Richard Kim Magnuson was 20 and had been a deputy with the Roseau County Sheriff’s Department for about two months when he was killed on the night of August 2, 1978. Responding to a report of a vehicle that had run through the Roseau Port of Entry from Canada, Deputy Magnuson stopped the car. The driver, a 20-year-old man who had already murdered three young people in Canada, opened fire with a .22 caliber rifle and shot Magnuson ten times, wounds that proved fatal.

The suspect fled but was captured a few hours later and was later convicted in Minnesota for Magnuson’s murder and given a life sentence at Oak Park Heights Maximum Security Prison. He was extradited to Canada in 1992; on January 16, 1997, he was convicted there of second-degree murder and manslaughter and given an indeterminate sentence. If ever released by Canadian authorities, his sentence requires return to Minnesota to resume serving time for Magnuson’s killing.

If anyone knew Deputy Magnuson or has information about his final shift, please share what is known.