Caldwell was convicted, but Hagen was acquitted. St. Louis County Chief Prosecutor John DeSanto prosecuted the 1977 murders. July 6, 1977. Zenith City Press That's in part because of what happened afterward — when the story gets even crazier. On January 13, 1984, Marjorie was given 21 months in the Shakopee Women’s Prison for burning down her and Wally’s home in Mound, Minnesota. She was a product of her upbringing, in that she liked a genteel life. At the time of the slayings, the Caldwells were deep in debt. She divorced and married a second man, Roger Sipe Caldwell, and the couple hoped to establish a horse farm together, but Congdon refused to fund it. Jennifer Johnson, the other adopted daughter of murdered Duluth heiress Elisabeth Congdon, has died in Arizona.She was 82. Although Marjorie was brought up in the family’s opulent Glensheen Mansion and attended Dana Hall Prep School in Massachusetts, she was nevertheless troubled, and at age 16 she was actually given the label “sociopath” during a stay at the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas, in the summer of 1949. From 1952 to 1954, the LeRoys lived at 2744 Salem Ave., a bungalow built in 1941. They were soon up to their ears in debt and desperate for money. Surprisingly, there are some rather significant connections between Marjorie and St. Louis Park. Born to John and Leona Boyd in Houston, Texas on March 29th, 1914, she was the beloved wife of husband, Charles B. Caldwell was found guilty of murdering Congdon, 83, and Velma Pietila, 67, and was sentenced to two life terms in prison. TUCSON, Ariz. -- Marjorie Congdon Caldwell Hagen, the 74-year-old woman acquitted in connection with the June 1977 deaths of her mother and her mother's nurse at Duluth's Glensheen mansion, was taken into custody Thursday night at a Tucson assisted-living facility and booked into Pima County Jail on suspicion of theft, forgery, fraud and computer tampering. 55802, Minnesota Republicans set May 1 goal for full reopening, press Walz for metrics driving dial turns, Court denies another request to halt Line 3 construction, Police arrest man in connection with Little Falls woman’s death, Hermantown High School senior gets good news while dad hospitalized with COVID-19, Lawmakers press for quicker return to in-person learning for Minnesota's secondary students, Deputies cleared in fatal Mountain Iron shooting, Trump's impeachment trial lawyers aim to shift blame; Democrats say he has no defense, Line 3 worker rescued from submerged equipment in subzero temps in northwest Minnesota. Marjorie Congdon Caldwell was one of two daughters adopted in the 1930s by Elisabeth, who never married. Caldwell served only five years in prison; in 1983, he was released after confessing to the murders. MN One of these papers was a handwritten document, written and signed by Marjorie Caldwell and dated June 24, 1977, in which Marjorie conveyed irrevocably to appellant all of the money approximately $2,000,000 due her from the Chester A. Congdon Trust upon the death of Elisabeth Congdon. Then, after a family battle over the Congdon estate, Hagen got about one-fourth of a $6-million trust and a share in another $2-million trust. 1979. Congdon's adopted daughter, Marjorie Congdon Caldwell, was acquitted in 1979 of charges that she helped plan the murders in what the prosecution called a scheme to get an early inheritance. And she was never even charged for 2 more murders of which she is almost certainly guilty. Marjorie Congdon was born Jacqueline Barnes on July 14, 1932, to an unwed mother in Tarboro, North Carolina. It was a three or four course meal, with fine china and polished silver. Most Minnesotans know of Marjorie Congdon as the woman who was tried and acquitted of conspiring with her then husband, Roger Caldwell, to murder Marjorie’s mother, heiress Elizabeth Congdon. From an early age, Marjorie showed signs of devious behavior, and as a teenager she was diagnosed as a sociopath. Well Elisabeth Congdon lying asleep in bed and suffering with paralysis from a previous stroke. In November 2010 a judge in southern Arizona refused her request for a reduction in the terms of her probation so that she could move to a nursing home. Duluth, In 1935 Elizabeth adopted another daughter and named her Jennifer. For example, she stripped all the kitchen cupboards and repainted and decorated with Pennsylvania Dutch designs. Congdon was the only surviving child of mining magnate Chester Congdon, who built the lavish mansion in 1909. After other evidence was discovered at their home in Denver, Marjorie tried to poison Roger, but he was sent to Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park on July 5, and was ready to be handed over to Duluth police on July 7, 1977. She was released on October 19, 1986, and she and Wally moved to Ajo, Arizona. Evil Stepmothers: Marjorie CongdonOn June 27, 1977, Elisabeth Congdon and her nurse Velma Pietila (born April 26, 1911) were found murdered. Artful Living is one of the top independent boutique lifestyle magazines across the United States with international reach. 