Amos Mortier missing since 11/8/2004 MATC in Madison, WI

[Mysticalmom]

http://www.findamos.com/

Circumstances of Disappearance:
Amos was last seen November 8, 2004 at his school, Madison
Area Technical College. His last cell phone record was at 1:20 p.m.
His dog Gnosis was located three doors down where a woman took
Gnosis in after he showed up on her steps. Amos' turntable was
spinning at the end of the album with loud scratching coming through
his speakers, his car and truck were both parked in the driveway. His
backpack was still in his car with his wallet, Driver's License, money,
and his last lab notes from class that day...all still in his car.

[Mysticalmom]

http://wkow.madison.com/News/index.php?ID=13513


Mortier Planned Confrontation Over Money Before Disappearance


Previously sealed court documents released to 27 News show missing MATC student Amos Mortier intended to confront an acquaintance over a $90,000 apparent drug debt, just before Mortier disappeared in November, 2004.

Records unsealed by Dane County Judge Daniel Moeser at the request of 27 News includes law enforcement's justification for eighteen different searches between November, 2004 and the spring of 2005, involving Mortier's home, cars, storage locker, Grant County property, and the homes of two friends. Searches also involved property in Mauston, and telephone records from Canada. Some records of secret, John Doe hearing testimony which were part of the information used to obtain search warrants were redacted from the material released to 27 News.

[Pauli]

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h169/avataralley/missing/convAmosGlassesBlueShirtCropped2.jpghttp://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h169/avataralley/missing/convAmosNoGlasses19961.jpg

[Mysticalmom]

http://www.findamos.com/uploads/TheCLARIONNews4-2-08.pdf

Amos Mortier was at a crossroads in his life. Friends described him as a quiet but friendly man. He worked downtown at the Den and Shakti, frequented the Willy Street Co-op and attended classes at Madison Area Technical College with an interest in organic farming. His mother says music has been a part of Amos’ life for a very long time and he loved all kinds of music. Amos was 27 when he vanished from his rental home in Fitchburg. Since his disappearance, former MATC student Nathan Comp has become passionate about the case. The Madison freelance writer has since written several articles regarding Mortier’s disappearance and is in the process of completing a book on the topic. Details surrounding the initial disappearance are still unclear. Investigators do know that Amos last used his cell phone around 1:20 p.m. on Nov. 8, 2004. On the 14th, two friends stopped by his house out of concern. Inside the house, both his turntables were on, and they were to the ends of the albums so the needle was scratching on the paper circles. (more at link)

[Grande]

Getting away with murder?
Police identified suspect, but no charges were ever filed in Amos Mortier case
Jason Shepard on Wednesday 09/26/2007

In the front room of her small east side home, Margie Milutinovich skims computer records she's compiled over the nearly three years of searching for her son, Amos Mortier. "Missing" posters hang on the walls. Notes, timelines and piles of court records are scattered on a desk.

"Should I put on the coffee?" Milutinovich asks a reporter. "Once you get started, it's hard to keep anything straight."

Indeed, trying to figure out what happened to her son in November 2004 has eluded both Milutinovich and the authorities. But this summer, dozens of new clues emerged after a judge unsealed 18 search warrants executed more than two years ago.

"Reading the search warrants has diminished a lot of the hope I had that Amos is still alive," says Mortier's friend Martin Frank. "They suggest something bad happened to Amos. I have a million more questions than I did before."

The documents (see in the related downloads at right) identify a central suspect, Jacob Stadfeld, a 31-year-old Madison resident who works for a pub on Park Street. Stadfeld purportedly owed Mortier $90,000 for marijuana Mortier fronted him to sell. The search warrants show police sought evidence of "kidnapping, false imprisonment [and] homicide" in searches of Stadfeld's home, office, truck and property rented by his mother.

Among the evidence cited to justify these warrants: a verbal argument between Stadfeld and Mortier days before Mortier vanished; Stadfeld's presence near Mortier's home hours after Mortier was last seen; and two phone calls placed by Stadfeld to a gun shop days earlier. Stadfeld has previous convictions for possessing and selling marijuana. Earlier this month, he lost his Madison home after defaulting on his mortgage.

Mortier, 27 at the time of his disappearance on Nov. 8, 2004, was a quiet but friendly man who worked at State Street shops, hung out at the Inferno, shopped at the Willy Street Co-op, and had an interest in organic farming. He took classes at MATC and supplemented his income, it's now clear, by selling large quantities of marijuana.

The Fitchburg police, Dane County Sheriff's and District Attorney's Offices, FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office have all been involved in investigating Mortier's disappearance. Sources also say the case has come before a federal grand jury and been the subject of a rare state "John Doe" probe. No arrests have been made nor charges filed in what authorities have long considered a homicide investigation.

Mortier's mother has all but given up on the authorities, whom she says won't tell her if they're still actively working the case. (Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard says detectives continue to "collect evidence" and seek "information or leads." A Fitchburg police official did not return a phone call.)

Milutinovich's skepticism and criticism of authorities has been exacerbated by the released search warrants, which contain scores of errors, including misspelled names, misidentified witnesses, erroneous dates and misstatements of key points.

The warrants also show police have had significant evidence, for more than two years, implicating Stadfeld. Milutinovich is outraged that more has not been done with this. She says Dane County prosecutors had far less evidence against Eugene Zapata for the murder of his wife 30 years ago, and still filed charges against him. (Zapata's trial ended in a mistrial last week due to a hung jury.)

As Milutinovich talks, her son's dog Gnosis, a giant husky, sprawls out in the middle of the room. Mortier doted on the dog, and Milutinovich says Gnosis isn't the same without her son's affection. "I can see the sadness in his eyes," she says. Still, caring for Gnosis keeps a bond with her son.

"It's that damn dog," Dirk Estorf, one of Mortier's friends, tells Isthmus when asked if Mortier could have faked his own disappearance, perhaps after discovering that someone wanted him dead. "I just can't get past him leaving the dog."

It's one of many facts that make it increasingly clear that someone killed Amos Mortier, and has, for nearly three years, gotten away with murder.

As Isthmus reported in July 2005, suspicion focused on a chief suspect — Stadfeld, whom the article did not name — after he allegedly gave police "inconsistent statements," hired a lawyer and stated: "I have a good idea what happened to [Mortier], but I couldn't tell you where a body is." In a document reviewed by Isthmus, a prosecutor overseeing the investigation deemed Stadfeld a "prime suspect" in Mortier's presumed homicide.

The search warrants provide fresh evidence to support that characterization.

They document, for instance, that Stadfeld admitted to police he sold large quantities of marijuana for Mortier that came from Canada via New York.

Brent Delzer, who also admitted selling marijuana for Mortier, told police Stadfeld owed Mortier $90,000 and recalled overhearing a phone argument between Mortier and Stadfeld that phone records indicate occurred on Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2004 — four days before Mortier went missing. Delzer said this was significant because he had never before heard Mortier, a good friend, raise his voice.

Over lunch the previous weekend, Mortier appeared to be in a "desperate state of mind" because Stadfeld owed him a lot of money, according to Destin Lane, who described herself as a "mentor" to Mortier. Lane said Mortier was afraid of Stadfeld because of Stadfeld's physical size. Later in the week, Lane said Mortier told her he might threaten Stadfeld by saying he would go to the police about the missing money. Lane said she warned Mortier not to confront Stadfeld alone.

(Delzer didn't return a phone message seeking comment. Lane, reached on her cell phone, agreed to an interview but subsequently did not answer her phone or return a message.)

On Thursday, Nov. 4, the day after Stadfeld and Mortier argued on the phone, and again on Saturday, Nov. 6, Stadfeld called the Rusk Gun Shop, the court records say. Mortier's cell phone log, reviewed by Isthmus, shows that Stadfeld and Mortier talked on Nov. 6; it was the only cell-phone call Mortier made that day.

On Nov. 8, the day Mortier disappeared, he attended class at MATC in the morning and afterward gave a friend a ride home. At 1:02 p.m., Mortier placed a seven-minute call to his propane company, apparently about a billing issue. After that, his cell phone was never used again.

Inside Mortier's home, friends later found two turntables running, as if Mortier was unexpectedly interrupted while mixing some music; a half-rolled joint sat nearby.

At 3:31 p.m., Stadfeld's cell phone pinged off the cellular tower closest to Mortier's home, about four-tenths of a mile due south, court records say. The next day, Tuesday, Nov. 9, Stadfeld's cell phone again pinged from the tower closest to Mortier's home.

In an interview with police, Stadfeld explained his presence in the area by stating he may have been returning videos to a Blockbuster or "going there just for a drive." Blockbuster told police that Stadfeld neither rented nor returned videos around those dates.

The court records also say Stadfeld made an eerie comment when he "volunteered information [on] what might have happened to Mortier." Stadfeld told police they would find several "dig holes" in fields near Stadfeld's mother's home in Mauston, where he drove Nov. 9, according to phone records. A subsequent search of the land evidently found nothing of note.

On the day after Mortier disappeared, Stadfeld also called a Canadian phone number that police later traced to a DEA drug conspiracy investigation involving the Iron Horsemen Motorcycle Club and the Hell's Angels, who police say grow a strain of marijuana known as "BC Bud." This is the same marijuana Stadfeld and Delzer purportedly admitted selling in Wisconsin.

Stadfeld, through his attorney, says he's innocent. The attorney, Ernesto Chavez, admits the facts as presented by police don't bode well for his client, but suggests the police got it wrong.

"Jacob Stadfeld and Amos Mortier were some of the closest friends," says Chavez. He describes the police investigation as "bungled from day one" and says Stadfeld "was helpful in many respects" to police, but they chose to ignore crucial leads he provided.

The search warrants are now more than two years old, and it's unclear whether the avenues police were then exploring — namely, the theory of Stadfeld as the killer — remain potent lines of current investigation. Chavez says his client last spoke with police in April 2006.

Besides casting suspicion on Stadfeld, the documents suggest another theory: Mortier's supplier had him killed after he couldn't come up with the money he expected to get from the marijuana he fronted Stadfeld.

Supporting this theory is a document sent to the FBI two years ago, along with Mortier's DNA for a missing-persons database, that referenced three unnamed "suspects" with ties outside Wisconsin. Detectives have made several trips out of state to track down leads, and several sources said Mortier got his marijuana from an unknown East Coast drug supplier.

Chavez says Stadfeld volunteered the supplier-as-killer theory in his first interviews with police. "The cops in this case never asked the question. They never pursued this lead," he says incredulously. "Murder is typically based on vengeance. If they had been asking that question — Who stood to reap vengeance on Amos Mortier? — it's not Jacob Stadfeld. If Amos was owed money, who did he owe it to on the other side of the transaction?"

But Milutinovich wants to know why, if Stadfeld is innocent, he never helped in any search for Mortier and has rebuffed her attempts to talk. One such attempt drew a terse letter from Chavez, instructing her to "cease and desist" from contacting his client. "It's completely logical to avoid a family member of someone you did something horrible to," says Milutinovich, who has identified Stadfeld as the likely culprit on her website, www.findamos.com.

While professing his client's innocence, Chavez declines to answer key questions, citing the ongoing criminal investigation: What did Stadfeld and Mortier argue about? Why did Stadfeld twice call a gun shop? Why did he go to Mortier's home after Mortier was last seen but before he was reported missing? What was the Canadian phone call about?

Jacob Stadfeld won't yet provide those answers, and a mother continues to wait for the truth about what happened to her son.

http://www.isthmus.com/isthmus/article.php?article=8791

[Grande]

Amos Mortier

Associates:
Jacob R. Stadfeld – Allegedly owed Amos $90,000 for Marijuana that had been fronted.
2822 & 2818 Kingston Dr.
Madison, Wisconsin
http://www.myspace.com/ivanrayentertainment
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=43090781

Nicole Stadfeld
Image> http://i29.tinypic.com/ju93dh.jpg
608.279.XXXX
http://www.myspace.com/tranquilspiritwellspa
nicfelkl@msn.com
www.tranquilspiritwellspa.com
www.tranquilgbotanicals.etsy.com
www.lifeforce.net/20685460
http://nicliljake.stayinhomeandlovinit.com
http://web.archive.org/web/20050404141032/http://nicliljake.stayinhomeandlovinit.com/

Dominic Dasho– Contacted Amos’ mother on Nov. 15 to report his absence from his home
Derek Estors - Contacted Amos’ mother on Nov. 15 to report his absence from his home
Jacob Falkner – Claimed to be best friends with Amos
Brent Delzer – Friend of Amos’

[Faith]

MySpace URL:

http://www.myspace.com/findamosmortier

[Faith]

http://www.theyaremissed.org/gallery/photos/A200402096S_4477.jpghttp://www.theyaremissed.org/gallery/photos/A200402096S_4490.jpg

Endangered Missing Adult

http://www.theyaremissed.org (http://www.theyaremissed.org/ncma/gallery/ncmaprofile_all.php?A200402096S)

[Faith]

http://www.etdelia.com/isthmus.pdf

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b315/FaithMS/Help%20Find%20The%20Missing/Amos.jpg (http://www.etdelia.com/isthmus.pdf)

[Faith]

http://www.unsolved-crimes.com/images/me.gif

Name: Amos Kale Mortier
Place last seen: Fitchburg, Wisconsin
Date of Birth: April 28, 1977 - 27 years old at time of disappearance
Description: White Male
5' 4" Tall
125 lbs.
Brown hair
Blue eyes
Distinguishing Marks: a small, very light (almost unoticeable) horizontal scar above his right eye
Clothing: It is not known what he was last wearing but his normal clothing would be some carhartt clothing pants, hooded sweatshirt, t-shirt, hybrid-type hiking sneakers

27 year old Amos K. Mortier recently moved into a rental house in Fitchburg, Wisconsin approximately 2.5 months prior to his disappearance. On November 8, 2004, Amos was last seen between classes at Madison Area Technical College around 11:30 am in Madison Wisconsin, by a classmate. Amos made a call from his cell phone at around 1:20pm to have the propane bill put in his name. Amos was supposed to have dinner with a friend that night, but he never arrived. No one has seen or heard from Amos since.

