Rapid City Journal from Rapid City, South Dakota • 45

Rapid City Journal Sunday, September 12, 1999 State D5 dence. Agents interviewed scores of people and offered a $30,000 reward for information. But the trail may be getting cold. "It's slowed down pretty well," said Mark Vukelich, supervisory special agent for the FBI. "But we're actively pursuing leads as they come in, and we do receive leads." The FBI will not say whether it has any suspects.

Nor will it release anything about Richynda's autopsy. In the vacuum of information, rumors quickly spread. Soon after the body was foui'd, one of the men implicated in whs rumors came into the offices of the Todd County Tribune and asked the newspaper to run a story saving he didn't kill Richynda, said Margaret Figert, the paper's editor. She asked him instead to write a By Joahua Kucera Associated Press Writer MISSION Ask just about anyone here, and they'll tell you who they think killed Richynda Roubideaux Almost two years ago, the 11-ycar-old girl was found dead in a remote, wooded area just north of Mission, the largest town on the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation. The FBI, which investigates major crimes on reservations, has not made any arrests in the case.

But rumors continue to circulate in Mission that three of the girl's male relatives killed her after a weeklong binge of drinking and doing methampheta-mine. When Richynda's body was found, the FBI swooped in and collected evi "Women are really at risk here for their safety," she said. Many parents now use Richynda as a cautionary tale, said France Blanchard, principal at Todd County Middle School, where the girl would have been an eighth-grader this year. "Parents remind their kids, 'Remember what happened to and keep a closer eye on them, Blanchard said. Posters advertising the reward remain posted all over town, though they are yellowing from the sun.

And Richynda is still in people's thoughts two years later, said Teema LaDeaux, one of her relatives. "I don't let it die. I have posters up around my office," she said. "I dont let the kids forget" As in similar cases, the FBI is a letter, and be declined, she said. The girl's decomposing body was found Oct 7, 1997, near some sewer lagoons.

Investigators think she was killed Sept. 27, 1997, the day after she was seen at Todd County High School homecoming festivities. The body was found naked except for a T-shirt, fueling speculation the girl was raped. The FBI won't comment It's sadly common for older men to prey on young girls on the Rosebud reservation, said Matilda Black Bear, head of a women's shelter in Mission. "We had several cases this spring where young girls were given alcohol and then raped," she said.

One practice on the reservation is to train" young girls, which means to get them drunk and rape them when they pass out, Black Bear said. flashpoint for criticism that it doesn't adequately investigate crimes in Indian Country. "If they did do a good job, somebody would have been arrested by now," LaDeaux said. "Our kids are at risk. They're out there with those same people" who killed Richynda, she said.

Vukelich said his agency is doing as much as it can to solve the case. "Sometimes these cases, whether they be in big cities or small towns, go unsolved, unfortunately. That's a shame, but it's a fact of life," he said. Blanchard said the crime needs to be solved so the community can move on. "It's a hideous crime against a child.

And other children, they expect us, as adults, to solve everything, to make everything right. And when we can't do it, they lose hope," she said. FBI closes case in strange of Lake An es pair Springfield prison to be named for ailing official YANKTON (AP) The name of the state prison at Springfield has been changed to honor Mike Durfee, a longtime employee who is battling cancer of the pancreas. Durfee, 55, said Friday he doesn't know how much time he has left. He said he doesn't spend time questioning his disease but rather focuses on the kindness shown him the past 14 months.

A Highmore native, Durfee attended the former Southern State Teachers College in Springfield and became a teacher and coach there. He stayed when the college closed and the building was converted to a prison in 1984. He is now assistant director at the Department of rections. Durfee said he was disappointed when the school closed but is proud to have the prison named after him and is proud of its progress the past 15 years. "We visited many prisons literally coast to coast, and I wouldn't trade our staff, work programs or prison for any of them," he said.

