The long arm of the law
The warrant application for a search of Dede Evavold’s home in the case against Sandra Grazzini-Rucki for spiriting off her two daughters and hiding them from their father for over two years is a revelation. You can read it here.
I have suggested before that Michael Brodkorb’s interview with Dale Nathan, published on August 20, 2015, broke the case. It did. From the warrant application:
Law enforcement was able to connect Evavold to the disappearance through information on Dale Nathan’s computer. And in turn, information from the Evavold search – apparently including photos of the girls on a cell phone – led to the White Horse Ranch, where the girls were found.
The owners of the ranch, Doug and Gina Dahlen, said that Grazzini-Rucki and another yet-unidentified woman (almost certainly Evavold) brought the girls to the ranch.
Prior to the discovery of the girls, Dale Nathan was the only known witness to the participation of Grazzini-Rucki in their disappearance. Supporters of Grazzini-Rucki have gone to great lengths to discredit Nathan as a witness. But now he has corroboration by the persons who were harboring the girls, apparently since shortly after their disappearance. The case against Sandra Grazzini-Rucki is immeasurably strengthened by this development.
Lakeville police said previously that Grazzini-Rucki relied on an underground railway of persons to assist in keeping the two girls hidden. You can read about some of them in the warrant application – which is actually riveting reading.
During the entire period that the girls were missing, Sandra Grazzini-Rucki was represented by Michelle MacDonald. Dede Evavold, the subject of the search that led to the discovery of the girls at the White Horse Ranch, is a political supporter and confidant of MacDonald. After a September 2013 custody trial, and after the girls had been gone for five months, Grazzini-Rucki, MacDonald, and Evavold traveled to California together.
Evavold was MacDonald’s campaign manager in her run for the Minnesota Supreme Court in 2014.
Yet, MacDonald maintains that she had no knowledge of the activities of Grazzini-Rucki or Evavold in hiding the girls during this entire time.
Of course, this beggars belief.
Recently, an attorney named Stephen Grigsby was substituted for MacDonald as criminal counsel for Grazzini-Rucki. Grigsby also represents MacDonald as a “person of interest” in the disappearance of the two girls.
Since the girls were found, additional charges were lodged again Grazzini-Rucki, and notice given by the prosecutor that an enhanced sentence would be sought on conviction because of the aggravated conduct of the defendant.
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