Amos's home was found unlocked, with the stereo still playing and his dog wandering around without it's collar. Law enforcement feels that foul play was involved in Amos's disappearance.

Amos's family does not believe that Amos would have left his dog, whom he loved very much, alone. They also believe Amos would have contacted his mother if he could.

If you have any information about this case, please contact:

Madison area crimestoppers (608)266-6014

Reward

The family of Amos Mortier is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to his physical whereabouts.

Related Web Site

www.findamos.com

http://www.unsolved-crimes.com/mortier.html

[Faith]

Help Find Amos Mortier

http://www.findamos.com/images/convAmosNoGlassesStdingWGnosis.jpg

GNOSIS the wonder dog is now home with me; if you know Amos please come over and welcome Gnosis home

Call or email me and I will give you my address. A HUGE THANK-YOU to everyone that has cared and loved Gnosis during Amos'

disappearance, I know Amos appreciates that, as I do too, so much:

Thank you Hickory Hills Kennel (especially Margaret for taking Gnosis into her household)

Thank you Dean & Jan H. for sharing your home and caring for Gnosis

Thank you Rachel, Josh, & Phil for giving Gnosis the care, love, & attention he needs

3.3.06 - Isthmus article

Making it a federal case

Feds join probe into disappearance of Amos Mortier

By Jason Shepard

Local police are now working with the US. Attorney's Office in their inves*tigation into the disappearance of

Amos Mortier, the Fitchburg man who has been missing for 15 months and who police believe was likely murdered

in connec*tion with selling marijuana.



A police official confirms that the U.S. Attorney's Office has been involved since fall.



Fitchburg Deputy Police Chief Don Bates says several federal agencies "have become partners" in the investigation and have

a "vested interest" in solving the case. Bates wouldn't say whether the case has been referred to a federal grand jury.



Mortier was last seen Nov. 8, 2004. His mother, Margie Milutinovich, hopes her son is alive, perhaps on the run or con*sumed by

amnesia. Last week, she direct*ed a message to him on her Web site, www.findamos.com. "I know that you are out there," she wrote.

"I need to know if you are safe."



Police, however, continue to work on the theory that Mortier was murdered. Two detectives are still assigned to the case full*time.



As detailed last summer in Isthmus ("What Happened to Amos?" 7/22/05), wit*nesses at a secret John Doe proceeding tes*tified that

Mortier was worried about drug debts and was involved in large-scale mar*ijuana sales with links to Mil*waukee and the East Coast.



At the time, police were focusing on a "prime suspect," who provided them with "inconsistent statements." Wit*nesses testified that this

man had sold marijuana for Morti*er. One said he was skimming proceeds; another said he owed Mortier money



A few months earlier, in a letter submitting Mortier's DNA to the FBI's missing per*sons database, local police acknowledged three suspects with

ties outside of Wiscon*sin.



Last week, Bates confirmed that detectives have interviewed people "in several different states."



Generally, the federal government doesnot investigate local crimes. But according to two Madison defense attorneys, the feds may be involved

because the investigation is now national in scope.



Other reasons, they speculate, include the powers of federal grand jury subpoe*nas, the ability to threaten harsher drug sentences in order to

gain cooperation from witnesses, the possibility of federal drug conspiracy charges,and the greater resources of federal agencies like the FBI.



Stephen P Sinnott, the acting U .S. attorney in Madi*son, "can't confirm or deny" his office's involvement.



In December, Fitchburg police contacted Miluti*novich to schedule a meet*ing between her and the U.S. attorney. After waiting two months for the

meeting to be scheduled, a frustrat*ed Milutinovich provided copies of those e-mail exchanges to Isthmus.



She's convinced police are wrongly focused on the drug connection: "They won't let it go because it has cost them too much time, money and

personnel, but they are so wrong the path they are going down and they won't stop or admit it."





Gathering of Hope - November 8, 2005



Thank you everyone and the Inferno for being open for us on your usual closed night of business.



Amos, we love and miss you. If you can, please call home.



The Gathering of Hope was successful for helping me(the family) and I hope for Amos' friends and my friends to help us mark this sad year without Amos.



Drolma, from the Deer Park Buddhist Center, was wonderful and gave the afternoon of Amos' disappearance the dignity and peace he deserves.



Miranda put together a great night of friends and DJ's (thank you for donating your time and talents) at the Inferno.



The music was great and I can't emphasize enough the great friends Amos has and how good it was to see all of them.



We chatted about Amos throughout the night, and at the end of that night we still believe that Amos is alive.



**LE detectives crashed the Inferno - police were asked *not* to attend but they showed up anyhow.**



Peshtigo Times

Kevin Mura Found Safe, Alive In Iowa
Kevin Mura, 54, W7948 Airport Road, Crivitz, was found safe and alive Thursday, Dec. 9, in Iowa after being reported missing since Aug. 26. Two sons, Ken and Chris, visited their father over the weekend in Iowa and reported physically he is fine.

Ken said they expect the father to return home sometime in the near future. The family was notified Thursday by the Marinette County Sheriff Department that their father had been found and that he has a medical condition similar to amnesia. Since news of their father being found, the family has been receiving numerous calls from well wishers and the media.

The sheriff department had been notified by police in the Iowa community as the result of Mura's name being entered into the National Center for Missing Adults and National Crime Information Center. Sheriff Mike Kessler reported the family has requested that the current location of Mura is being kept confidential.

It was reported Mura last had contacted a Catholic priest in the Iowa community when he did not know his own name or where he lived and that something was wrong. He was taken to a psychiatrist for treatment of dissociative fugue. When his sons visited him over the weekend, he did not know his own name, failed to recognize them or react to photographs of the family.

How Mura got to the Iowa community is currently unknown. The father indicated he had ridden with truckers to such states as Arizona, Colorado and Florida before coming to Iowa.

After the priest and psychiatrist were contacted the Iowa community library checked the internet for missing persons and Mura's name was eventually found. Iowa police were contacted and then the Marinette County Sheriff Department.

According to the web site of mental-health-matters.com Dissociative Fugue is described as a person who adopts a new identity after leaving their previous living arrangements and forgetting or being confused about their previous identity. They are able to perform well enough to survive under the new identity. These episodes are generally caused by severe stress and are limited to a few days, but may last up to months. When the fugue ends, the person is unable to recall what occurred during this state.

Mura was last seen on the evening of Aug. 26 when he dropped off his daughter-in-law and her four children at Midway Airport, Chicago, Ill., as they were flying to Phoenix, Ariz. His van was found 13 days later at the airport by Chicago police. Detectives from the Marinette County Sheriff Department went to Chicago on Sept. 9 to process the vehicle for evidence and there was no indication of any crime. Mura was reported to have left without his identification and $500 in cash. When he failed to return home, his wife, Jan, notified the Marinette County Sheriff Department and a nationwide search was instituted.

The Mura family had resided in Green Bay until his retirement from the former James River Paper Mill several years ago. He and his wife built the Peshtigo River Inn and Campground at Crivitz. Since his disappearance the business has been operated by his wife and their two sons, Ken and Chris.

Sheriff Kessler reported that with Mura being found the investigation is officially closed. He expressed appreciation to the news media, sheriff department detective force, and out of state police agency for finding Mura alive. No foul play is suspected.
12/15/2004

http://www.findamos.com/wst_page3.html

[Faith]

Dated: SAT., JUL 28, 2007 - 12:57 AM
". . . Mortier, who was attending Madison Area Technical College, was last seen Nov. 8, 2004. His Fitchburg home was found unlocked with records still spinning on a turntable and his wallet and a check for $1,000 on a table. His two vehicles were at the residence, and his dog was found wandering nearby a couple days later.
Investigators also found spots of what they suspected to be blood in a bathroom, and a cadaver dog indicated the presence of potential biological evidence on grass outside . . ."
http://www.madison.com/wsj/mad/local/203200

[Faith]

Three years later: What happened to Amos Mortier?
Submitted by Jesse Russell on Mon, 2007-11-12 12:50.

Three years ago, on November 8, 2004, Amos Mortier went missing. Three years later he still has not turned up and since April of 2005 he has been considered a homicide victim even though his mother, according to a new facebook group started today, http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5669952261&ref=nf continues to receive emails from people claiming to have seen Mortier. He was 27 when he disappeared and would now be 30. Where is Amos Mortier?

Even with all of the press coverage this year surrounding the disappearance of Kelly Nolan and later Francince Tate, the anniversary of Mortier's disappearance passed with barely a peep in local media. The most recent article I was able to turn up was published on September 26, 2007 in the Isthmus. Searching madison.com's painful to use archives the most recent article I could find from either the Wisconsin State Journal or The Capital Times was on July 28, 2007.

The new Facebook group is calling for "the release of all transcripts from the Grand Jury hearing held in spring 2005 relating to the disappearance of Amos Mortier."

Meanwhile, Mortier's mother, Margie Milutinovich, continues to search for her son on the website findamos.com. On it she asks Jacob Stadfeld, the last person known to see Mortier alive, to tell the truth. She writes, "November 8, 2004 was the last day my son was seen by friends and also by Jacob Stadfeld. Stadfeld was @ Amos' house @ 3:30 on November 8, 2004; proof of this is that Stadfeld's cell phone pinged the tower by Amos' house even though Stadfeld lied to LE stating that the last time he saw Amos was on November 4th."

http://www.dane101.com (http://www.dane101.com/current/2007/11/12/three_years_later_what_happened_to_amos_mortier)

[Faith]

MySpace Blog

Thursday, June 07, 2007


Please Help Find Missing Person Amos Mortier-Newspaper Articles
Category: Art and Photography

Family Reported Man Missing

The Last Time Anyone Spoke With The 27-year-old Fitchburg Man Was Nov. 8.
Wisconsin State Journal :: LOCAL/WISCONSIN :: B1
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Lisa Schuetz Wisconsin State Journal
Family and friends gathered Tuesday at Amos K. Mortier's home -- some to help police and fire officials with a second day of combing nearby cornfields and marsh for the man.

The official search began Monday after his family filed a report with police saying they hadn't been able to contact Mortier, 27, in a week, Fitchburg Police Lt. Jay Wilson said.

His family had been checking his ranch-style home at 5078 Lacy Road late last week and over the weekend, Wilson said. The last time anyone spoke to Mortier was Nov. 8, Wilson said.

Calls to his cell phone go unanswered.

The Madison Area Technical College student's two vehicles are at the house, Wilson said.

The property, between Highway 14 and Syene Road, is owned by Greentech Land Co. of Madison. Mortier rented the house and its 2.3 acres Aug. 1, Russ Tieman at Greentech said. Mortier listed his occupations as student/self-employed.

Wilson said Mortier lives alone at the house. His nearest neighbor to the west said he's never seen Mortier.

He has also lived in Black Earth, Eau Claire and Madison, according to court and drivers' records available on the Internet.

The search stopped Monday at nightfall, resuming 9 a.m. Tuesday, Wilson said.

Mortier's family declined comment. A photograph of the man was not made available to the press.

Tuesday afternoon, a dozen orange-vested searchers -- friends were among them -- walked abreast down still unharvested fields of corn across Lacy Road from the house. At least one officer with a search dog worked the area. Firefighters also walked the fields.

More than 20 people were searching the area, Wilson said.

Thick growths of tangled brush surround the rural property and marsh extends behind scattered homes there. McGaw Park is less than a mile to the west.

The Badger Chapter of the American Red Cross parked a truck in Mortier's driveway, dispensing hot chocolate, coffee and cider as well as sandwiches and snacks.

Wilson would not say if there was any evidence suggesting why Mortier was missing -- whether it was at the hands of others or by his own choice.

"At this point, all we know is that it's unusual for his family not to hear from him for this long," he said.




Search For Student Curtailed

Police Say They Have Suspicions
Wisconsin State Journal :: LOCAL/WISCONSIN :: B3
Saturday, November 20, 2004
Lisa Schuetz Wisconsin State Journal
Police are calling off the ground search for Amos K. Mortier, 27, but are continuing the investigation into his disappearance, which an official said appears suspicious.

The search, fortified by friends, began Monday after his mother reported him missing to Fitchburg police. His family had been checking his home at 5078 Lacy Road on and off late the week before and over the weekend without finding him home.

A neighbor found Mortier's dog running loose some time after Nov. 8, the last time he was in contact with anyone, Deputy Chief Don Bates said Friday.

There are other "unusual" elements to Mortier's disappearance, Bates said, but would not elaborate except to say those elements indicate his prolonged absence appears suspicious.

However, he wouldn't rule out other voluntary reasons for Mortier leaving.

"It's frustrating," he said of the inability to find him. "We are concerned."

Fitchburg police officers and firefighters, aided by several law enforcement agencies, searched fields, marshes and other properties within a one-mile radius of the rural ranch-style home Mortier had rented since Aug. 1, Bates said. That includes nearby McGaw Park.

