Episode two:
“I didn’t feel any pain”
Survivor of the robbery and friend of victim Kevin Finneman gives the initial statements for police to work off of.
We also learn a little bit about victim Dewey Lamm and aftermath of the crime in the initial first days.
You can listen to episode 2 everywhere you get your podcasts or you can listen here:
In the previous episode titled, “Aren’t you dead yet?” I go over the night of November 16th, 1974 in detail.
I took details from multiple statements from Kevin, Jennie, friends, police files and newspapers, to be able to tell the story with as much accuracy from beginning to end.
From everything that I’ve gathered so far, the robbery and murder occurred as told in episode one.
I did this for a few reasons.
To simply lay out all the details as what happened that night and with that knowledge piece together the statements from Kevin and Jennie. I want to share their stories in their own episodes without it being too confusing for the listener to understand the story in full.
One of the interesting parts of this case to me is how witness statements and sightings come into play when it comes to crime.
Both Kevin and Jennie were victims and survivors of this horrific crime but both will tell the story a bit differently, as we will come to listen to.
Though details may vary between them – this is the truth of both Kevin and Jennie – and they deserve to be heard in full and believed in what they say.
From night one, giving statements and information was all on Kevin.
Dewey was dead and Jennie was shot in the face and chest and she had to have her jaw wired shut and was unable to answer questions in depth for a while.
It was on Kevin himself to aid the officers in the investigation.
Kevin’s story had always remained consistent. He was very aware and vigilant during the attack.
Though he gave statements to police immediately upon their arrival to “Down in the Valley” and his story changed very little to his official statement to police.
His first official statement was on November 19th, 1974 at North Memorial Hospital.
Two days after the incident.
Kevin said he and his buddy Dewey were hanging out and driving around for the night and seeing different friends.
They were thinking about going to McDonalds but decided to go into the “Down in the Valley” record store.
He said while looking at the tapes that a guy came in wearing a blue parka that was covering his face. He left then returned.
Kevin stating,
“All at once he came walking downstairs again and he had a .22 rifle in his hand and he told the chick behind the counter, you know hold it up – you know – and get the money out and ah so anyhow I just sat there, it stunned me so bad I didn’ t know what to do and then all at once he looked over at us and I just shook my head and all at once he just started splattering shots at me and my buddy.”
Kevin was missing his billfold and thinks the suspect took it with him.
The suspect never spoke to Kevin but he heard him speak to Jennie during the attack.
While on the ground laying on his stomach, he couldn’t tell that he was being slashed by the instrument. He was paralyzed and to him it felt like being hit with the stock of the gun.
Kevin never saw any other weapon other than the rifle.
He suspects after learning about the sharp instrument used in the attack, that the killer had this instrument rolled up in the white towel.
He set the white towel onto the counter before demanding money from Jennie.
Kevin didn’t see it again and the towel has never been located by police.
Kevin gave another description of the killer which was used to make a composite sketch which was released everywhere publicly and to other departments.
He said the suspect was a white male 17/18 years old about 5’10 and 175 pounds. He was wearing a blue parka with the hood portion pulled over his face.
Curly, blonde hair just past the ears in length.
No glasses, facial hair or any other identifying factor but a little bit of facial acne.
No matter how many times Kevin told of what happened, no details ever changed but nothing new that could possibly help also never came up.
He tried to comb through his memories throughout the years for that one piece of information that could solve his friend’s killing but nothing ever came.
Dewey Lamm was a kind and free spirited young man. He loved theater, art and drawing. Had a vivid imagination and was universally loved by his peers, especially in theater productions.
He had just gotten out of a very difficult relationship with a girl by the name of Rhonda. He was really coming into his own at this time in his life and was hopeful for the future.
At the time of the incident Dewey worked at Tonka Toys.
On the night of November 16th, 1974, Dewey wanted to finish a model car. He had a sudden rush to finish this model. He felt he had to finish the model car before leaving for the night.
His family felt in hindsight that Dewey said goodbye to each of them in their own ways.
There was a Shawn Phillips concert that night that his sister Lovanne attended but she had asked Dewey to buy her Frank Zappa tickets while he was at “Down in the Valley” that night.
She wanted him to get tickets and they planned to go to the concert together.
A ticket for Frank Zappa was found in his wallet but it’s unsure when he actually purchased the ticket. He may have bought it beforehand and was planning on buying another for his sister.
Now, Kevin at the time of the incident was 6’5 and was a pretty intimidating man to bump into in a fight.
Dewey was 5’8 at the time of his murder and was a pretty easy going, kind and funny man. Not too intimidating.
Dewey’s autopsy revealed that he died of a single gunshot wound which penetrated his left cheek. The slug traveled upwards into the skull severing the spinal cord at the brain, causing instantaneous death.
This was the first shot that hit Dewey and he was gone immediately after the first shot.
What I’m interested by:
Kevin was hit in his chest and arm the first round of shots fired at him whereas Dewey was shot in his cheek the first round.
Jennie also sustained a gunshot wound to her cheek/jaw area as well.
If the suspect was holding the rifle at hip level like Kevin stated – could investigators get the height of the suspect through the shots fired at the three of them?
The suspect in my opinion had to be shorter than Kevin.