1983. Back in Minnesota for the funeral, police found evidence of foul play in their Duluth hotel room. The next owner of this house remembered Marjorie well. The murderer was the husband of Miss Congdon's eldest adopted daughter, Marjorie. Marjorie Hagen was again arrested on a murder charge but it was dropped for lack of evidence. Roger’s conviction was overturned on August 6, 1982, and instead of retrying the case, Roger was freed on his five years time served after he confessed to two counts of second-degree murder. "I don't have any comments about the facts of the new crime," DeSanto said Saturday. Marjorie Congdon Caldwell’s husband, Roger Caldwell, is convicted of the murders. Marjorie Congdon LeRoy Caldwell Hagen, the adopted daughter of the "main" victim, Elizabeth Congdon, was declared a sociopath long before her name w Everybody knew who was guilty, but evidence was often thrown out, and witness and suspect statements changed at the drop of a hat. Soon after, his wife, Marjorie, was charged with helping plan the murders. Pietila was beaten with a candlestick holder. In November 2008, Marjorie pled guilty to fraud after illegally taking funds from the bank account of Roger Sammis, who had been under her care before his death. Jun 27, 2018 - Self-guided Never Ending Christmas tours will be offered Saturdays and Sundays from January 16, 2021 – March 28, 2021. We were invited for dinner several times. In 1995 an Arizona judge decreed that Wally Hagen’s ashes must be divided between Hagen’s children and Marjorie. She had been convicted of torching the so-called “Cranberry House” in Mound, Minnesota, … Marjorie Congdon was born Jacqueline Barnes on July 14, 1932, to an unwed mother in Tarboro, North Carolina. In 1992, Hagen pleaded no contest to a criminal damage charge in connection with a 1990 fire at an Ajo storage yard that was believed to have been set to support a fraudulent insurance claim. The LeRoys moved to an eight bedroom house at 4705 Fremont Ave. No. Congdon's son-in-law, Roger Caldwell, was found guilty on two counts of first-degree murder in 1978. The Minnesota Historical Society and Hennepin County Library will be hosting archives of CityPages.com. Her adopted daughter, Marjorie Caldwell, was charged with conspiracy, but later acquitted. The Minnesota Supreme Court reverses Roger Caldwell’s conviction. She was born in Baltimore, MD, on August 31, 1935. Elisabeth Congdon was born to mining magnate Chester Adgate Congdon, and his wife, Clara Hesperia Bannister Congdon on April 22, 1894 in Duluth, Saint Louis County, Minnesota, USA. It tells the story of Marjorie Congdon Caldwell (played by Jen Maren), who was accused of … Marjorie and Dick LeRoy had seven children: When LeRoy was transferred to Minnesota, they lived in Minneapolis, then moved to St. Louis Park. Marjorie is now 84 years old – and she’s still out there. Authorities said she began serving her sentence in 1993. in Minneapolis in 1957, but took good care of the new, pregnant owner of the Huntington house, giving her all of her maternity clothes and sending up strawberries to the hospital. On March 24, 1992, she was arrested for burning down her neighbor’s house. Condgon was found smothered with a satin pillow. They married on August 7, 1981, in North Dakota; Marjorie had not bothered to divorce Roger and is still wanted for bigamy in North Dakota. On Jan. 6, 2004, Hagen left prison in Perryville, Ariz., after serving 10 years of the 15-year sentence for arson. On June 26, 1977, Roger Caldwell got on a plane to Minneapolis, drove up to Duluth in a rental car, smothered Elizabeth Congdon with a satin pillow, and bludgeoned her nurse, Velma Pietila, to death with a brass candlestick. Roger’s trial resulted in two consecutive life sentences, handed down on July 10, 1978. Marjorie Congdon's mugshot, when she was arrested for arson in Arizona on March 25, 1991. Marjorie was a compulsive spender and liar, and eventually Dick LeRoy had enough and divorced her on April 29, 1971. After the murders, Elisabeth Congdon's son-in-law, Roger Caldwell, confessed and was found guilty. The first time she invited me over I was met at the door by the Doberman pinscher peering out through the little window on the door. Marjorie Congdon LeRoy Caldwell Hagen is an infamous woman in Minnesota, especially Duluth. She was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the fire at her neighbor's home and to a concurrent eight years for the storage yard fire. Caldwell later admits to the murders in return for a sentence of time served. At least three books have been written about Hagen, including, "Will to Murder: The True Story Behind the Crimes & Trials Surrounding the Glensheen Killings," by former News Tribune crime reporter Gail Feichtinger, retired Duluth police detective Gary Waller and DeSanto. Roger returned to Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and committed suicide