"He's had friends show up every day to search," said Lt. Jay Wilson who headed the search.

Police also searched land Mortier owns outside Dane County, Bates said. He would not say where it was.

Dane County sheriff's deputies will search a few nearby water areas today, he said.

The search was called off in part because of the extensive area already searched and, with the start of deer hunting season, it could be dangerous for searchers, Bates said. Mortier's mother understood, he said, and expressed her gratitude for the agencies' work.

She asked not to be contacted for interviews, he said.

Mortier is white, 5-foot 4-inches tall, about 130 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes. He has also lived in Madison, near Black Earth and Eau Claire.

Anyone with information about his disappearance can call Fitchburg police at 608-270-4300.

.. Contact Lisa Schuetz at lschuetz@madison.com or 252-6143.

Police Expand Call For Help

Wisconsin State Journal :: LOCAL/WISCONSIN :: B3
Thursday, November 25, 2004

Fitchburg police continued Wednesday to ask for information that might help them find a man missing since Nov. 8.

Deputy Chief Don Bates said police have no logical explanation for the disappearance of Amos Mortier, 27, who was reported missing by his mother after he failed to turn up at his Lacy Road home.

Bates said police have searched extensively around the home and also land Mortier owns in Grant County.

In addition, Bates said, police are also asking for help from people in the Milwaukee area. Mortier was a volunteer for an organization called Growing Power, an urban agriculture advocacy group, and has friends in the Milwaukee area.

Anyone with information about Mortier is asked to call Fitchburg police at 270-4300 or 270-4321, Madison Area Crime Stoppers at 266-6014 or Southern Milwaukee County Crime Stoppers at 866-373-6227.



Three Theories On Missing Man

The Mother Of Amos Mortier Of Fitchburg Is Enduring Constant Anguish, But She's Convinced He's Alive.
Wisconsin State Journal :: FRONT :: A1
Friday, December 17, 2004
Lisa Schuetz Wisconsin State Journal
Margie Milutinovich's tearful face twists into a smile as she sifts through her son's belongings, many strewn about his Lacy Road home.

Beautifully crafted pottery, a large and eclectic record collection and a half-finished task of hanging pictures are all familiar reminders of her eldest child, Amos Mortier.

"If I start thinking about Amos, I can work myself into (terror) and just sit and wail and cry. ... But that doesn't do Amos any good," said Milutinovich, 52.

Despite weeks of searching, Mortier, 27, hasn't been seen or heard from since Nov. 8.

Fitchburg police have no new information, Deputy Chief Don Bates said.

Mortier is one of 140 Wisconsin adults considered missing and endangered and listed on the National Crime Information Center's database, said Tanya Dolske, president of Wisconsin Advocates for Families of Missing People.

Fitchburg police, Dane County sheriff's deputies and Mortier's friends have hunted for him around his home, in area landfills and parks and on land he owns in Green County.

A missing flier is tacked all over Dane County and on two Beltline billboards. A Web site -- www.findamos.com -- asks for tips and help in posting fliers.

.. Funny, intelligent

To his mother and many friends, Mortier is more than the sweet-faced small man pictured on his "missing" posters.

He's a funny, private, intelligent, ecology buff who worries about his too-trusting mother. He likes high-end restaurants such as Magnus. And he didn't care much about high school but was enjoying a successful stint at Madison Area Technical College.

"He's able to jump into any conversation and make witty remarks about anything," said his friend, Miranda Maysack. "I remember being at breakfast with him and just laughing and laughing."

Jesse Settle knew Mortier from the Williamson Street Grocery Co-op and MATC. He's seen Mortier at the Further Festival, a Grateful Dead event, and knows he attended Burning Man, an artistic, "temporary community" in the desert north of Reno, Nev.

Settle was also the friend who last saw Mortier, at 11:30 a.m. Nov. 8.

"I thought he was going to play some pinball between classes in the lounge," he said.

Settle noticed Mortier wasn't in school after that, but didn't worry until contacted by another friend.

Mortier's friends first missed him when he didn't show for a dinner appointment Nov. 9 but weren't upset until that weekend when he still hadn't returned messages on his cell phone.

Later that week, friends went to his house at 5078 Lacy Road, Milutinovich said. Turntables were still running and his wallet was there, but he and his dog were missing.

His friends called Milutinovich at 9:30 p.m. Sunday. She called police at 6:30 a.m. Monday, Nov. 13.

.. "Warmest homes"

She's critical of the police process.

"This place was crawling with friends and police," she said of his home those first few days. She wishes they had preserved the potential crime scene.

Police eventually dusted for fingerprints and took his computer, digital camera and other objects, she said, messing up the place in the process.

"He's always had the warmest homes," Milutinovich said looking about his tumbled belongings. "Definitely cozy and welcoming. This is not Amos."

His malamute-mix Gnosis was found later Nov. 13 at a neighbor's house.

An early theory was that Mortier had some mishap outdoors. "I thought about him injured in the bottom of a well," his mother said. "You don't want to sleep, you don't want to eat, you don't want to be comfortable if your son could be hurt and cold."

Now the wait has made her angry -- angry that someone may have seen her son and isn't reporting it, angry that her questions aren't always answered by police.

She's sad that she doesn't have a recording of her son's voice -- she misses it so much.

.. Three theories

Milutinovich said there are now three theories: He was abducted, dropped out of society, or he developed amnesia and wandered off.

He wouldn't have let her worry, she said, or left Gnosis, so she doesn't believe he dropped out. The third idea is the one she latches onto.

Recent stories of a Wisconsin man found in Iowa after several months has given her hope.

"He's had headaches in the past, and he had headaches at that time," she said of her son.

She said she doesn't believe her son was involved in drugs anymore. In 1997, he was convicted of possession of amphetamines, LSD or Psilocin.

She said there was a point several years ago when "he didn't look healthy. He quit everything and he really cleaned himself up. He was at a peak when he became missing.."

She's paying his mortgage on his Green County land. And she will pack up and store his belongings. "I assume he's alive," Milutinovich said. "I feel that and I feel that more now than I did before."

She's not doing anything festive for Christmas. "I'll be in front of my computer researching," Milutinovich said, "and trying to find any clues that I can."

.. Musical benefit for

Amos Mortier search fund

* Where: The Inferno, 1718 Commercial Ave., Madison

* When: 9 tonight

* Cost: $5 cover charge, with all but $1 going to Amos Mortier's mother to use to aid the search or other needs.

* For more information:

www.findamos.com





2 Men Testify Under Immunity In Missing Fitchburg Man Case
Wisconsin State Journal :: LOCAL/WISCONSIN :: B3
Tuesday, January 4, 2005
Lisa Schuetz Wisconsin State Journal
CORRECTION: A story on Page 3 of the Local section Tuesday incorrectly identified the drug Amos Mortier was convicted of possessing. Court records indicate it was amphetamines, LSD or psilocin. In addition, Detective Shannan Sheil-Morgan's last name was misspelled.

(correction published 1-5-04)
Two Madison-area men will get immunity for testifying in a secret court investigation into the disappearance of Amos K. Mortier, 27, of Fitchburg.

According to court documents, the detectives assigned to Mortier's case -- Fitchburg Detective Shannan Shell-Morgan and Dane County Sheriff's Detective David Bongiovani -- were present at the immunity hearings Wednesday in connection with a John Doe investigation.

Although neither would confirm nor deny the existence of a John Doe investigation, both detectives said Monday they have worked on nothing but Mortier's disappearance since mid-November.

Dane County Circuit Court Judge Robert DeChambeau, provided the immunity hearing documents but could give no other details. A John Doe investigation, often initiated by a district attorney but conducted by a judge, is used to determine if a crime was committed and who committed it. The investigation and its findings are often confidential.

The court hearings granting immunity and the names of those who testify are public record. The State Journal is not publishing the witnesses' names because it could hinder the investigation.

John Doe witnesses are subpoenaed to appear. Their immunity relates to any potentially self-incriminating testimony they may provide.

Assistant District Attorney Corey Stephan conducted the immunity hearings. Stephan specializes in drug law violations.

One of the John Doe witnesses was convicted Dec. 21 of felony manufacture and delivery of marijuana.

Mortier had a 2001 conviction for misdemeanor possession of methamphetamine in a 1996 incident.

The detectives said they are not limiting their investigation to a possible drug connection.

Mortier was last seen by a friend on the Madison Area Technical College campus on Nov. 8. Friends and family reported him missing on Nov. 13.

The detectives said they have interviewed between 80 and 100 people in connection to the case and continue to follow up on clues and tips.

"We can't get enough people to talk," Bongiovani said.

Both detectives refused to discuss any DNA evidence related to the case.

The investigators ask that anyone with information, including people wishing to remain anonymous, contact the Fitchburg police at 608-270-4300.



Police: Missing Fitchburg Man Was Likely Murdered
Wisconsin State Journal :: FRONT :: A1
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Lisa Schuetz Wisconsin State Journal
Amos Mortier, missing since early November from his rural Fitchburg home, was likely murdered, police said at a news conference Wednesday.

As Mortier's distraught mother looked on, Police Chief Thomas Blatter said the young man's disappearance appears to be a homicide related to his involvement in illegal drug activities.

Police wouldn't identify the drug or drugs or describe Mortier's activities.

Margie Milutinovich, who has described her son as a funny, intelligent, ecology buff, did not speak during Wednesday's news conference.

But Mortier's uncle, Jim Mortier, said the family is offering a $10,000 reward for information that leads police to the 27-year-old or to people connected with his disappearance.

Investigating agencies, including the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the state Department of Criminal Investigation, have identified several "persons of interest," Blatter said.

Mortier was last seen by a friend Nov. 8 on the Madison Area Technical College campus. Friends and family reported him missing Nov. 13. Since discovering his disappearance in early November, Milutinovich cherished hope her son would be found alive.

Family and friends initially thought he had fallen while walking his dog, Gnosis, and been knocked out in the cold. Dozens combed fields and marshland near his rented Lacy Road home but found nothing.

Fitchburg Detective Shannan Sheil-Morgan and Dane County Sheriff's Detective David Bongiovani have worked the case since November.

In early January, two Madison-area men testified in exchange for immunity in a secret "John Doe" court investigation into Mortier's disappearance.

John Doe witnesses are subpoenaed to appear. Their immunity relates to any potentially self-incriminating testimony they may provide. Assistant District Attorney Corey Stephan, who specializes in drug law violations, conducted the hearings.

One of the John Doe witnesses was convicted Dec. 21 of felony manufacture and delivery of marijuana.

Mortier was convicted of misdemeanor possession of amphetamines, LSD or psilocin stemming from a 1996 incident.

Sheil-Morgan and Bongiovani said in January that they had interviewed from 80 to 100 people and continue to follow up on clues and tips.

To date, the evidence or information investigators have garnered has ruled out a voluntary disappearance, Deputy Chief Don Bates said. "There is no other scenario that fits (other than a homicide)."




Missing Fitchburg Man Sought In Tennessee

A Music Festival Nurse Reported Seeing A Man Matching The Description Of Amos Mortier.
Wisconsin State Journal :: LOCAL/WISCONSIN :: B3
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Tim Cigelske Wisconsin State Journal
Authorities in Tennessee are searching for Amos Mortier -- a Fitchburg man police said was likely the victim of a homicide -- after a person matching his description was seen at a music festival there.

A medical tent nurse contacted the mother of Amos Mortier, 27, after the June 10-12 Bonnaroo Festival saying she treated a man she believed to be Mortier, who disappeared in November. The man, who didn't identity himself, was intoxicated and complained of memory problems, according to the Fitchburg Police Department.

"I wouldn't classify this lead as any more credible than other tips we've received," said Fitchburg Police Lt. Todd Stetzer. "At this point the only thing we have that indicates it could be Amos is similar physical description, and some of the bands playing there were bands he liked. But if there's any chance it was him we want to chase it out and see."

Mortier was last seen by a friend Nov. 8, 2004, on the Madison Area Technical College campus. Friends and family reported him missing Nov. 13 and authorities announced in January that they were treating Mortier's case as a homicide investigation.

Mortier's family, who has held out hope that he is alive, is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to his whereabouts on the Web site www.findamos.com.

The nurse at the Manchester, Tenn., festival said that after she treated and released a patient she recognized him from one of the fliers provided by Mortier's mother, Margie Milutinovich. The man in question matched Mortier's height, weight and hair color description. Milutinovich has sent missing person fliers to events around the country that she believes her son might attend.

Stetzer said police have distributed photos of Mortier to every Tennessee sheriff's department, who are combing campgrounds in the festival area for people who meet Mortier's description. Meanwhile in Fitchburg, police are scouring photographs of the festival crowds to try to identify someone who looks like Mortier.

In April, police said Mortier was likely murdered in an event related to his illegal drug activities. Mortier was convicted of misdemeanor possession of amphetamines, LSD or psilocin stemming from a 1996 incident.

Milutinovich, however, believes her son is lost and suffering from an amnesia-type condition. Milutinovich said the festival man's complaint of memory problems is further evidence that it was Mortier. Police said those symptoms could have been caused by the influence of alcohol or drugs.

"If Amos knew who he was, he would have called," Milutinovich said. "He's lost now, I'm sure of it."

Milutinovich said the nurse told her phrases that the man said that matched things her son usually said. She declined to identify those phrases citing the ongoing investigation.

"Basically I have to do the waiting game," she said. "I need to find out if that was Amos or not Amos."

Anyone with information on the case, including people wishing to remain anonymous, can contact the Fitchburg police at 608-270-4300.

