Attorney General Marty Jackley may give us some answers next week about the September 17 deaths of the Scott and Nicole Westerhuis family in Platte:
Attorney General Marty Jackley will conduct a press conference on November 3, 2015, at 1:00 p.m., at the Community Center adjacent to the Platte City Hall building, Platte, S.D. The purpose of the press conference is to discuss the law enforcement investigation into the facts and circumstances surrounding the September 17th house fire and death investigation, which claimed the lives of the Westerhuis family.
The press conference is open to the public. If you have any additional questions, contact Sara Rabern at 605-773-3215 [South Dakota Attorney General’s Office, press release, 2015.10.30].
Among the circumstances surrounding the Westerhuis deaths and fire are the possible connections to the questionable financial affairs of Mid-Central Educational Cooperative, which employed both Scott and Nicole Westerhuis as business managers and for which Scott Westerhuis created a complicated web of private non-profits to administer federal GEAR UP grant dollars. The press release does not indicate that Attorney General Jackley will be addressing the status of the investigation Governor Daugaard ordered of MCEC’s handling of GEAR UP dollars.
Speaking of MCEC’s financial affairs, the cooperative has published its October 8, 2015, draft minutes, which include the September 2015 financial report. From a high of $3.1 million reported in June 2012 under Scott Westerhuis’s financial oversight, the cooperative’s cash balance dwindled in September to a four-year low of $160,346.85. The minutes also show that, even though the state Department of Education canceled MCEC’s GEAR UP contract on September 16, someone still managed to charge $6,604.86 in GEAR UP travel on MCEC’s Voyager Fleet Systems card. That’s $1,757.09 more than the travel expenses for all thirteen other programs listed under MCEC Voyager Fleet card charges.
A look from a knowlegeble outsider:
By David North, October 20, 2015
“USCIS has, finally, done the right thing regarding the blizzard of scandals that marred the EB-5 program in South Dakota, from sloppy accounting (at least $5 million is missing), to a huge bankruptcy (for the state) of a large, EB-5-supported beef slaughterhouse, to the alleged suicide of a prominent GOP politician and major EB-5 figure who was ruled to have shot himself in the stomach with a shotgun.
The Republican governor and attorney general, and the GOP-dominated state legislature, took numerous steps to block any serious inquiries and to blame everything on the late Richard Benda, the dead man. An FBI report on the situation was never made public; it was turned over the acting U.S. attorney,
[after the prominent dem. usa questionably shied away from taking action, imo, much like obama so far has taken little action toward wall street]
a man wanting appointment as the U.S. attorney, who, I suspect, felt it was too hot to handle.
The not very skilled, and totally outgunned, Democratic Party in the state tried to make EB-5 a major issue in the 2014 election, but failed to do so. It was a potentially relevant matter because most of the state’s problems with EB-5 came during the tenure of then-Governor Michael Rounds (R), who successfully ran for the U.S. Senate last fall. Had USCIS completed its investigation some 13 months ago, it might have caused Rounds’ defeat, or at least reduced his margin of victory.”
[I]n rural communities where small populations make multiple business and family relationships all but inevitable…[t]he question is how well MCEC documented and managed its conflicts to the benefit of its various stakeholders. The tragedy in Platte, South Dakota underscores the need to be especially vigilant precisely when things seem to be going well and everyone knows and trusts everyone else. Circumstances can change—drastically and tragically—in an instant.—Michael Wyland
Marty Jackley is a psychopath capable of treachery and subterfuge beyond that of any ordinary lawyers. Anyone who believes he’ll divulge anything of import is delusional.
How coincidental. Three individuals are now dead who would have been able to trace the entire money trail and culpability of those who profited from the EB-5 and the GEAR UP scandals. Two incidents and three dead witnesses as well as innocent children. Both incidents are the result of “suicidal” actions by an actor. Both incidents neatly dispose of the potential testimony and information of “linchpin” witnesses. While coincidences happen and suicide is such an irrational act that it is often carried out in an irrational manner, it does bear a closer look since the story about Mr. Benda’s death has changed over the past two years.
If one wishes to see how the changes have occurred, go back and read the stories published which featured the description given by those who discovered Mr. Benda’s body. The body was discovered laying face down. His brother-in-law thought he had suffered a heart attack. His brother-in-law, once he saw that Mr. Benda had been shot, then was convinced it was a hunting accident. In those early interviews, there is NO MENTION THAT THE SHOTGUN WAS TIED TO A TREE which would have prevented anyone from thinking it was an accident. How convenient for the facts to be modified as time goes forward. Now, an entire family is deceased from homicide. The forensics have been disturbed by arson. The question everyone should be asking is how many coincidences will happen before those in power, both elected and behind the scenes, are brought forward and asked tough questions to the point that the coincidences are adequately proven and explained or they invoke their right against self-incrimination. The final question which many should ask is “Are there others who will commit suicide and/or murder-suicide before their compromising information is disclosed?
I wish he’d release the documents now, so people could review them before the press conference.
I’m surprised they’re using Voyager “fuel” cards- The Postal Service had a lot of fraud with them, legend has it that a supervisor even bought himself a new pickup with a Postal Service Voyager “fuel” card. Then again, maybe they wanted a card that was wide open to fraud?