by slashing his wrists on May 18, 1988. She was denied parole in 2001 after 10 people, including one of her daughters, sent strongly worded letters to the parole board urging her continued incarceration. She is charged with theft, forgery and computer tampering. Tags: Glensheen, Majorie Congdon, Summer 2017. Her childhood was spent in Duluth, MN and Tucson, AZ during the school year and on the Brule River in the summer. Check back soon for more info. She is currently ser… Ok, I’ve searched everywhere I could think of on the web for this, so I now bring it to you who know most. Sign up for the Artful Note, our biweekly guide to the good life delivered right to your inbox. She was still in jail Saturday on $250,000 bond. She was arrested in Tucson, Arizona, at her residence at an assisted living facility on March 23, 2007, on charges of computer fraud and several other counts. She always seemed like a nice person. Roger took Velma’s car back to the airport and flew back to Denver. The Arizona Daily Star reported that Hagen was most recently in the news in 2006 after her lawyer was accused of bilking her and another client out of more than $100,000. On March 4, 2009, she was sentenced to three years probation. Nonetheless, Marjorie was acquitted of these murders. Trouble continued to follow Marjorie Caldwell after her 1979 trial and acquittal for murder conspiracy in the slayings of her mother and her mother's nurse at Glensheen. Marjorie Congdon LeRoy Caldwell Hagen is an infamous woman in Minnesota, especially Duluth. On this day in 1992, Duluth native Marjorie Congdon LeRoy Caldwell Hagen turned herself in to Arizona authorities to begin a 15-year prison sentence—she had been convicted in the attempted arson of her neighbor’s home in Ajo, Arizona, the day before. This tiny house, built by Mrs. Alice Tisdale in 1927, housed Marjorie, Dick, and their seven children. She told me that she believed her sister, Marjorie Caldwell … When we were invited to dinner, it was never casual. conniving.''. Most folks around here think the murder was perpetrated by Elisabeth's bizarre adopted daughter dearest, Marjorie Congdon LeRoy Caldwell Hagen, and Marge's then-husband, Roger Caldwell. Marjorie was charged with aiding and abetting and conspiracy to … It subsequently developed that Marjorie Caldwell owed over $1,000,000 to various creditors. '', DeSanto, who helped author "Will to Murder," a book on the Glensheen murders, said: "My thought is that it is inevitable. The evidence presented showed that the trustees knew that Elisabeth Congdon might be in danger. Tucson police wouldn't discuss what led to the charges, citing an ongoing investigation. She was given 15 years, but on October 30, 1992, Wally was found dead, a day before she was to report to prison. Forty years ago today, my life changed nearly as fast as you can say “Marjorie Congdon LeRoy Caldwell Hagen.” June 27, 1977. /Scott Pakudaitis She's ba-a-a-ck. Due to capacity limitations, ALL MANSION TOURS (Classic Tours & Full Mansion) tickets are ONLY available for purchase ONSITE About the Classic Tour Admire 25 Christmas trees, Count the 25 hidden elves, Enjoy the… Read more » Police said they believed he was exposed to natural gas from the kitchen stove through a garden hose. The day after she was convicted, Wally Hagen was found dead of a drug overdose. Ricky LeRoy was only 17 at the time of the murders and is now a well-known attorney and advocate for poor defendants. Much of the following information came from the book Will to Murder:  The True Story Behind the Crimes and Trials Surrounding the Glensheen Killings by Gail Feichtinger, John Desanto, Gary Waller, and John E. Desanto (2005:X-Communication). Elisabeth, fearing publicity, did nothing. Prone to arson, Marjorie was suspected of torching her home in Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota, but the matter was dropped. Join The Club. Starched and pressed, plus she loved to entertain. For grades K-8 she attended the Normal School in … I accosted a middle-aged man in nurses’ scrubs who was throwing away a bag of cat droppings. On this day in Duluth in 1983, St. Louis County probate court approved a settlement between Marjorie Congdon Caldwell and her children over the approximately $8 million Congdon estate inheritance. Congdon Caldwell married Wally Hagen in 1982. On this day in 1985, one-time Duluthian Marjorie Congdon Caldwell Hagen entered Minnesota’s Shakopee Women’s Prison to serve a 22-month sentence for arson. Chester died in 1916, and Clara many years later in 1950, upon which Elisabeth inherited Glensheen. HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY AND THE HISTORIC MILWAUKEE ROAD DEPOT, Peter Treworgy LeRoy, born September 2, 1953, Suzanne Congdon LeRoy, born November 1, 1954, Andrew Webster LeRoy, born March 30, 1956, Rebecca Warner LeRoy, born October 23, 1957, Heather Mannering LeRoy, born June 23, 1959, Richard Webster LeRoy, Jr., born September 13, 1960. They purchased the house from Kenneth and