.. Contact Tim Cigelske at tcigelske@madison.com or 252-6120.






Mother Maintains Hope Missing Son Will Be Found Alive
Wisconsin State Journal :: LOCAL/WISCONSIN :: B1
Tuesday, November 8, 2005
LISA SCHUETZ lschuetz@madison.com 608-252-6143
Nobody has heard from Amos Mortier in a year, at least no one who's told police.

Two groups searching for him disagree as to what happened.

In April, Fitchburg police said they believe they are investigating a homicide linked to illegal drugs. Police have not said what that drug involvement is, but court records indicate Mortier was convicted in 2001 for possessing illegal mushrooms.

On the other hand, his mother, Margie Milutinovich, believes he is alive and may be wandering with an impaired memory, hiding or kidnapped, she said Monday.

"I still feel very hopeful that Amos is alive and out there and that we will all laugh with him again," she writes on the Web site dedicated to finding him, www.findamos.com.

She said drugs figure too prominently in the police search for him. Fitchburg police have said they are not limiting their investigation to the drug angle. Police officials didn't return phone calls Monday.

On Nov. 13, 2004, Mortier, then 27, was reported missing from his rented Lacy Road house. His dog, Gnosis, was found outdoors later that day by a neighbor.

Milutinovich hadn't heard from him in days. It was determined that he last had contact with a friend at Madison Area Technical College on Nov. 8.

A search party combed the rural area surrounding his house.

In early January, two Madison-area men testified in exchange for immunity in a secret "John Doe" court investigation into Mortier's disappearance. One of them was convicted in January of felony manufacturing marijuana.

Since April, Milutinovich has distanced herself from investigators working on the case and has hired her own investigator.

She said she's angry that police have not told her more.

To remind people that her son is still missing, Milutinovich is holding a vigil near his former home, 5078 Lacy Road at 3 p.m. today. Later, friends and supporters are invited to a free event at the Inferno, 1718 Commercial Ave., at 9 p.m.

"The Fitchburg Police Department (is) not associated with this event," Milutinovich said in her announcement. "None of the information the police have released has been substantiated; therefore, the family and friends of Amos have no choice but to disbelieve any information the (police department) has regarding this case. It is asked that the (Fitchburg Police Department) and any other law enforcement officials do not join in the events of Nov. 8."

htttp://www.findamos.com

http://blog.myspace.com (http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=191964764&blogID=273506845)

[Faith]

Amos Kale Mortier

Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance

# Missing Since: November 8, 2004 from Madison, Wisconsin
# Classification: Endangered Missing
# Date Of Birth: April 28, 1977
# Age: 27 years old
# Height and Weight: 5'6, 130 - 135 pounds
# Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian male. Brown hair, hazel/blue eyes. Mortier wears eyeglasses with dark brown frames. He has a scar above his right eyebrow and his top teeth are crooked.
# Clothing/Jewelry Description: A hooded brown canvas Carhartt jacket, a collared shirt, blue jeans, tan or brown canvas hiking shoes, and a baseball cap with a pull tie.

Bar

Details of Disappearance

Mortier was last seen in Madison, Wisconsin on November 8, 2004. He has never been heard from again. His mother has set up a website about his disappearance, called Find Amos Mortier.

Bar

Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Fitchburg Police Department
608-270-4300

Bar

Source Information
The National Center for Missing Adults
Find Amos Mortier
Wisconsin Center for Missing Children and Adults

Bar

Updated 3 times since October 12, 2004.

Last updated November 11, 2007; picture added.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/m/mortier_amos.html

[Faith]

Police Still Looking For Leads

November 7, 2005
By Angela Bettis,

FITCHBURG, Wis. -- Family and friends of Amos Mortier are using the one-year anniversary of his disappearance as a way to spark renewed interest in the case.

A group will meet near the original search site at 5078 Lacy Road Tuesday at 3 p.m.

They're hoping community members will come to help them piece together the events from one year ago.

Mortier disappeared one year ago Tuesday. His family is still waiting for news of his whereabouts.

Mortier was last seen on the MATC campus.

His home was found unlocked with the stereo still on and his dog wandering without its collar.

Fitchburg police say their investigation leads them to believe Mortier was murdered and that the homicide was drug- related.

They say even one year later the case is still very active and that the Halbach case could help.

"We're hoping that it will serve as a reminder to people that it can occur anywhere and that Amos is still missing," said Det. Todd Stetzer. We're still looking for information. We do believe there are people in the area that have information and we ask them to come forth with it."

A massive search for Mortier ensued in the days and months after his disappearance.

Family and friends then put up billboards and created a Web site.

On the Web site, Mortier's mother, Margie Milutnovich, asks for help beyond police.

She said it's incredibly hard not to get any information about your missing child for a year. She goes on to note that a private investigator is pursuing the case and still finding information.

She writes, "I still feel very hopeful that Amos is alive and out there and that we will all laugh with him again."

"There's a lot of information that continues to come in," said Stetzer. "The detectives are very busy following up on the leads. There's nothing new that we can release at this time. However, there is continual work that is being done on the case."

http://www.channel3000.com/news/5274849/detail.html

[Faith]

Anniversary remembrance of Amos Mortier

3 pm, 11/8, 5078 Lacy Rd. Also: Special gathering at the Inferno, 9 pm, 11/8, with DJs Ablaze, Anonymous, Deviant & NeeHigh. Free. 347-7363
Web: http://www.findamos.com
Email: milut@mailbag.com

Missing Amos Mortier

We believe that Amos is out there, if you do too...please join us and be part of our hope that Amos will be sharing music and conversation with everyone soon.

November 8, 2005
You are invited to:

Mark a year that we have had to walk each day without the
companionship of Amos:
my son,
a brother,
a grandson,
a nephew,
and a friend.

A Gathering of Hope, Faith, and Strength
Please join us at the search site
Location: by 5078 Lacy Rd.
Time: 3:00 p.m.

I know that you have information that you want to tell
me but you want your identity to remain anonymous.
You will completely remain anonymous by mailing
your information to my personal post mailbox.

The police do not have access to this box.
I had this mailbox before my son went missing:

Margie
2701 University Ave.
PMB 382
Madison, WI 53705

The flyers do work to help find my son. Staffed nurses at a very large music festival believe that Amos came into their medic tent two hours prior to them seeing his flyer posted, then they called us. If you could please take flyers to any festivals, fairs, summer events that you are going to we would appreciate that.

Please download and print flyers (milut@mailbag.com), and read about a man from Crivitz, WI who snapped into a form of amnesia called Disassociative Fugue. He was experiencing this at the same time of Amos' disappeared. He was missing many months when luckily someone helped him figure out that he was a missing person with a different name.

If you need flyers or billboard cards, please contact:
milut@mailbag.com

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[Faith]

MISSING

Amos has been known to change his appearance. He could be wearing a beard and may also be wearing glasses.

There is also a chance that Amos could be suffering from memory loss and may be confused.

http://www.psychicforthemissing.com/id9.html

[Mysticalmom]

:1222423:

[Mysticalmom]

http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/tct/2008/02/12/0802120291.php
What Happened To Amos?
Grand Jury Finished, But No One Is Accused

The Capital Times :: FRONT :: A1
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
By NATHAN J. COMP Correspondent for The Capital Times
Mystery continues to swirl around the disappearance of a 27-year-old Fitchburg man who went missing more than three years ago.

A federal grand jury investigating the case wrapped up in December, but investigators wouldn't say whether any indictments are expected. Investigators haven't publicly named any suspects in the presumed homicide of Amos Mortier, who was last seen on Nov. 8, 2004.

Sources close to the case say dozens of people were called to testify, answering questions that often centered on the drug activities of two of Mortier's close friends. Investigators believe Mortier was murdered in a drug deal gone awry. Some speculate authorities are attempting to build drug cases against those they believe have information about what happened to Mortier.

Fitchburg Detective Shannon Sheil-Morgan wouldn't say whether this is the strategy, but expressed frustration about "people lying and holding back information that can assist" the investigation. Sheil-Morgan estimates the case, which has passed through city, county, state and now federal jurisdictions, has cost "hundreds of thousands of dollars."



The U.S. Attorney's Office in Madison would neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation.

Authorities have questioned hundreds of people over the past three years, with many accusing the case's three lead investigators - Sheil-Morgan, retired Dane County Detective David Bongiovani (who is no longer involved with the case) and federal Drug Enforcement Administration agent Jerry Becka - of casting an overly wide net for potential suspects.

During a rare state John Doe probe into Mortier's disappearance in 2005, investigators eyed Madison resident Jacob Stadfeld as a potential suspect. Authorities have alleged that Stadfeld owed $90,000 to Mortier.

Stadfeld's attorney, Ernesto Chavez, says his client is innocent.

"From the beginning, at least two parties have fingered him as being guilty. For some reason the police believed those parties," says Chavez. "These parties are known to have told false information to police. These individuals have told a long string of lies and we're interested to know what those lies were."

Chavez, who says Stadfeld never received a grand jury subpoena, could only speculate on the grand jury's focus. "It's very strange for the federal government to investigate a local murder case," he says. "My guess would be to flush out suspects. We have always expected some kind of charge would come, but that hasn't happened yet."


Others accused\ But Stadfeld is just one of several people accused over the last three years by investigators of playing a role in Mortier's disappearance. According to sources close to the case, grand jury questioning has centered on two of Mortier's friends, including original suspect Jacob Falkner, who says he had no hand in the disappearance. Falkner, authorities alleged, killed Mortier following a lovers' spat.

"They said we had a homosexual relationship," says Falkner, who, according to four witnesses, was part of the grand jury's focus, but wasn't himself called to testify. "Where do they get this crap? They couldn't believe that two heterosexual males would go camping or cook meals together."

In the fallout from Mortier's disappearance, Falkner, 27, was convicted in early 2005 of growing marijuana and given probation. Twenty months later, he was charged for the same crime in federal court under an anti-terrorism law that allows the government to sidestep double jeopardy protections. He was convicted again and sentenced to one year in federal prison.

Shortly after his release last summer, Falkner says DEA agent Becka came to his house to again question him about the disappearance. "I've given them same information like five different times," says Falkner, who was twice called to testify in the state's earlier John Doe probe. "My story has never changed. I want to know what happened to Amos more than they do."

Another Madison man, who asked not to be identified, says he was accused by Sheil-Morgan of stabbing Mortier on a hog farm in Poynette. The man, who was on the periphery of Mortier's broad network of friends, says he has been questioned four times by investigators.

"I don't think they have any clue what happened to him," he says. "I do think they're trying real hard at this point to justify all the money they've spent investigating people. That's why they're so bent on the drug stuff. It's all they've got."

Sheil-Morgan wouldn't comment on whether they believe Mortier was stabbed in Poynette or if the investigation's focus has shifted toward building drug cases. "We're doing everything we can to find Amos," she says.

Mortier was a popular Madison resident with lots of friends. Well-liked, but intensely private, Mortier was taking steps to put drugs behind him, according to family and friends. Though it's widely known he trafficked in marijuana, many dispute that he was the high-level dealer authorities claim he was.

He had begun taking classes at Madison Area Technical College and was preparing to move to North Carolina, where friends say he intended to pursue a career in organic farming. He had previously volunteered in Milwaukee, helping school children build rooftop gardens, in addition to growing vegetables organically on land he owned near Reedsburg.

Mortier's mother, Margie Milutinovich, also laments the course she's seen the investigation take.

"They're so caught up in finding out who was selling what drugs to whom that they aren't even looking for my son anymore," says Milutinovich. "They've said so many things that I don't even know what to believe. They don't return my calls."

Gone underground?\ Confusing matters further is that there have been as many theories about Mortier's fate as there have been suspects. Though some believe Mortier was murdered in a drug deal gone bad, some believe he may have been struck by a car after chasing his dog near his Lacy Road home. Perhaps, says one, the driver, fearing the consequences, disposed of Mortier's body.

Mortier's dog was found by a neighbor several days after he disappeared.

Falkner, on the other hand, believes Mortier learned that his drug activities were under investigation and went underground to duck prosecution. "It wouldn't be the first time he lived under the radar for a long time," he says. "He's a very resourceful guy. It wouldn't surprise me one bit."

Sheil-Morgan wouldn't comment on what investigators believe happened, but says, "I would love for Amos to walk through the door. I've lived and breathed this case for three years."

Milutinovich, until recently, believed her son was suffering from a rare form of amnesia. Now, she doesn't know what to believe, though she is hoping he's still alive.

"I go back and forth several times a day," she says, adding that she doesn't believe authorities have any solid suspects. "If they did, they'd have arrested somebody by now. They say the investigation is open, but I don't think they're even looking for Amos anymore."

[Jute]

This is very disheartening to read. I was in Madison a couple of years ago and saw a billboard with Amos's picture on it, it was obvious that he was very much loved. I've thought about him a number of times but couldn't recall his name, just hoped that he had been found. I looked at the site that was set up for Amos-his mother mentioned that Help Find the Missing had added Amos and she was still thinking very positively.

At least she has Gnosis while she waits to find answers.

[packy]

Have to wonder just how much did the police invest in searching for Amos' supplier, although it looks suspicious for the POI it makes sense that someone else was waiting for some money too.

[Mysticalmom]

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/291256
MATC student's murder noted in plea deal
Ed Treleven
608-252-6134
etreleven@madison.com
In a case related to the disappearance of Amos Mortier 3 years ago, a former UW-Madison student pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiring to bring large amounts of marijuana from the East Coast to Madison.

