An excerpt from 'Answers In The Sand,' from the days before the assaults began...
On the night of August 30, 1986, Paynesville Police Department Officer Stephen Lehmkuhl was escorting the manager of the Paynesville off-sale liquor store to the First State Bank of Paynesville so the manager could make his nightly money deposit. Officer Lehmkuhl pulled his squad car up to the front of the bank at about 10:15 P.M., and as he got out of his car he heard tires squealing on a nearby street. He looked in the direction of the noise and noticed a maroon colored car heading north. The car ran a stop sign at the intersection of Augusta Avenue and James Street.
Officer Lehmkuhl returned to his squad car and pursued the maroon vehicle. The driver turned east on River Street and again squealed the car's tires before running another stop sign at the intersection of River and Washburne Avenue. At that point Officer Lehmkuhl turned on his police lights to initiate a traffic stop, but the driver failed to stop. Instead, he turned south on Lake Street and veered into the parking lot at the back of the feed plant where he stopped the vehicle. The driver got out of his car and started to run as Officer Lehmkuhl approached his vehicle. Lehmkuhl chased after the man and was able to catch him about 150 feet away, where he subdued the man and advised him that he was being placed under arrest. The man resisted. Officer Lehmkuhl was able to get him under control momentarily and place an arm bar wristlock on him.
Lehmkuhl identified the man as Daniel Heinrich and noticed that his breath smelled of alcohol. Heinrich's speech was slurred and at times incoherent, and he continued to be "verbally abusive and combative" toward Officer Lehmkuhl. Heinrich spun away from Lehmkuhl's grip and struck the officer with his arm as he attempted to place handcuffs on him. Lehmkuhl called for backup assistance as Heinrich continued to swing and kick at the officer, damaging the squad car with an errant swing of his leg. Lehmkuhl was finally able to wrestle Heinrich to the ground and handcuff him as another officer arrived at the scene.
Heinrich was finally secured into the squad car. Officer Lehmkuhl proceeded to inspect Heinrich's vehicle, where he found a handheld, battery operated police scanner. The scanner was set to monitor transmissions of the Stearns County Sheriff's office. The scanner was confiscated and Heinrich was taken to the Paynesville Police Station where his breath was analyzed and registered at 0.17 %, over the legal limit for operation of a motor vehicle.
Heinrich was charged with a DWI and with fifth degree assault against a police officer and for having a scanner in his car. He pleaded guilty to the DWI and the other charges were dropped. He was sentenced on February 2, 1987, to 90 days in jail and was required to attend weekly Alcohol Anonymous meet-ings. It's not known how long Heinrich was to continue the AA meetings.
There is no published information about where Heinrich attended meetings, but it is interesting to note that there was an AA meeting in downtown Cold Spring on January 13, 1989, just a couple blocks away and an hour and a half before the abduction and assault of a 12-year-old Cold Spring boy.