27 December 2023
LUVERNE Lucas John Strassburg, 36, of Kenneth, has been arrested and charged with criminal vehicular homicide related to a Dec. 13 incident in rural Beaver Creek that resulted in the death of William John Krotzer, 76, of Luverne.
Strassburg was taken into police custody on Sunday, Dec. 24, after a warrant was issued Friday, Dec. 22, for his arrest.
According to documents filed in Rock County Fifth District Court, the Rock County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call at approximately 12:10 p.m. on Dec. 13 reporting a possible deceased male in a ditch north of Beaver Creek. Beaver Creek is in southwest Minnesota, roughly 5 miles from the South Dakota border.
Numerous deputies from the Rock County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene, where several pieces of vehicle debris were found on the road. An individual directed the sheriff to the body in the ditch.
Law enforcement then contacted the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, and an agent confirmed he would meet at the scene to assist with the death investigation.
Deputies later located a van a mile or two down the road and used the vehicle’s license plate to identify Krotzer.
Meanwhile, the sheriff searched for evidence, locating a plastic clip from a vehicle, maroon in color, and a Z71 emblem in the middle of the road, approximately 15 yards from the deceased. Additional pieces of maroon-colored vehicle debris were also found.
Investigators received a call from a Luverne car dealership stating that a Chevrolet Z71 had been sold to an individual on Nov. 1. A deputy drove to that residence on Dec. 15, but did not see a vehicle matching the description of a maroon Silverado.
On Dec. 16, the Sioux Falls (South Dakota) Police Department received a report of a maroon Chevrolet Z71 matching the BCA’s crime alert parked near a gas station at approximately 7:50 a.m. The vehicle had also been reported to the Rock County Sheriff’s Office as having possibly been left at that location approximately 45 minutes earlier. The license plate on the truck matched the plate provided to law enforcement by the car dealership.
Rock County sheriff’s deputies accompanied a towing company to the location and the truck was brought to the law enforcement center in Luverne to await processing by the BCA mobile crime lab team.
Law enforcement interviewed Randy Hamm, who confirmed he was the owner of a maroon Chevy Z71 and stated his employee, Lucas Strassburg, had driven the truck to a work site near Beaver Creek on the morning of Dec. 13. Hamm had not seen the truck since then, he stated.
Hamm reportedly stated he got worried about the truck on Sunday, Dec. 17, when he saw the crime alert with photos of a truck that looked like his truck. He told law enforcement that he attempted to call Strassburg, but Strassburg didn’t answer. Instead, Strassburg texted Hamm, stating that he had the truck in Sioux Falls and was Christmas shopping. When Hamm reportedly told him he wasn’t supposed to use the truck for personal use, Strassburg said he’d return the truck. He reportedly never did, and stopped replying to Hamm’s text messages on the evening of Dec. 17.
Hamm told law enforcement that Strassburg called him at 7:32 a.m. Dec. 18 and was crying. Strassburg reportedly said he had some bad news and that he was the one to hit the individual on the road. He also said he got scared and said the truck was dumped in Sioux Falls.
If convicted, Strassburg faces up to 10 years in prison, a $20,000 fine or both on the felony-level charge.
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