Reed J. Rogala, 32, of South Orange, N.J., admitted that he oversaw the transportation of hundred-pound packages of marijuana twice a month from the East Coast to a former roommate 's home on Wingra Drive in Madison.

But tucked into a four-page plea agreement is a pointed reference to "the murder of Amos Mortier." The agreement was sent to Rogala 's attorney on Dec. 5 and signed on Dec. 11 by Rogala, his attorney and Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Graber but not made public until Thursday.

"The United States further agrees that the defendant 's statements made pursuant to this plea agreement will not be directly used against the defendant, except for those statements regarding your client 's involvement, if any, in the murder of Amos Mortier, " the sixth paragraph of the plea agreement reads.

It is the first time in a public document that authorities pointedly say that Mortier was murdered. The 27-year-old Madison Area Technical College student vanished from his Fitchburg home on Nov. 8, 2004. There is no further explanation in public court documents about ties between Rogala and Mortier.

Under the plea agreement, Rogala agreed to make "a full, complete and truthful statement regarding his criminal conduct, as well as the involvement of all other individuals known to the defendant. " He also agreed to testify truthfully at any trials or hearings.

News of the plea agreement came as a surprise to Mortier 's mother, Margie Milutinovich, who has been searching for her son since he vanished and has never lost hope that he is alive. She said that despite what the court document says, she will continue to believe her son is alive until someone shows her proof that he is not.

"I 'm suspect of the statement only because I 've heard it so many times from so many people without any facts, " she said. "I will believe it if it 's true, by them showing me the facts. "

The Mortier case has been through John Doe hearings in Dane County Circuit Court and before a federal grand jury last year. Search warrants unsealed last summer indicated that when Mortier vanished his home was left unlocked, a record was spinning on a turntable and his wallet and a $1,000 check were on a table. Spots of what were suspected to be blood were found in a bathroom and a cadaver dog indicated the presence of potential biological evidence on grass outside.

Much of the material in the warrants concerned large-scale marijuana dealing, much like the charge against Rogala.

In court, Graber told U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb that Rogala, who graduated from UW-Madison in 2001 with a bachelor 's degree in botany, paid couriers to bring marijuana from New York to Madison, where it was dropped off at his former roommate 's home.

Rogala was not a grower but a "wholesaler, " Graber said. He flew to Madison when the shipments were made and never traveled with the couriers, Graber told Crabb. Once here, he would distribute the marijuana to others.

The formal charge against Rogala states that the conspiracy lasted "from in or about 2000, the exact date being unknown, to on or about Nov. 8, 2004, " the date that Mortier disappeared.

Rogala, who is in the Dane County Jail, faces a minimum of 10 years in prison when he is sentenced on Sept. 4. The conviction carries a possible life sentence, but Rogala 's guilty plea makes a sentence that long unlikely. Rogala and prosecutors will jointly recommend a $100,000 fine.

[Roamer]

I hope finally Amos' family can find some closure if this guy finally tells who/what/where.

[Mysticalmom]

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=191964764&blogID=429586942
Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Two Indicted in Mortier Disappearance Case
Category: Life

Two More Indicted in Marijuana Conspiracy Case

ED TRELEVEN
608-252-6134
etreleven@madison.com

Two friends of a missing Fitchburg man were indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiring to distribute large amounts of marijuana, bringing to six the number of people charged in relation to the case.

The indictments for Jacob Stadfeld, 32, and Brent Delzer, 34, were filed Friday in U.S. District Court. The indictments allege that the two conspired between themselves and others to distribute marijuana from about 2000 until Nov. 8, 2004.

That's the date that Amos Mortier was last seen before he vanished from his home in Fitchburg, leaving his dog running outside and a record spinning on his turntable.

It is unclear how the marijuana conspiracy is related to Mortier's disappearance. However, a plea agreement for Reed Rogala, 32, of South Orange, N.J., who pleaded guilty in June to involvement in a marijuana distribution conspiracy, gives Rogala immunity for any further statements he makes, except those pertaining to his "involvement, if any, in the murder of Amos Mortier."

In search warrants filed in 2005, Delzer told Fitchburg police that over the previous two years, he had sold "pounds" of marijuana for Mortier. He also said that Mortier was owed $90,000 by Stadfeld for marijuana that Mortier had given him to sell.

Delzer also told police, according to the warrants, that four or five days before Mortier was last seen, he was at Mortier's home when Mortier received a phone call and began to yell that someone owed him money. That surprised Delzer, the search warrants state, because he had never heard Mortier yell.

Phone records showed that the call may have been from Stadfeld, warrants state.

Police also interviewed Stadfeld about cell phone calls he made to Mortier on the day he vanished and the days prior.

Other friends of Mortier have also been charged with involvement in a marijuana distribution conspiracy. Destin Layne, 30, who described herself as a mentor to Mortier, was charged on Aug. 12 and is set for a plea hearing on Sept. 17.

Rogala, a former UW-Madison student, will be sentenced on Nov. 6. Rogala's former roommate, Brian Hutchinson, also a former UW-Madison student, entered a guilty plea on Aug. 11 and will be sentenced on Oct. 29.

Federal prosecutors on Aug. 14 also charged Hal Taback with involvement in the conspiracy.

According to information presented by prosecutors in court during Hutchinson's plea hearing, Taback was among Rogala's sources for marijuana in New York, which Rogala had brought to Madison in hundred-pound loads by hired couriers.

[packy]

Hopefully one of them will tell more. Thanks for the update, Mysticalmom.

[Grande]

WOW! Thanks for posting that MysticalMom!!!

[Mysticalmom]

http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/300250%20Former%20UW%20Student%20Pleads
Former UW student pleads to role in moving hundreds of pounds of weed
Kevin Murphy
Correspondent for The Capital Times — 8/12/2008 8:19 am

A former Madison man in the middle of a marijuana sales network that moved at least one ton of pot between 2000 and July 2003 pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to conspiring to distribute a controlled substance with a second man who's suspected of involvement in an unsolved murder.


Brian Hutchinson, now of Fontana, Wis., was a UW-Madison student in August 2000 when he moved into a house on Wingra Avenue shared with the second man, Reed Rogala, who was already heavily involved in marijuana trafficking, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Graber.

Rogala had a source in New York state who sent him 90 to 100 pounds of marijuana every two or three weeks mainly during the fall and winter months. At first Hutchinson bought small amounts of marijuana from Rogala but then began to take up to 30 pounds of each shipment and sell it, Graber said.


Rogala moved to Vermont in 2001, but kept his Madison customer base by having marijuana sent to Hutchinson, and by flying to Madison where Rogala met his drivers and took the rest of the load to his second main customer in Madison, Graber said.

Hutchinson left Madison in 2003, "leaving a lot of money behind," said his attorney Jordan Loeb, moved to Portland, Ore., and began delivering for an organic grocery store.

Hutchinson admitted to District Judge Barbara Crabb that he bought marijuana from Rogala beginning in 2000 and sold it to several customers in the Madison area.

While Hutchinson was charged with delivery of 100 kilograms or more of marijuana, co-conspirator Rogala, 32, of South Orange, N.J. was charged this year in federal court with conspiring to distribute 2,200 pounds or more of marijuana.

Rogala pleaded guilty in June to a marijuana conspiracy charge and struck a deal with the government to cooperate in its investigation into the conspiracy. While the government agreed not to directly use any of Rogala's statements against him in the marijuana case, it excluded any information he reveals regarding the murder of Amos Mortier, of Fitchburg.

Mortier vanished on Nov. 8, 2004, the date Rogala's indictment states the marijuana conspiracy ended. There are no statements in public court documents that link Hutchinson to Mortier's murder and little in Rogala's except the brief mention in Rogala's plea agreement, which was executed in December but not filed with the court until June 12.

Hutchinson struck a plea deal in November and has cooperated with the government ever since, even flying back to Madison for debriefing sessions, said Graber.

Crabb cited Hutchinson's cooperation in deciding to exempt him from mandatory detention prior to his sentencing on Nov. 29. Hutchinson faces five to 40 years in prison.

Rogala is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 4. He faces a minimum of 10 years in prison and has agreed to a $100,000 fine.

[Mysticalmom]

http://www.findamos.com/
By ED TRELEVEN
etreleven@madison.com
608-252-6134

A friend and self-described mentor of Amos Mortier, who disappeared from his Fitchburg home under mysterious circumstances in 2004, was charged in federal court Tuesday with taking part in a marijuana distribution ring in which two other former UW-Madison students have admitted involvement.

Destin Layne, 30, a Wauwatosa native who graduated from UW-Madison in 2001, was charged with taking part in the conspiracy between 2002 and Nov. 8, 2004, according to a charging document filed in U.S. District Court. Mortier disappeared on Nov. 8, 2004.

A plea hearing for Layne was set for Sept. 17, where she is likely to plead guilty.

Layne was mentioned in court Monday at a plea hearing for Brian Hutchinson, 34, who pleaded guilty to taking part in the conspiracy, which involved moving thousands of pounds of marijuana from the East Coast to Madison in 100-pound increments every two weeks.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Graber told U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb on Monday that had Hutchinson gone to trial, a witness would have testified that when Hutchinson moved to Portland, Ore., in 2003, he was told by Reed Rogala that Layne would become that man’s new source for marijuana.

Rogala, 32, of South Orange, N.J., has also pleaded guilty to taking part in the scheme. A written plea agreement in Rogala’s case stipulated that no statements he made would be held against him, “except for those statements regarding ... the murder of Amos Mortier.”

Hutchinson is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 29. Rogala’s sentencing is Nov. 6.

According to search warrants Fitchburg police filed in the Mortier investigation in 2005, Layne told police on Nov. 28, 2004, and April 11, 2005, that on Halloween weekend before his disappearance, Mortier seemed to be in a “desperate state of mind” because another man owed him money.

Layne said the money could have involved a drug transaction. Mortier said he did not want to confront the other man or go to police, she told investigators.

But the next week, she said, she called Mortier to check on him and he said he decided he was going to confront the man and threaten taking him to the police if their problem was not resolved, the warrants state.

But Mortier’s mother, Margie Milutinovich, said she has doubts about Layne’s story.

“Amos would not look for a fight,” she said. He “does not like confrontation and would have a hard time believing any friend of his would steal from him if that part of the story is even a true story.”

[Mysticalmom]

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/305426
Guilty plea in marijuana case
By ED TRELEVEN 608-252-6134
etreleven@madison.com
A UW-Madison graduate and friend of a missing Fitchburg man pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to taking part in a large scale marijuana distribution ring.

Destin Layne, 30, of Brooklyn, N.Y., who was a friend of Amos Mortier, 27, at the time he disappeared from his Fitchburg home under mysterious circumstances in 2004, admitted involvement in a distribution conspiracy involving other former UW-Madison students that brought thousands of pounds of marijuana to Madison from the East Coast.

Layne faces up to five years in prison, but under a plea agreement prosecutors would seek sentence reductions for her acceptance of responsibility and other reductions if she provides help to investigators. Layne is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb on Dec. 11.


Layne was the girlfriend of Reed Rogala, 32, of South Orange, N.J., who has also pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to taking part in the scheme. Rogala is in Dane County Jail awaiting sentencing on Nov. 6.

A written plea agreement for Layne makes no mention of Mortier, nor was he mentioned in court on Wednesday, but Rogala's written plea agreement stipulated that no statements he made would be used against him, except those pertaining to his "involvement, if any, in the murder of Amos Mortier."

Mortier was last seen on Nov. 8, 2004.

Investigators who have been trying for nearly four years to find out what happened to Mortier, including former Dane County Sheriff's Detective David Bongiovani and Fitchburg police Detective Shannan Sheil-Morgan, were present in the courtroom Wednesday when Layne pleaded guilty.

Layne's role, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Graber, was to use her near East Side home as a collection and distribution point for marijuana shipments brought in from the East Coast after Rogala left Madison for Vermont and after Rogala's former roommate, Brian Hutchinson, moved to the state of Oregon in 2003. Layne also sent money made from the sale of marijuana to Rogala, with whom she still was involved in a long-distance relationship, Graber said.

In all, six people have been charged or indicted in the conspiracy case. Two other friends of Mortier, Jacob Stadfeld, 32, and Brent Delzer, 34, are scheduled to be arraigned on conspiracy charges today after they were indicted last month by a grand jury.

Hutchinson, 34, has pleaded guilty to taking part in the conspiracy and is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 29. Another man, Hal Taback, who was allegedly among Rogala's marijuana sources has also been charged with involvement in the conspiracy but no court dates have been scheduled. (more comments at above link)

[Mysticalmom]

http://www.findamos.com/
August 28, 2008: Jacob Stadfeld & Brent Delzer Indicted in Marijuana Conspiracy Case UPDATE: 9.18.08 arrainment both plead Not Guilty.Trial date 2.23.09 9 a.m.(no article yet)

[Mysticalmom]

http://pub3.bravenet.com/guestbook/186367757/
Interesting comments on that were recently left on Amos' guestbook

[Mysticalmom]

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/311923
WED., OCT 29, 2008 - 6:57 PM
Pot-dealer-turned-straight sentenced to 27 months in jail
ED TRELEVEN
608-252-6134
etreleven@madison.com
U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb praised Brian Hutchinson for walking away from a large-scale marijuana distribution business, moving away from Madison and settling into crime-free living in Portland, Ore.

But she said Wednesday that Hutchinson, 34, must spend two years and three months in federal prison for his role in the operation, which brought marijuana from the East Coast to Madison in monthly hundred-pound shipments.

