalism? Well absolutely not. Heavens! The cops might come running at me. 

Maybe it was the Jacob Wetterling situation that fostered all this. The Wetterling investigation ended up being a story of horrible law enforcement incompetence, investigators protecting their "turf" etc. And the legacy was an extremely jittery public. 

So if a guy is seen along the shore of a tubing river all by himself? Suspicious? Hell, I don't know if this was the scenario or not. We have to speculate at this point. But watch your back if you're an older man who is a "loner."

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com