Alice Wolfe; he was to become mayor of St. Louis Park and a State Senator. In 1905, Chester began building Glensheen Historic Estate, a 39-room mansion on their 22-acre (89,000 m ) estate in Duluth, Minnesota, seeing it finished 3 years later. "Chuck" Caldwell, Sr, for 68 years.Marge is survived by her children; son, Chuck Caldwell, Jr. and wife, Jane; daughter, Gay Roper, (wife of Hank Roper), deceased, January 1991; son-in-law, … She was smothered to death by her son in-law, Roger Caldwell, with the use of one of the pillows from Ms. Congond's bed. The Hagen family planned a memorial service in January 1996 at Westwood Lutheran Church in St. Louis Park. Roger Caldwell, the second husband of Elisabeth's adopted daughter, Marjorie Congdon LeRoy Caldwell Hagen, was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and received two life sentences. Marjorie Caldwell had influenced her mother, Mrs. Congdon, to co-sign notes for $126,000 and $325,000 upon which Marjorie defaulted. The Associated Press and Arizona Daily Star contributed to this report. Details could be released next week. Her children were always dressed like out of a magazine ad. No one I talked to had heard of Marjorie Caldwell, or Marjorie Hagen, or Marjorie Congdon, or Maggie Wallis, which I had read somewhere was her new nom de guerre. Marjorie stood to inherit $8.2 million upon her mother's death. A sold-out smash, the musical is returning for another run at the St. Paul theater. The family briefly moved to Mankato, Minnesota, and then in 1955 returned to St. Louis Park, this time to 3330 Huntington Ave., a larger house on the shores of Bass Lake in the Minikahda Oaks neighborhood. She professed her innocence in the Ajo fire at trial. Marjorie Caldwell Hagen was arrested Friday evening at Atria Bell Court Gardens, an assisted living center on the east side of town. TUCSON, Ariz. -- Marjorie Congdon Caldwell Hagen, the 74-year-old woman acquitted in connection with the June 1977 deaths of her mother and her mother's nurse at Duluth's Glensheen mansion, was taken into custody Thursday night at a Tucson assist... 424 W. First St., Marjorie ended up with about $40,000 a year from a Congdon trust plus Wallace Hagen's pension, according to Feichtinger. Officially, police say robbery was the motive. Congdon's adopted daughter, Marjorie Congdon Caldwell, was acquitted in 1979 of charges that she helped plan the murders in what the prosecution called a scheme to get an early inheritance. Looking for the City Pages Archives? In 1935 Elizabeth adopted another daughter and named her Jennifer. But she could also “make up fibs faster than anyone could keep track of.”  In 1960 Dick was still working as an insurance agent in an office above Miracle Mile in St. Louis Park. "Certainly, it isn't surprising she's back in the news today. Glensheen opens as a museum in the summer. Her adopted daughter Marjorie — LeRoy’s mother — along with her new husband, Roger Caldwell, were accused of murdering Congdon in an attempt to inherit her fortune. The cast of "Glensheen" returns, complete with a vengeance-minded Marjorie Caldwell (Jennifer Maren, center), through July 29. She was arrested again in 1984 when she burned down her house in Mound, Minn. She was convicted of arson and insurance fraud and sentenced to 21 months in prison. She was convicted of attempted arson, and the judge allowed her to go home before reporting to prison to make arrangements for her 84-year-old husband. In 1951 Marjorie found herself in St. Louis, Missouri, and married Richard “Dick” Webster LeRoy, an insurance executive. Police arrest Roger Caldwell and charge him with committing the murders, allegedly to speed the collection of his wife’s hefty share of the inheritance. Elisabeth Congdon, heiress to a taconite fortune in Duluth, never married and could not have children so she adopted Jacqueline and changed her name to Marjorie. MARJORIE ELLEN CALDWELL, passed away February 6, 2006, at the age of 91. Elisabeth Congdon, heiress to a taconite fortune in Duluth, never married and could not have children so she adopted Jacqueline and changed her name to Marjorie. Marjorie’s trial for conspiracy was next, but with the help of one of Minnesota’s top defense attorneys, Ron Meshbesher, Marjorie was found not guilty on July 21, 1979. In 1990, Hagen and her husband moved to Ajo, Ariz. One year later, authorities said Marjorie Hagen used a kerosene-soaked rag to try to burn down a neighbor's home. Marjorie was charged with murder but charges were dropped. She always had a project going. Hagen was arrested in 1977 in connection with the deaths of her mother, mining heiress Elisabeth Congdon, and her mother's nurse, Velma Pietila. Marjorie… A neighbor remembered Marjorie as being very industrious. Marjorie Caldwell is acquitted of the murders. Marjorie married Roger Caldwell of Latrobe, Pennsylvania, on March 20, 1976, in the Denver, Colorado, area and they lived in Golden, Colorado. 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