Hutchinson admitted being involved in the plot over a three-year period while he was a UW-Madison student. Prosecutors have intimated in court filings that the marijuana plot was related to the disappearance and presumed murder of Amos Mortier, 27, who vanished from his Fitchburg home on Nov. 8, 2004.

Prosecutors have not mentioned a direct link between Mortier and Hutchinson. But Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Graber said Thursday that Hutchinson was instrumental in building a case against Reed Rogala, 32, of South Orange, N.J., another former UW-Madison student who oversaw the marijuana transport from the East Coast.

A written plea agreement in Rogala's case stipulated that no statements he makes would be used against him, except those pertaining to his "involvement, if any, in the murder of Amos Mortier."

Hutchinson's house on Wingra Drive was used as a distribution point, Graber said, and a place for marijuana couriers to rest after their drives from New York and Vermont. Hutchinson received 20 pounds of each shipment to sell, he said.

Rogala is awaiting sentencing in January. Rogala's former girlfriend, Destin Layne, 30, of Brooklyn, N.Y., also a former UW-Madison student and a friend of Mortier, is scheduled to be sentenced in December after pleading guilty to her part in the marijuana conspiracy.

Also charged are Hal Taback, of New York, and two local men, Brent Delzer, 34, and Jacob Stadfeld, 32, both friends of Mortier who were indicted in August on drug charges. more at link)

[Mysticalmom]

http://www.madison.com/tct/mad/topstories/311911
Former Madison weed trafficker sentenced to just over 2 years prison
Kevin Murphy
Correspondent for The Capital Times — 10/29/2008 5:10 pm

A former Madison man who dealt hundreds of pounds of marijuana and who authorities believe has information about the unsolved Amos Mortier murder was sentenced Wednesday in federal court to two years and three months in prison and four years probation and fined $3,000.

Brian Hutchinson, 34, now of Fontana, Wis., was a University of Wisconsin student in August 2000 when he shared a house on Wingra Avenue with Reed Rogala, a man heavily involved in marijuana trafficking, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Graber.

The house served as transfer point for the 100-pound shipments of marijuana that regularly arrived from suppliers in New York. Hutchinson usually took 20 pounds of pot and resold it around Madison, said Graber.

Rogala moved to Vermont in 2001, but Hutchinson maintained the marijuana business here until August 2003, when he left for Portland, Ore., and begin delivering for an organic grocery.

Authorities in Portland, Maine working the "Operation Hat Trick" task force unraveled the marijuana trafficking operation and began making arrests. Hutchinson was subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury in October 2006 but eventually was charged in federal court in Madison with conspiracy to distribute marijuana.

While Graber said Hutchinson distributed between 220 and 440 pounds of marijuana, co-conspirator Rogala, 32, of South Orange, N.J. was charged here with conspiring to distribute 2,200 pounds or more of marijuana.

Two months before Hutchinson entered a guilty plea, Rogala pleaded guilty and struck a deal with the government to cooperate in its investigation. The agreement excludes immunity for any information he reveals regarding his involvement in the murder of Amos Mortier, of Fitchburg.

Mortier vanished on Nov. 8, 2004, the date Rogala's indictment states the marijuana conspiracy ended here. Police have said that Mortier's disappearance was related to his involvement in illegal drug activity.

There are no statements in public court documents linking Hutchinson to Mortier's murder and none in Rogala's except the brief mention in his plea agreement. (more at link)

[packy]

Too bad no one will open up and tell where Amos is.

[Faith]

http://www.unsolved-crimes.com/images/mortier.jpg
Name: Amos Kale Mortier

Place last seen:Fitchburg, Wisconsin
Date of Birth: April 28, 1977 - 27 years old at time of disappearance
Description: White Male
5' 4" Tall
125 lbs.
Brown hair
Blue eyes
Distinguishing Marks: a small, very light (almost unoticeable) horizontal scar above his right eye

Clothing: It is not known what he was last wearing but his normal clothing would be some carhartt clothing pants, hooded sweatshirt, t-shirt, hybrid-type hiking sneakers 27 year old Amos K. Mortier recently moved into a rental house in Fitchburg, Wisconsin approximately 2.5 months prior to his disappearance. On November 8, 2004, Amos was last seen between classes at Madison Area Technical College around 11:30 am in Madison Wisconsin, by a classmate. Amos made a call from his cell phone at around 1:20pm to have the propane bill put in his name. Amos was supposed to have dinner with a friend that night, but he never arrived. No one has seen or heard from Amos since.

Amos's home was found unlocked, with the stereo still playing and his dog wandering around without it's collar. Law enforcement feels that foul play was involved in Amos's disappearance.

Amos's family does not believe that Amos would have left his dog, whom he loved very much, alone. They also believe Amos would have contacted his mother if he could.

If you have any information about this case, please contact:
Madison area crimestoppers (608)266-6014
Reward
The family of Amos Mortier is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to his physical whereabouts.
Related Web Site
www.findamos.com (http://www.findamos.com/)

http://www.unsolved-crimes.com/mortier.html

[Faith]

Remembering Amos, missing since November 8, 2004 :1222423:

[Amusedtdth]

:1222423::1222423:

[Mysticalmom]

http://www.madison.com/wsj/mad/top/317255
FRI., DEC 5, 2008 - 8:34 AM
Drug case prosecutors seek alibis in Mortier disappearance
ED TRELEVEN
608-252-6134
etreleven@madison.com
Federal prosecutors handling a large-scale marijuana distribution case, one tied to the disappearance of Amos Mortier from his Fitchburg home four years ago, have asked two defendants to tell them where they were when Mortier vanished.

But attorneys for Brent Delzer and Jacob Stadfeld said Thursday that because their clients aren't charged with anything having to do with Mortier's absence, their whereabouts is irrelevant.

Prosecutors have never said openly how closely tied the conspiracy is to the disappearance of Mortier, 27, who was last seen on Nov. 8, 2004. Instead, there have only been hints at the ties between the drug case and Mortier's disappearance, found in scattered court documents related to other defendants tied to the case.


• Man sentenced in drug case (Oct. 30)
• Guilty plea in marijuana case (Sept. 18)


One of those documents makes a passing reference to "the murder of Amos Mortier."

Unlike the other defendants in the drug case, who are being prosecuted under charge-and-plea deals tied to cooperation with investigators, Delzer, 35, and Stadfeld, 32, both of the Madison area, were indicted by a grand jury for allegedly taking part in a conspiracy to distribute hundreds of pounds of marijuana that had been brought to Wisconsin from Canada through East Coast distributors.

Delzer and Stadfeld were charged with being part of the conspiracy from about 2000 to Nov. 8, 2004 — the day Mortier was last seen.

On Nov. 20, Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Graber requested a notice of alibi from Delzer and Stadfeld, asking for the "specific time and place where each defendant claims to have been" on Nov. 8, 2004, between noon and 5 p.m. He also asked for the name, address and phone number of each person on whom the alibis are based.

Graber could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Delzer's attorney, Jeff Nichols, responded in court papers Thursday that Mortier is not named as a co-conspirator in the indictment, and the indictment doesn't allege that either Delzer or Stadfeld was involved in Mortier's disappearance.

"Absent some allegation of specific wrongdoing by the defendants on Nov. 8, 2004, to further the alleged conspiracy, a notice of alibi for that date is not relevant," Nichols wrote.

He said prosecutors have not alleged anything more specific about that date other than that is the date the drug conspiracy is alleged to have ended. And without a bill of particulars from the government, Nichols wrote, his client "cannot know specifically what criminal activity he is alleged to have engaged in on that date."

Stadfeld's attorney, Ernesto Chavez, said he plans to join Nichols in opposing the government's alibi request.

"There's no evidence my client took part in that," Chavez said. "There's no evidence they even know it's a homicide. It's a little tricky. We think there are other reasons."

Chavez and Nichols will also file motions to dismiss the indictments against their clients, citing non-prosecution agreements that prosecutors have with the men. Prosecutors maintain that Delzer and Stadfeld breached those agreements.

The defense attorneys also want to push back a hearing on the issue set for later this month because they need more time to prepare.

[Mysticalmom]

http://www.findamos.com/
Family and friends will follow-up on any tips or sightings of Amos.

We believe Amos is alive, please help us find him.

Please email or call tips/sightings into me:

milut@mailbag.com or 608.347.7363

Thank you from Amos' Family & Friends

[Mysticalmom]

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/317502
FRI., DEC 5, 2008 - 10:21 PM
Request for alibis in Mortier case withdrawn
State Journal staff
Federal prosecutors on Friday withdrew their request for alibis from two men charged in a drug distribution conspiracy linked to the disappearance of Amos Mortier.

Last month the government asked that Jacob Stadfeld, 32, and Brent Delzer, 35, account for their whereabouts on Nov. 8, 2004, which was the day that Mortier, 27, was last seen before he vanished, leaving his Fitchburg home wide open.

Defense attorneys representing the two said Thursday that because Stadfeld and Delzer are charged only in connection to the drug distribution conspiracy and are not accused of having anything to do with Mortier's disappearance, their whereabouts on that day is irrelevant to the case.

In a filing Friday morning, prosecutors cited a change in the schedule for the case as the reason they withdrew the alibi request and asked the court to allow them to re-file the request at a later date.

[Mysticalmom]

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/431194
TUE., JAN 6, 2009 - 6:57 PM
Man sentenced for marijuana network; case tied to Fitchburg man missing for 4 years
By ED TRELEVEN 608-252-6134
etreleven@madison.com
For nearly the first half of this decade, former University of Wisconsin-Madison student Reed Rogala was raking in cash by bringing thousands of pounds of Canadian marijuana to Madison.

And when that business failed, he turned to making and selling glass bongs.

But on Tuesday, caught up in a drug case closely tied to the disappearance of a Fitchburg man four years ago, Rogala was sentenced to more than 12½ years in federal prison.

U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb said it was hard to reconcile letters of support for Rogala, 33, of South Orange, N.J., with the reality that he never held a productive job and instead ran a network of marijuana couriers.

"It's disturbing to look at your background and your family support," Crabb said, "then to see what you've done with your life in the last 10 years or so, because I don't see any constructive contribution in that time."

Federal prosecutors said Rogala was responsible for moving about 5,400 pounds of marijuana to Madison from the East Coast between 2000 and Nov. 8, 2004, when one of Rogala's associates, Amos Mortier, disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

Prosecutors said Mortier, 27, distributed marijuana that was brought to Madison by Rogala's couriers. Mortier has never been found. John Doe hearings in state court have probed Mortier's fate.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Graber said Rogala was among many to testify to federal grand juries about the marijuana distribution scheme, resulting in the indictments of Mortier associates Jacob Stadfeld and Brent Delzer, who are now awaiting trial. Rogala's attorney, Edward Jenks, said Rogala also has made himself available to investigators and passed a polygraph test about Mortier administered by a top expert from Washington, D.C.

"He made a mistake in getting involved in the marijuana business, he knows that," Jenks said, adding that his client voluntarily left the business.

Graber countered that Rogala's departure from marijuana was not completely voluntary. His business went bust after a period in which he lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash because of money courier misfortunes. In addition, he was short about $80,000 that Mortier owed him, which was allegedly owed to Mortier by Stadfeld.

And he never left marijuana behind, Graber said. Instead, Rogala began blowing glass to make bongs — marijuana smoking devices — that he sold to people at rock concerts.

"It's not glass blowing as (renowned glass artist Dale) Chihuly would do it," Crabb quipped later.

Former Rogala associate Brian Hutchinson is now serving a two-year prison sentence and Rogala's ex-girlfriend, Destin Layne, is scheduled to be sentenced later this month. An East Coast supplier, Hal Taback, 33, is slated to plead guilty in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, N.Y.

[packy]

By saying he passed a LDT it would seem they don't think he had anything to do with the disappearance. Although we don't really know what they're thinking.

Someone knows something among friends or competitors.

Thanks for the updates, Mysticalmom.

[Mysticalmom]

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/431983
SAT., JAN 10, 2009 - 10:06 PM
Break in Mortier disappearance elusive

As members of a marijuana conspiracy that involved missing Fitchburg man Amos Mortier are sent off to prison, police trying to solve his presumed murder hope that the drug prosecutions will bring in tips or loosen tongues that have been silent for four years.

"We don't have any big breaks in the case," Fitchburg police Lt. Todd Stetzer conceded this week. But he said he hopes people will talk as word gets around of the prison sentences, including a 12½-year drug conspiracy sentence on Tuesday for Reed Rogala, a former associate of Mortier who ran a group of couriers bringing Canadian marijuana to Madison from 2000 to late 2004.

"As people that were involved in drug dealing or involved with Amos continue to see people they were associated with get sentenced to lengthy prison sentences," Stetzer said, "we hope they'll say 'I don't want that to happen to me' and tell us what they know."

Mortier, 27, vanished on Nov. 8, 2004, leaving his dog, Gnosis, running loose, his stereo on and valuables such as his wallet in his house. Fitchburg police have been trying since then to find out what happened to Mortier.

Stetzer said the federal case has been beneficial "in that it's continued to provide information" that could help solve the apparent murder of Mortier.

Tainted by suspicion?

Lawyers for two of Mortier's alleged former associates, now awaiting trial on federal drug charges, have said they are concerned their clients will be unfairly tarred with suspicion in Mortier's disappearance and presumed death.

