Police probe bizarre N. Minn. break-ins, fatal shooting

A Twin Cities man forced his way into two rural Minnesota homes Saturday morning and was greeted both times by men with guns. The second break-in killed him.

Koochiching County Sheriff's Department authorities are still filling in details in the bizarre break-ins and fatal shooting that took place along a rural section of Minnesota Highway 53, 20 miles south of International Falls, before 6 a.m. Saturday.

Benjamin Beaudoin, a 34-year-old Twin Cities resident with no history of crime, was at an area resort for a friend's wedding when he broke into a home on Highway 53 around 5 a.m., according to Capt. Jon Froemke of the Koochiching Sheriff's Department.

Froemke recounted a series of events pieced together by investigators that began just after 5 a.m. when Neil Reller woke up to his wife Jody's screams.

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"He came out of the bedroom to see his wife leaning against the front door as a big guy tried to bash it open," Froemke said.

Reller retrieved his shotgun in time to greet Beaudoin as he broke through the door. At that point, Froemke said Reller realized there weren't any shells in his gun, so instead of pulling the trigger, he swung the weapon at Beaudoin — hard enough that it broke in two.

Bleeding from a gash on the head, Beaudoin left the Reller house. The Reller's called 911. As deputies arrived to take their statements, dispatchers got a second call — a man shot in a house just a few miles down the road.

Still bleeding from Reller's broken shotgun, Beaudoin knocked on the door of 72-year-old Ethal Himes' house just before 6 a.m. When she came to the door, Beaudoin claimed he'd been attacked. Himes let him in and he attacked her, Froemke said.

Himes' son Bradley, 48, who lives at the house, heard a struggle and came out of his bedroom to see a man strangling his mother on the living room floor, Froemke said. He ran back into his bedroom for a handgun.

Beaudoin lunged after Bradley, who shot him once in the chest. Beaudoin was taken to Rainy lake Medical Center where he died of his injuries. The event remains under investigation.

Froemke said the department is waiting for the results of an autopsy, hoping it will shed some light on Beaudoin's motivation and state of mind.

"Who knows what was going on his head," Froemke said. "It was totally isolated. He didn't know these people. We have no idea why he did this."

Bradley Himes declined substantial comment on what happened. "You wouldn't understand it unless you were there," he said in a brief phone interview. "I wouldn't wish it on anyone."