"Gov. (Bill) Janklow's inmate work program believes in putting prisoners to work so they iearn a job skill they can use later on in life." Drought may help crop prices SIOUX FALLS (AP) A U.S. Department of Agriculture report released Friday says drought in the eastern United States probably will drive up the price of corn and soybeans in South Dakota and other row-crop states. But farmers say the news isn't all good. The report predicts that yields of corn will be lower than the USDA thought last month.

Its estimates for prices rose from previous forecasts, by 30 cents to $4.80 a bushel for soybeans and by a nickel to $1.95 a bushel for corn. It forecasts corn production of 9.38 billion bushels nationwide, down 4 percent from 1998. Soybean production is expected to be a record high 2.78 billion bushels nationwide, up 1 percent from last year's record yield. In South Dakota, USDA officials predict yields of about 341 million bushels of corn, down from 429 million in 1998. Soybean production will be up slightly to 135 million bushels, compared with 133.4 million bushels in 1998.

Some farmers say the price increases would be welcome but still won't be enough. "It's never enough for us," said Betty Anderson, who farms 210 acres near Flan-dreau with her husband Brian. The couple has decided to quit farming after this year. "You always have to keep that outlook that it's going to get better," she said. "It just seems like, you spray for one thing and then you've got one thing conquered, and then there's something else." South Dakota officials say simple principles of supply and demand are driving crop prices now, and they don't expect big changes this year.

"I think the prices will move higher, little by little, as we move through harvest," said Jim Boyle of Farmers Elevator Co. in Beresford. "We're at such low levels now it would be easy to improve thr market a little bit. It's nothing that's going to move this market to $3 for corn or $7 for beans." Steve Munk, agent with the Minnehaha County extension office, said a dry August has hurt yield potential in some areas. He said farmers he's talked to are wary of fall price and weather forecasts.

"There's nothing that's really indicated to me that it's going to be an unusual year," Munk said. "Even if (yields) go up, there's still quite a ways to go up where they were a couple years ago." SIOUX FALLS (AP) Mere than years after a young Lake Andes 'couple reportedly walked away from la car accident and their bodies reap-'peared three months later, the bizarre case has officially been closed. Arnold Archambeau, 20, and Ruby Ann Bruguier, 19, disappeared Dec. 12, 1992, after Archambeau's car swerved and overturned into a ditch just east of Lake Andes. The two, both members of the Yankton Sioux Tribe, had a 19-month-old girl together.

Another passenger in the car, Tracy Dion, said the last time she saw Archambeau and Bruguier, they were walking away from the scene with no visible signs of major injury. Searches turned up nothing. Then on March 10, 1993 three months later Bruguier's body turned up about 75 feet from where the car rolled. Everdale Song Hawk, of Lake Andes, called the sheriff's office after seeing it "I saw a car there earlier, and a guy was looking in the ditch," he said at the time. "I saw him looking, and I pulled over and saw something in the water.

I stopped and looked over and saw what looked to be a body." Song Hawk said Bruguier's body was floating in about 4 feet of water. Still, no Archambeau. But the next day, March 11, 1993, officials found his body 15 to 20 feet from where they found Bruguier the day before also in a water-filled ditch. When asked at the time how the bodies could have been missed after the accident, Charles Mix County Deputy Sheri Bill Youngstrom said he didii't know. "Starting at that date and several times since that date, that area of ditch has been walked by law enforce- ment divisions, by family members, by volunteers, the entire area around there.

The ditch area we're looking at is 100 yards by 25 yards wide with no access to any flowing water." Autopsy results indicated Archambeau and Bruguier died of exposure. Officials also concluded the couple most likely did not die where their bodies were found but were moved there. The FBI, not Charles Mix County, now is in charge of the case because of a change in jurisdiction. Special Agent Matt Miller, of the Sioux Falls office, said this past week the FBI closed the investigation because nothing suggests foul play. "There isn't any indication of anything else," he said.