Police have long had an interest in Jacob Stadfeld, 32, in connection with Mortier's disappearance, search warrants issued in 2004 and 2005 indicate. Last month federal prosecutors asked Stadfeld and Brent Delzer, 35, to account for their whereabouts on Nov. 8, 2004, when Mortier is believed to have vanished. Prosecutors soon withdrew the request.

On Tuesday, Delzer's attorney, Jeff Nichols, demanded to know why that request had been made. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Graber said emphatically that Mortier's apparent homicide is not part of the federal drug case but belongs to state prosecutors. The date on the alibi request, he said, was merely when the drug conspiracy between those charged is alleged to have ended.

Gathering evidence?

Stadfeld's attorney, Ernesto Chavez, wrote in a recent court filing that he believes police "have been electronically monitoring, or using surrogates to monitor, Stadfeld's whereabouts and communications."

"This would be to gather evidence of his statements and activities to support both the federal prosecution and any successive state prosecution," Chavez wrote in an affidavit.

The affidavit was related to yet another dispute in the case, this one over whether authorities granted Stadfeld immunity from prosecution on drug charges when he talked about the marijuana scheme early in the Mortier investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Graber said in court this week that he believes Stadfeld breached the informal, oral agreement by not telling police everything he knew.

Pot from Canada

The federal marijuana prosecutions in Madison are part of a much broader series of prosecutions by American and Canadian authorities aimed at multimillion dollar schemes to import indoor-grown marijuana from Canada.

Prosecutions in federal courts in northern New York, Maine and Vermont and have resulted in prison terms for more than 25 people, including some with close Madison connections.

Two Canadians are believed to have been leaders in creating the supply of pot that made its way to Madison. In Maine, Daniel Lapierre, 60, of Montreal, pleaded guilty in December 2006 to conspiracy to import and distribute marijuana and money laundering. He was sentenced to 12 years and agreed to surrender $4 million.

Among the 11 people indicted with Lapierre is a New York City man, Thomas Blondet, 29, who is serving 9½ years for acting as a drug courier for Lapierre. Blondet testified before a federal grand jury in Wisconsin.
Cigarette smuggling

In New York, prosecutors said, Canadian William "Hank" Cook, 32, and his American business partner, Peter Johnson, 37, funded their marijuana export business with proceeds of cigarette smuggling. Cigarettes were made for the black market at their factory in the U.S. and then smuggled into Canada, where high taxes make legitimate cigarettes very pricey.

Prosecutors said Cook and Johnson supplied pot to Alexander Cammacho, who smuggled the drugs into the U.S. He and Anthony DeJohn both lived on Indian reservations in upstate New York to take advantage of a lack of law enforcement oversight to run their business from the reservations, prosecutors said.

Johnson is still awaiting sentencing. Cammacho, one of 15 charged in another case, is serving a 12½-year prison sentence on a drug conviction, while DeJohn and Cook are awaiting trials.

In both alleged conspiracies, marijuana was hidden in luggage and smuggled into the U.S. across the St. Lawrence River — by automobile, boat and even by snowmobile in the winter — where it was picked up by couriers and driven for distribution in several states, according to court records.

Federal prosecutors in Madison say the Cook and Lapierre groups were among the sources for the thousands of pounds of marijuana that Rogala's couriers brought to Madison in monthly hundred-pound shipments. Rogala's ex-girlfriend, Destin Layne — like Rogala a former UW-Madison student — will be sentenced in Madison on Jan. 27. Brian Hutchinson, who was also associated with Rogala in Madison, is serving a two-year prison sentence for taking part in the marijuana conspiracy.

[Bernie]

I hope they find out what happened to Amos.......there has been to many unsolved murders in Madison Wi......:sad0119:

[sarahhod]

TUE., JAN 27, 2009 - 10:52 PM


Mortier 'mentor' gets 8 months in prison for role in marijuana operation

A former University of Wisconsin-Madison student who had described herself as a "mentor" to Amos Mortier, who has been missing since 2004, was sentenced Tuesday to eight months in federal prison for taking part in a marijuana conspiracy that involved Mortier.
Destin Layne, 31, who has since become director of the Eat Well Guide, a New York City-based directory of family farms and other places that sell locally grown food, has lived an exemplary life since leaving behind the drug conspiracy that she was pulled into by her ex-boyfriend, Reed Rogala, said U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb.
Crabb called Layne "an extraordinary person," but said she was involved in Rogala's marijuana trafficking scheme for about two years, which involved moving marijuana and cash between Madison and the East Coast.

"It was out of character," Crabb said, "but it was something that you did."
Rogala used couriers to bring Canadian-grown hydroponic marijuana to Madison in monthly 100-pound shipments, where it was further distributed by others, including Mortier. A wide-ranging investigation in New York, Vermont and Maine has led to dozens of convictions.
Rogala, 33, is serving a 12½ year prison sentence. Layne told Crabb that Rogala brow-beat her into staying in their long-distance relationship from 2002 to 2007. She said she didn't understand the scope of the drug conspiracy until she read documents given to her attorney by prosecutors.
"To say I was horrified was an understatement," Layne said.
Her attorney, Stephen Meyer, said Layne made no money from taking part in it. He also argued that Layne had been forthcoming with investigators about everything that she knew.
But Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Graber argued that when investigators first met with Layne after Mortier disappeared in November 2004, she failed to mention a conversation with Rogala about $80,000 that Mortier owed Rogala, which in turn was owned to Mortier for marijuana.
That debt, which could prove pivotal in the investigation into Mortier's disappearance, only came to light years later when a federal investigation of the marijuana case began, Graber said.
Still, Graber recommended that Layne receive sentencing consideration for providing help to investigators and for having a minor role in the conspiracy.


http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/435173

[Bernie]

Amos Web site....http://www.findamos.com/

[Bernie]

TUE., JAN 27, 2009 - 10:52 PM


Mortier 'mentor' gets 8 months in prison for role in marijuana operation

A former University of Wisconsin-Madison student who had described herself as a "mentor" to Amos Mortier, who has been missing since 2004, was sentenced Tuesday to eight months in federal prison for taking part in a marijuana conspiracy that involved Mortier.
Destin Layne, 31, who has since become director of the Eat Well Guide, a New York City-based directory of family farms and other places that sell locally grown food, has lived an exemplary life since leaving behind the drug conspiracy that she was pulled into by her ex-boyfriend, Reed Rogala, said U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb.
Crabb called Layne "an extraordinary person," but said she was involved in Rogala's marijuana trafficking scheme for about two years, which involved moving marijuana and cash between Madison and the East Coast.

"It was out of character," Crabb said, "but it was something that you did."
Rogala used couriers to bring Canadian-grown hydroponic marijuana to Madison in monthly 100-pound shipments, where it was further distributed by others, including Mortier. A wide-ranging investigation in New York, Vermont and Maine has led to dozens of convictions.
Rogala, 33, is serving a 12½ year prison sentence. Layne told Crabb that Rogala brow-beat her into staying in their long-distance relationship from 2002 to 2007. She said she didn't understand the scope of the drug conspiracy until she read documents given to her attorney by prosecutors.
"To say I was horrified was an understatement," Layne said.
Her attorney, Stephen Meyer, said Layne made no money from taking part in it. He also argued that Layne had been forthcoming with investigators about everything that she knew.
But Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Graber argued that when investigators first met with Layne after Mortier disappeared in November 2004, she failed to mention a conversation with Rogala about $80,000 that Mortier owed Rogala, which in turn was owned to Mortier for marijuana.
That debt, which could prove pivotal in the investigation into Mortier's disappearance, only came to light years later when a federal investigation of the marijuana case began, Graber said.
Still, Graber recommended that Layne receive sentencing consideration for providing help to investigators and for having a minor role in the conspiracy.


http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/435173

She got off easy compared to the others.....I dont think thats right....

[sarahhod]

Suspect ID'd in Mortier's disappearance but never charged, article says

The Capital Times — 2/12/2009 8:08 am

Was Amos Mortier murdered and fed to hogs?
A witness told a grand jury in 2006 that's what happened to the Fitchburg man who disappeared in 2004, but police never brought charges against the suspect, according to an article by Nathan Comp in this week's Isthmus newspaper.
Comp reports that a grand jury looking into a marijuana ring heard from a witness who said an associate of Mortier admitted to stabbing Mortier after an argument, then dumped the body on a hog farm, to be consumed by the animals.
Comp also writes that the suspect was interviewed on several occasions by police, but his property was never searched, and he was never asked if he had an alibi. The suspect denied any role in Mortier's disappearance, Comp's article said.
Mortier, 27, disappeared on Nov. 8, 2004, with police believing he was murdered because of his connection to a marijuana sales ring. His body was never found.


The Capital Times — 2/12/2009 8:08 am

http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/438156

[sarahhod]

UPDATE: The Amos Mortier Investigation
[/URL]
UPDATED Thursday, February 12, 2009 --- 8:15 a.m.

Press Release from the Isthmus:
An article in the Feb. 13 edition of Isthmus, published today, contains new revelations about the disappearance and presumed murder of Amos Mortier.
The report by freelance writer Nathan Comp, based on exclusively obtained grand jury testimony and other documents, shows that a witness told a federal grand jury about a man who allegedly confessed to killing Mortier.
Mortier, 27, disappeared suddenly from his Fitchburg home on Nov. 8, 2004. Police believed he was murdered, likely in connection with his involvement in a marijuana sales ring. His body was never found.
The Isthmus article reports that, in September 2006, one witness told a grand jury looking into the marijuana ring that an associate of Mortier's admitted to stabbing him following an argument. Then he allegedly dumped the body on a hog farm, to be consumed by the animals.
Police interviewed this suspect on several occasions but no charges were ever brought against him. The suspect told Isthmus that police never asked him for an alibi or searched his home or vehicle. He denies any role in Mortier's disappearance.
To read the full story, visit http://www.thedailypage.com (http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php).
Comp is a former Madison freelance writer who now lives in Philadelphia. He is working on a book about the case.
In an interview on Isthmus' website, TheDailyPage.com, Comp says he's shocked that this lead was not pursued more aggressively. "Investigators seem to have taken denial... at face value. He never felt the kind of pressure lesser suspects have endured."
Isthmus news editor Bill Lueders hopes the article will jar more information into the public domain. "For all we know, this wasn't the only person the suspect confessed to," he says. "Police have known about this alleged admission for more than three years, and the secrecy they've embraced has not led to any breakthroughs. Perhaps our story will."
__________________________________________________ ______
Posted April 30, 2005 --- 4:45 p.m.
Amos Mortier has been missing for more than five months and Wednesday police released some troubling information on the case.
"Based upon information that we have received, this may be a homicide investigation and we'll be speaking in greater detail in court," said Chief Tom Blatter of the Fitchburg Police Department.
Few other details were released at today's press conference, but police say the investigation has identified several “person's of interest” both in and outside of Dane County.
They also say that Amos' disappearance is related to his involvement in illegal drug activity.
Chief Blatter says the investigation is a top priority.
Amos' family is offering a $10,000 reward to help with the case.

[URL]http://www.nbc15.com/home/headlines/1470382.html

[annalyzer]

http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=25099

What happened to Amos?
Secret John Doe inquiry centers on marijuana selling and the ‘high probability’ that Mortier was murdered

Thursday 02/12/2009 10:30 am

When the hip-hop group Jurassic 5 played a concert in San Bernardino, Calif., in late June, friends of Amos Mortier hoped he’d be spotted in the crowd: disoriented, homeless, stricken with amnesia, perhaps even hiding from people wanting to do him harm.

The band was among Mortier’s favorites. Eerily, his mother says it was a Jurassic 5 album that friends found spinning endlessly on his turntable when they entered his Fitchburg home last Nov. 13, days after he seems to have vanished.

If Mortier was stricken with memory problems or on the run traveling the country hanging out at music festivals, this might be a good spot to find him. But missing-persons fliers posted at the event and shown to local sheriff’s deputies failed to turn up any new leads.

Mortier, who was 27 when he disappeared, attended classes at Madison Area Technical College, shopped at the Willy Street Co-op, frequented the Inferno, and had worked at the Den and Shakti, two shops on State Street in downtown Madison.

He was last seen eight months ago. As time has gone on, friends have prepared themselves for the worst, especially after Fitchburg police announced this April that they were considering the case a homicide.

Then, last month, three nurses reported seeing a man who matched Mortier’s general description at a Tennessee music festival that included bands he liked. He appeared disoriented and complained about memory problems. The tip was phoned to Mortier’s mother, Margie Milutinovich, whose cell phone number is plastered on hundreds of posters across the country and on the Web site findamos.com.

Milutinovich called the Fitchburg Police Department, which in turn contacted local Tennessee police. They canvassed area campgrounds and distributed more posters, but were unable to locate the man.

Police have been careful not to discredit the tip, in part in deference to Milutinovich, who’s left her job as an information technology contractor to devote herself to finding her son. She’s created posters, hired a private investigator, contacted psychics, and forged alliances with missing-person groups around the country.

Milutinovich believes her son may be out there, surviving somehow with no memory of his family or life in Dane County. But the police, while continuing to pursue every lead, are clearly investigating this as a likely homicide. It remains a high-priority case.

"We have dedicated personnel to this case 24 hours a day, seven days a week, since its inception and have no plans to turn back," says Fitchburg Police Lt. Todd Stetzer, who is supervising case detectives. "There continues to be additional information that’s gained on a daily basis. This is a very fluid, real active investigation."