Murder weapon was confirmed to be a .22 automatic rifle.
The sharp instrument inflicting the laceration on all three of them left a very thin cut.
It is the detectives opinion and also that of the medical examiner of Dewey that the wounds were in all probability caused by a large knife or a machete – type instrument.
The possibility of a weapon being a hatchet should not be entirely ruled out, but because of the width of the cuts it would indicate that a lighter instrument such as a knife or machete was used.
At the Lamm house, all of Dewey’s siblings were dealing with the aftermath of this tragedy. Rumors were swirling around school and town about who did this crime and what they think happened.
Everything from Kevin and Dewey being involved in a drug deal gone wrong, to an angry customer from “Down in the Valley” record store, to a student at school wanting one of them dead.
Undercover cops went to Dewey’s funeral to keep an eye out for any unknown or seemingly strange individuals who could possibly be the person who committed the crime.
The entire family had to be vigilant and keep a guard up while also trying to grieve and process what had happened.
Kevin was a great friend and a very fun person to be around. But if he didn’t like you, that could maybe be a different story.
Though nothing stands out in terms of Kevin being violent or hurtful towards others, he would make up mean names about those he didn’t get along with.
One or two men really didn’t like Kevin from what I read in his case file but absolutely nothing points to them wanting to kill Kevin due to it.
The worst thing Kevin did to someone gathered through the official police investigation was that he had a mean spirited nickname for a fellow teenager in town.
Kevin was a brick maker at Zenith products in Osseo and lived with his parents in St. Michael.
His mother stated in an interview in 1975 with local newspapers that Kevin’s car was broken into the Friday before November 16th and about $300 worth of tapes and a $40 pair of headphones.
Then that Saturday, he and Dewey went to “Down in the Valley.”
This piece of information is interesting to me because the case files make no statement about his car being broken into and as a reason why they were at “Down in the Valley” that night.
This information was told by his mom only a few months after the attack.
Kevin told the newspaper about the attack,
“I was on my knees.” Kevin recalled later. “I said, please don’t shoot me. I saw a gun at my face and I dropped to my stomach covering my head with my arms. And he shot me right in the back.
It didn’t really hurt. I didn’t feel any pain.”
He received money from the state, $10,000 from Victims Reparations Board – the largest award at the time in 1975.
“I’d rather be walking than have the money, but it helps.”
Said he’d use the monthly $500 payments to pay his insanely high doctor and hospital bills and future visits.
11 weeks recovering in the hospital and several more at home before Kevin said his life returned to normal.
“I took it about as well as anybody could. I really didn’t break down or anything except the first couple of days in the hospital. If you sit there and pity yourself, it gets worse.”
Several weeks of recovery at North Memorial before moving into Kenny institute which he referred to as “the workhouse” because staff members push patients hard to make you independent.
They told us –
“You can do something, you do it yourself.
They’d throw your clothes on your bed and they’d lay there all day if you didn’t want to get dressed.”
Also at the Kenny Institute he learned he was in better condition than most there.
Kevin prides himself on being independent.
Saying,
“I can do everything myself, I can do everything that’s possible to do except get into buildings with steps.”
His mother said his independence is a matter of his pride.
“He tells me to get lost when I try to help him.”
Their family was happy to have him home but sometimes they got in each other’s way.
His parents installed a ramp in the front of their house and equipped the basement for his use. He spends his time watching television, listening to the stereo and trying to keep his 5 year old brother under control. The only downside being he couldn’t be left alone in case of a fire.
The 6 foot 5 Kevin would rather talk about his plans for a new driver’s license or how his lowered height has given him a better angle at the pool table. His biggest hassle in 1975 was waiting for the snow to melt so he could go outside.
“I’m just taking it as though I’m able bodied. Why think about being in a wheelchair.”
He’s not bitter or angry about his condition but feels hatred towards the robber.
“Why not?” Kevin said. “He got me laid up, got one of my buddies killed and that girl beat up.”
11/22/74
Jennie gives her composite sketch.
Arrangements were made with Jennie’s doctor, mother and sister and Detective Olsen to talk to Jennie. She was in the intensive care unit before being moved into a room on the 7th floor at North Memorial Hospital – next door to Kevin Finneman.
A police guard their two rooms from now on in case the suspect were to come back.
Jennie was given an hour to rest after her switch of rooms before officially giving her composite to the police.
Due to her being in a weakened state from the change of location and her mother and friends being worried about her condition, very few questions were asked of Jenny at this time.
She could only communicate by shaking her head yes or no to questions.
When detectives looked at Jennie’s composite, something occurred to them:
Jennie’s composite was a white male about 18 years old, about 5’9 and 140/150 pounds. Black about shoulder length hair and a light mustache wearing black framed glasses.
Almost completely different from the composite Kevin gave them of a blonde, curly haired man with no mustache or glasses three days earlier.
On the next episode of “Down the Stairs, Into the Valley,” I’ll be going into Jennie’s side of the case, the witnesses and difference in composite sketches.
Kevin in 2018 said,
“I miss Dewey every day. Life has been tough but I am a survivor and did good with what I had in life.”
Rest in Peace to Dewey and Kevin.
Until next time.