Sid, Thank you for your comment. I thought that I was the only one in the state that also read the article about the brother in law finding Benda lying face down and looking like a heart attack. One would think that if one shoots himself in the stomach with a shotgun that there would be lots of blood and guts and probably lying on his back from the force of the blast. That brother in law was never heard from again. I didn’t see the story about the shotgun tied to a tree, though.
I think you’re mistaken about the shotgun tied to a tree, Sid. I remember reading speculation that Benda likely used a stick to discharge the weapon, but here I’m relying on memory instead of doing hard research … so don’t mistake my “memory” as fact. :)
6 grand-quick philippines trip?? i know this is not funy
Joe, that’s a good idea. Release the documents now, give us a couple days to read them over and form questions for the press conference.
Dave, true—I recall no mention of the shotgun being tied to the tree. Jackley said Benda pressed the trigger with a stick.
Six grand—I don’t think one can charge airfare to the Philippines on a Voyager Fleet gas card. I’m not positive, but I think Voyager Fleet is strictly for the gas pump.
The location of the press conferences location states the purpose. The purpose is to calm down the populace who thinks this is not a suicide. I lived through the farm crisis and remember that a lot of farmers committed suicide when their finances tanked. So my first assumption was that it was a suicide. Then the combination of the fire to burn the evidence, suicidal people do not cover up the evidence because they are to upset to care what anyone thinks, and a phone call from my Mother changed my mind real quick. Mom told me that Mrs. Westerhuis was a granddaughter of the Beukelmans who were our neighbors in Minnesota when I was a kid. Kids grow up with attitudes similar to their parents. So there typically is some consistency in a family, not every individual is identical but there are consistent traits. The grandparents were by far the last in the community to get indoor plumbing(1978) and they could live and be happy with an outhouse. Now two generations later to see the whole family killed off because they would not be able to stay rich makes no sense. This is far to big of a change to happen in one family in two generations. I do not know the Westerhuis family but the people around Platte are quite sure these people would not do this.
So now we can watch the Republicans try to bs everyone into thinking there is no problem so the populace will be happy with status quo. Conservatives like the old way with no improvements and democrats like change to improve bad situations. So to make it seem that there are not real problems keeps the conservative base happy. They can continue thinking that we are good people and it is those bad guys fault if there is a problem. That way no changes are necessary.
When I told Manny Steele that my experience on the Helpline talking to suicidal people told me that Benda did not commit suicide he said to the other person in the conversation that if I showed up dead that it would have been to SHUT ME UP. So if the most conservative people like Manny think that way, then it is possible that they would actually do something that stupid.
When I saw on this blog that the Westerhuis business was missing $110,000 per month on average and then suddenly the books started to be good starting March 2014, I was real curious why they were not fired immediately when the problem was found. But then a murder takes some planning and planning takes time. A fire would cover up a lot of evidence. And if the kids heard the discussion, then they were witnesses as well.
roger e.-your post is troubling on many levels.
your, and cory’s guesses as to how a suicide may have happened are exactly the kind of stigma that kind of death is painted by a confused public.
it is so frightening people may concoct misleading murder dramas that last generations. to think you are working a hotline gives me chills. were you trained?
to suggest an abdomen shot is illogical ignores the mental state that benda may have been in. recall benda was not an experienced hunter.
westerhuis may have murdered his entire family. he tried to cover it up together with all records in his control with the fire. this is much more plausible than denny daugaard dressed in black at 3 a.m. with a shotgun and a match. the murder was likely caused by the father who knew guns and knew were the money went. that he could have done it is not fathomable, but it happens over and over again in this country.
to misunderstand that a person would commit such acts rationally or logically causes a search for another answer, not supported by evidence, but only supposition.
if law enforcement detects evidence of an outside murderer they likely leave no stone unturned. in the meantime, the family left after suicide, becomes a victim all over again by society gossip ill equipped to deal with that tragedy and their own trauma. i cannot think of anything more cruel.
i have been through this i am sorry to say. the idiots that continue to suggest complex outside murder plots, with out evidence, do a disservice to everyone swayed by their misleading suggestions. if they do it repetitively, they are indeed idiots and deserve that caption. thus the stigma continues its swirl, by definition.
This is in response to the statements about manufacturing murder plots. Fact: Suicide is an irrational act committed by many in irrational manners. Fact: Westerhuis and Benda were in unique positions in their respective organizations to know who did and did not benefit from any wrongdoing which might have taken place. Fact: All three witnesses (with the apparent exception of Mrs. Westerhuis) died by suicide. Fact: Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death of people in the United States but constitutes only 1.6% of all deaths (Centers For Disease Control reports of all causes of death from 2011 and 2012). Fact: The were three people who all shared being in positions to give evidence that could incarcerate indivduals who presumably all had or have ties to the same power structure in a fairly small state. Fact: While not doing all the math, it can be inferred that the odds against all of these three individuals dying from the same relatively rare cause of death out of a population of 800,000 are somewhat high. Fact: These deaths have been investigated by the same individuals who have ties to the aforementioned power structure.
These facts are not conjecture. They collectively invite speculation as to whether or not there is another as yet unseen hand assisting these suicides. It is not unreasonable to demand that the evidence be pursued to the point that suicide is either conclusively proven or ruled out.
well if we question whether a detective won’t do his/her job because of a hovering governor, we’ve got a problem.