The case is the subject of a John Doe inquiry, an unusual court proceeding that takes place in closed court, and witnesses have been instructed not to reveal anything about the inquiry. But several agreed to talk to Isthmus on condition that their names not be published. Other new information on the case was obtained from interviews with family, friends, attorneys, police and others, as well as a review of court documents.

A police official with direct knowledge of the case confirmed the accuracy of this new information.

Isthmus has learned that the John Doe probe has focused on evidence of a drug conspiracy involving several of Mortier’s friends and acquaintances. Some attested in court that Mortier was selling large quantities of marijuana while struggling with debts related to this activity.

Two of these friends and acquaintances were granted immunity for their testimony. Many others testified without such guarantees of freedom from prosecution. Among them is an individual one law enforcement official has called a "prime suspect" in Mortier’s presumed murder. The suspect, an owner of a Madison music-related business, allegedly sold large quantities of marijuana with Mortier and owed Mortier money. Like several other friends and associates, he has retained an attorney.

A search of court records reveals that many of Mortier’s friends and acquaintances have been convicted of drug crimes, ranging from simple marijuana possession to heroin distribution. At least three have convictions for possessing marijuana with intent to deliver. One, who was in jail with work-release privileges at the time Mortier disappeared, has a conviction for attempted murder.

Did these drug connections get Mortier killed? Or did he realize his life was in danger and decide to disappear? Did he suffer some mental catastrophe that caused him to forget his own identity?

What is known for sure is that on Nov. 8, 2004, Amos Mortier left his apartment in a hurry. His friends and family have not seen him since.

[Bernie]

THU., FEB 12, 2009 - 9:52 PM
No credibility to theory that Mortier eaten by pigs, Fitchburg police say
By ED TRELEVEN
608-252-6134
etreleven@madison.com
Could Amos Mortier have been murdered and fed to pigs?

A story published in Thursday's Isthmus, citing federal grand jury testimony related to Mortier's disappearance on Nov. 8, 2004, quotes a Dane County Jail inmate as saying that another man confessed to him that he stabbed Mortier during an argument and fed him to pigs at a farm near Poynette.

But Fitchburg police said they checked out the story long ago and found that it wasn't credible.


• FindAmos.com
• Break in mortier case elusive (Jan. 11)
• Isthmus: What happened to Amos Mortier?


"We haven't found any credibility to any of the statements," said Lt. Todd Stetzer. "I can say that there was not anything presented in the article that we weren't aware of. Everything's been checked out."

The inmate and the alleged confessor are not named in the Isthmus story.

The grand jury testimony was linked to a marijuana distribution scheme involving Mortier for which three people with Madison ties have been sent to prison. Two other men, Jacob Stadfeld and Brent Delzer, are still awaiting a trial for their alleged roles in the marijuana distribution scheme.

Grand jury testimony is generally secret, but the secrecy ends when transcripts are turned over to defense attorneys after criminal charges are filed, unless a judge has ordered that it remain secret, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Vaudreuil said. No such order exists in this case, he said.

Investigators have long suspected a connection between Mortier's disappearance on Nov. 8, 2004, and an $80,000 debt that Stadfeld owed to Mortier, who was a local distributor of Canadian marijuana that was smuggled into the U.S. and brought to Madison by courier.

Stetzer, whose department did not comment for Isthmus, said the inmate's story was thoroughly checked out, as have all the tips the department has received about Mortier's disappearance. He declined to say what steps were taken.

The pig scenario, however, appears to be somewhat unlikely. Dr. John Howard, president of the National Association of Medical Examiners and co-medical examiner for Spokane County in Washington, said he has heard of only one documented case of pigs being used to dispose of a body. Canadian pig farmer and serial killer Robert Pickton fed some of his victims to his pigs, according to testimony at his trial in 2007.

Animal scavenging is common, Howard said, but it is likely that bone would be left behind unless further broken down.

"It's not that (bodies) completely disappear," he said.

The Isthmus story notes that the inmate, who testified before the grand jury, failed to pass a polygraph test.

But Mortier's mother, Margie Milutinovich, is skeptical that police have investigated the alleged confessor as thoroughly as they have investigated others that they believe to be suspects in the case. She offered Thursday to pay for another polygraph test for the inmate to double-check the results of his first test.

She also wants to know more specifically what police did to investigate the alleged confessor.

"If (police) did check him out thoroughly, bring it forth," she said. "What did they do?"

http://www.madison.com/wsj/mad/latest/438279

[annalyzer]

http://www.isthmus.com/isthmus/article.php?article=25333

Did cops blow leads on Amos Mortier killing?

Still more information suggests witness account was not fully investigated

http://www.thedailypage.com/media/2009/03/12/190CrimJusticeMortierAmos.jpg
Amos Mortier disappeared from his Fitchburg home in November 2004. Police say an alleged confession isn't credible, but refuse to elaborate.

Thursday 03/12/2009

What happened to Amos Mortier?

How thoroughly did Fitchburg police investigate an allegation that a Madison man confessed to stabbing Amos Mortier and feeding his body to pigs?

The witness, whose testimony at a 2006 grand jury hearing was revealed last month in Isthmus ("What Happened to Amos?," 2/13/09), says he's baffled by the police response to his account.

"I don't know why they brushed it off," says the witness, who asked not to be identified, even though the man he's accusing, his former neighbor, knows who he is. The witness says this 41-year-old local man — for whom Isthmus has made up the pseudonym B. Green — has intimidated his family in the past.

"Quite frankly, it makes me nervous that he's a free man," the witness says. "I'm scared of what he's capable of. I don't know about the whole hog-farm thing, but I do know these aren't good people."

Mortier, 27, disappeared from his Fitchburg home on Nov. 8, 2004. Police believe he was murdered.

The witness told police and the grand jury that "Green" owed Mortier $80,000 for marijuana proceeds stolen in August 2004 from another neighbor, whom we'll call John Doe. "Doe" sold marijuana for Green, who in turn got it from Mortier.

Green allegedly told the witness he lured Mortier to an isolated area and, after a struggle, stabbed him to death. Then he dumped the body at a hog farm near Poynette and returned to Mortier's house, emptying his safe and letting his dog loose.

Key parts of this story square with other accounts. Mortier's safe was empty when friends checked it several days later, before calling police. Moreover, Green purportedly told the witness his truck sustained a cigarette burn during his struggle with Mortier. Court records show Green paid for a cigarette burn repair in March 2005.

Still, Fitchburg police detectives appear to have taken Green's denials of this account at face value, even though he made untruthful and contradictory statements. He says police never asked him for an alibi, searched his property or compelled him to take a polygraph test.

Lt. Todd Stetzer of the Fitchburg police tells Isthmus the witness' story isn't credible, declining to say why or comment further until "our entire investigation is complete."

Perhaps police are persuaded that the witness, a petty crook and longtime police informant, is unreliable because he failed a polygraph test administered in January 2006. The witness, then in the Dane County jail on a probation hold, says he had contraband secreted away in his underpants when jail deputies summoned him for the surprise test.

"Thing with that test is that when I gave them my name and age, it showed up that I was lying," he attests. "They asked if I would take it again, but they didn't follow up."

Police reports confirm that the witness was asked if he'd take the test a second time. They do not say whether this was done.

On the day Mortier was reported missing, the witness moved into a second-floor flat on East Washington Avenue. Doe lived downstairs, and Green lived in the house next door. Over the next three months, intruders stormed Doe's residence on three occasions, presumably looking for money and drugs.

In January 2005, the witness says he heard glass break in Doe's apartment. When he went to check, masked gunmen pulled him into the residence. After 90 minutes, the robbers made off with drugs and $7,500, but missed $17,000 stashed in a videocassette box.

The witness says Green was distraught about the robbery. But when the witness tried calling police, Green allegedly told him to keep his mouth shut, saying, "I don't want this to turn into another Amos." The witness says he realized Green was involved in drug sales with Doe.

Police were called three hours later, after Doe's residence was cleared of contraband. The witness tells Isthmus that Green paid him $500 to say he was never there.

On Feb. 14, 2005, Doe's residence was broken into again. Green chased after the intruders, and was savagely attacked with a crowbar, which left him with bone-deep lacerations on his arms. The witness hit the attacker over the head with a dirt-filled pot, and says Green afterward credited him with saving his life. The two men began hanging out together.

When police inquired about the home invasions, Doe blamed them on white supremacists angered by his conversion to Islam more than two decades earlier.

According to the witness, he had increasing contact with Green between February and April 2005.

Inside Green's house, the witness observed a stack of missing-person posters, with Mortier's picture. Green explained how he'd met Mortier, and eventually began selling marijuana for him. At some point, Green allegedly told the witness about the August 2004 home invasion, in which $80,000 owed to Mortier was taken.

One night, Green, high on beer and pills, and gripped by emotion, allegedly told the witness he stabbed Mortier. "He paced the floor, you know, sit back down on the couch, cigarette after cigarette," the witness testified.

But it wasn't until October 2005 that the witness, then in the county jail, spilled the beans about Green's confession.

"When you're doing coke all the time, the last thing you want to do is to talk to the cops," the witness explains. "After sitting in jail a few days, detoxing, it started eating at my conscience."

The witness explained how Green "cried with relief" after confessing, but then expressed regret for talking at all. The witness told him, "You don't have to worry about it. You had to tell somebody."

Police did question Green at least three times, two of which he secretly recorded. Twice he was subpoenaed to give grand jury testimony, but was excused both times after asking for immunity and refusing to take a polygraph test.

Green adamantly denies that he confessed, or that he played any role in Mortier's death. Until recently, he believed a motorist struck Mortier after his dog got loose. "Somebody picked him up, threw him in a pickup truck, rather than wait for a cop," Green speculated in 2007. "It rains for a week, you're not going to see blood.'"

Mortier's mother, Margie Milutinovich, says Green's role needs to be investigated further: "Amos saw him as a friend. Why wouldn't he take a polygraph? If he's got nothing to hide, what's he need immunity for?"

[annalyzer]

New details on Mortier disappearance emerge

FRI., JUN 19, 2009 - 4:55 PM

Amos Mortier confronted a drug associate four days before he disappeared, according to testimony Thursday at a federal court hearing in Madison. Mortier was short on money and was convinced the drug associate had robbed him of thousands of dollars of marijuana.

Phone records show the associate, Jacob Stadfeld, then called several gun shops around Dane County, Fitchburg police Detective Shannan Sheil Morgan testified.

Then on Nov. 8, 2004, the day Mortier was last seen, Morgan said, cell phone records show Stadfeld was at or near Mortier’s house around the same time that Mortier’s cell phone, which is still missing, was turned off for the last time.

Those details surrounding Mortier’s disappearance, discussed in open court for the first time, came Thursday during a three-day hearing before U.S. District Judge Stephen Crocker, who will decide this summer whether Stadfeld and another Mortier associate, Brent Delzer, were given immunity from federal drug prosecutions during interviews with state-level authorities in 2004 and 2005.

Stadfeld, 32, and Delzer, 35, were indicted last year for allegedly taking part in a large-scale marijuana distribution conspiracy linked to Mortier that has landed several other people to federal prison.

Police and prosecutors said during the hearing that Stadfeld is a prime suspect in Mortier’s disappearance and presumed death. He has not been charged with any crime related to it. Dane County Assistant District Attorney Corey Stephen said he could not comment on any potential charges.

Investigators, trying to learn early on what both men knew about Mortier’s disappearance, said they would not prosecute Stadfeld or Delzer for drug crimes if they gave truthful statements. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Graber asserted immunity from federal prosecution was not part of the deal, and both men breached the agreements by lying or being less than candid during meetings with investigators.

Morgan testified that during one of those meetings, Stadfeld lied about his whereabouts on Nov. 8, 2004. Stadfeld claimed he drove by Mortier’s home about 5 p.m. and saw nothing out of the ordinary.

But Morgan testified cell phone records show that at 3:30 p.m. on Nov. 8, 2004, Stadfeld’s phone “hit” the cell tower on Blaney Road in Fitchburg, on a part of the tower that a phone would use at or near Mortier’s home on Lacy Road. Records also showed that sometime between 3:30 and 4 p.m., Mortier’s phone was turned off for the last time, Morgan said.

Stadfeld also claimed that on Nov. 9, 2004, he left his home at 10 a.m. and drove to Mauston to visit his mother, arriving around 11:30 a.m, Morgan said.

But she said cell phone records revealed he was at or near Mortier’s house at 10:05 a.m., in Portage at 12:30 p.m. and Wisconsin Dells about 7:30 p.m. before returning home.

Reed Rogala, who was Mortier’s marijuana source and is serving a 12-year prison sentence, testified that about a week before Mortier vanished, Mortier realized Stadfeld may have stolen a large amount of marijuana from him and owed him about $80,000.

In September 2003 Mortier feared being robbed. Stadfeld offered to store a hockey bag full of marijuana, a shipment from Rogala, at the condo of Stadfeld’s friend, Fred Schubert. But on Nov. 30, 2003, while Schubert was out of town, his condo was burglarized. The only thing taken was the hockey bag.

Schubert testified that Stadfeld, who had a key to the condo, was the only person who knew the marijuana was there. Town of Madison police officer Todd Dart said the burglar did not take electronic goods that would have been easy to pawn.

Rogala’s former girlfriend, Destin Layne, testified that on Nov. 4, 2004, after Mortier realized he was deep in debt to Rogala, she picked up a copy of Dart’s report for Mortier. Mortier suspected the burglary was faked, she said. Morgan said phone records showed Mortier called Stadfeld. Stadfeld then started calling gun shops, Morgan testified.


http://www.madison.com/wsj/topstories/455430