Elderly Willmar Murder Defendant Released From Jail

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — An elderly Sioux Falls man charged in a 1974 stabbing death has been released from jail because of his declining health, according to authorities working on the case.

Algene Vossen, 80, was charged last summer with killing 74-year-old Mable Herman, at her home in Willmar, Minnesota after investigators found new DNA evidence they say ties him to the crime. Prosecutors say Herman had been stabbed 38 times.

Willmar Police Chief Jim Felt says Vossen has been released from the Kandiyohi County Jail after suffering some medical complications. Felt says the Minnesota Department of Corrections was unable to find an appropriate care facility within the system, so, in an unusual move, he was released to a relative in Iowa.

Vossen was arrested last summer at his home in Sioux Falls after the case was revived. Felt says authorities will continue to pursue the case, KELO-TV reported.

“Mr. Vossen has not appeared in court and been found guilty or plead guilty to this yet, we are really working toward that conviction for murder in this case, we think it’ll bring some justice to Mae Herman, you know who was killed back in 1974 and there have been questions amongst her family ever since that time, so if we could get some resolution to this that would be terrific,” Felt said.

Vossen is charged with second-degree murder.