Vance Boelter, 57, the man charged with the murders of Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, as well as the shootings of Minnesota Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette, not only used to work in Fort Smith, but lived in Muldrow about 20 years ago.
Sequoyah County real estate assessment records show that Boelter and his wife, Jenny, owned a home on Crystal Lane in Muldrow from March 2002 to May 2007. Prior to that, records indi cate they lived in an apartment in the 5100 block of Zero Street in Fort Smith. In addition a birth notice published in the former Muldrow Times Star announced the birth at Sparks Regional Center of a daughter born on Jan. 28, 2004, to Jenny and Vance Boelter of Muldrow. The same notice also appeared in the Vian Tenkiller News and the Roland Register. Another notice in the Vian newspaper announced the birth of a daughter born May 30, 2002. Boelter said in an online vid- eo that he has five children, the nonpartisan news organization Oklahoma Watch is reporting.
On May 25, 2006, a public notice in the Sequoyah County Times reported that Vance and Jenny Boelter owed $104.05 in delinquent taxes, Oklahoma Watch found, and The Independent, a British online newspaper, reported that Boelter was registered to vote as a Republican in Oklahoma in 2004.
According to a report by KFSM Channel 5, Daniel Thueson, senior pastor at First United Methodist Church in Springdale, Ark., worked with Boelter at the Fort Smith Gerber plant in the early 2000s.
Thueson says he and Boelter worked together “about 25 years ago,” where Boelter was a supervisor. Thueson says he knew Boelter for several years, and kept in touch with him until he moved north.
“We got to know each other, and we talked a lot about our faith. He was very devout,” Thueson told Channel 5. “Vance was always very faithoriented, very familyoriented. I thought he was great to work with. Never saw him lose his cool. He was always very gentle and kind.”
Thueson said when he heard about the shootings in Minnesota and that police were searching for Boelter, he was shocked, because that was not the Boelter he remembered.
“My heart breaks for the victims and for the families, for their communities. My heart breaks for his family. My heart breaks for him, for whatever happened that led to this. It makes no sense,” Thueson said.
“My heart goes out to everybody in this situation. I hope that we find some resolution. I hope that we can move towards healing as a nation. And I hope that no matter what our political background is, that we can support the victims, and we can learn to treat each other with a little more love.”
