The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1920-08-05
SON ADMITS HIS
FATHER ASUICIDE
OSCAR SUNFLOT BREAKS DOWN
UNDER EXAMINATION
STORY CLEARS CASE
WANTED A CHURCH BURIAL
HID ROPE IN SWAMP TO CON-
CEAL EVIDENCE-OFFI :.
BAFFLED BY CASE

Breaking down under a severe
cross fire directed by County At
torney Paul Ahles and Sheriff Ben
Schooner, Oscar Sunfot, confessed at
an investigation Tuesday, that his
father Amund Suilfiot, was suicide
The young man, who found his
fathers body in the machine shed
Sunday, July Is, said that he had
cut the body down and concealed the
rope, hoping to do away with EVIL
dence that his father had taken his
life.
He gave as his reason, the fact
that he wished to give his parent a
church burial, which would not have
been possible had the cause of death
been known.
The indications at the time of the
ragedy pointed strongly to the
conclusion that the man had COM
mitted suicide by hanging, since The
marks of rope were plainly visi-
BILE about the neck. Marks on a
beam extending above the place
where the body was found also show
ed signs Of rope having been sus-
pended therefrom and bootmarks on
the side Of the granary wall adjacent
gave evidence of the dying mans
struggle
AT the frss the son absolutely
denied that his father had committed
suicide, but upon being more closely
pressed by authorities at Tuesday,
inquiry, he finally admitte
that he found his father hanging
from a rope. He cut down the body
and removed the throwing it into
nearby swamp in order to destroy
as much as. possible evidence point.
ing to the fact that his father had
brought about his own death. The
officials directed Sunflot to go into
the swamp and get the rope with
which the hanging had been COM
mitted, he did so, producing a rope
which had been cut as stated, and
with moose at one end.
The authorities were of the opinion
from the beginning that death had
been caused by suicide.
Not satisfied with the report OF
the coroner's jury that Amund Sun
flot, Brooten farmer found dead in
his machine shed on Sunday, Juy IS
"Died from causes unknown county
officials who started a new investi-
cation of the cause last week
continued their search for evidence.
When the body of Sunflot was ex-
amined it was discovered that marks
of rope were plainly visible about
the throat. Yet, his, son, who first
found the body of his father in the
machine shed, emphat:cally denied
that the man was a suicide. There
were no marks on the beam over the
corpse showing that a rope had been
attached for the purpose of COM
hitting suicide by hanging, nor was
there any rome in sight or could one
be found in the vicinity of the sup
posed suicide.
The theory advanced by the
authorities that unless Sunfot hung
himself and the rope removed by the
son, he must have been strangled by
another person who used rope fol
that purpose. Physicians who ex-
amined the body reported that death
was plainly due to strangulation.
When the body was first examined
by the family physician that gentle
IAN reported death due to heart
trouble from which Sunfot had been
sufferer. A later examination re-
vealed the marks of a rope on. the
neck of the dead man md this was
followed by the report of other exam
ming physicians that death was due
to strangulation.
The siuation was unusually baling
The situation was very battling
to the authorities who based their
Investigation on the report of the son
Oscar, who found the body and who
!enied that his father comitted sui
eide.