"All we know is they appeared in the ditch and that was it." Occasionally, the agency fields a call about the case, but none has suggested anything criminal, Miller said. In April 1995, the national television program "Unsolved Mysteries" aired a segment about the case. It produced several leads, but none solved the mystery. Lake Andes is near the Missouri River and not far from the Nebraska border. The town of 800 or so people is a mix of white and American Indians, primarily from the Yankton Sioux tribe.

Pants-fire nets $245,000 ABERDEEN (AP) An Aberdeen man who took his insurance company to court after his employee set a man's pants on fire was awarded $245,000. A Brown County jury decided Thursday that Rick Biegler, owner of an Aberdeen convenience store, is due the money from American Family Mutual Insurance Company. Biegler sued because the company didn't pay damages or attorney's fees when his employee set a man's Shower Qlmss Shelving pants cn fire with a lighter in February 1996. A developrnentally disabled man was given vodka-laced coffee by a cashier, who then set the man's pants on fire with a lighter. The man suffered second-degree burns on his buttocks.

Biegler said American Family Mutual Insurance denied his claim, so he had to hire his own attorney. He eventually settled with the victim for $25,000. Biegler argued that American Family did not investigate the incident before denying his claim. But the insurance company said 'it had no duty to defend Biegler because he settled before a suit was filed. According to court documents, American Family argued that though Biegler's policy does cover injuries caused by accidents, it does not cover injuries that were intentionally inflicted.

The jury deliberated more than two hours on Thursday. 139 Main St, BapM CMy, SO 57701 (95)342-5122 Sell Personal Items Valued At $50 Or Less Advertise any single item valued at $50 or less for up to 10 days FREE. Limit: 1 item per ad, must include price, one adhousehold at a time. QRapid City. 394-8383 fstxAnmml 4 "tests tea lis fts Pmlf Jirdon Park Tcrringtcn, Wyoming I fstxSOvutal IS PUS Tcmrigfon, wyomsrct City of Rapid City 1 Temporary Employian8 Opportunism AdiaiaJsliaSto Proraaaianal Sua Drtr CtaricaJIWdudcal CoacawdM Warkar CHnMil HaJataaaBca Warkar Library Pag Rteraathm biatrnctor.

Worker Suparotaer Rapklr PsraonMactunlc SUga Hand Tlcfcat SaUar Caahler I Labarar Safurcksy Sept. 18, 1999 Antiques, Classics 1920 -1990, Street Rods, Customs, Pickups, All Welcome! 1 2 classes, 3 1 trophies, Free Dash Plaques for each entry. Free Meet T-Shirt per Family, 1 free lunch at Ten Pin, 50's Sock Hop, Show and Shine Poker Run. '10 Registrcfion Fee. Registration 9 to 1 lam.

Jtrebn Park 25th East F. 1999 Conference on the Hydrology of the Black Hills 4464 September 15-16 4444 Surbeck Center, SD School of Mines and Technology This conference will cover many aspects of hydrology in the Black Hills, including ground water, surface water, water quality, mining issues, karst. precipitation, and water use. Water is the most important resource in the Black Hills and affects everyone in numerous ways. "Both professionals and the general public are cordially invited to attend More information about cost and registration is available at: U.S.

Geological Survey. 1608 Mountain View Rd Depart, of Geology and Geological Engineering, SD School of Mines and Technology SD Depart, of Environment and Natural Resources. 2050 West Main Suite 1 or call Dr. Michael Strobel, US Geological Survey at 605-355-4560 ext. 247 mstr0belusgs.g9v: conference webpage at http:sd.water.usgs govcgibiitfconf.htm To register call town of Torrirtgton (307) 532-5666, Chamber (307) 532-3879; 532-3230 or 532-7942 or Contact Torrington's web site at K3 enier via email imwprairieweo.com Richard M.Tibbies Licensed Manual Physical Therapist ANNOUNCES THE OPENING OF HSS PRACTICE AT: 1600 Mountain View Road, Suite 108 Rapid City, SD 57702 As the former owner of Chronic Pain and Physical Therapy Center in Massachusetts, he brings with him 16 years of manual physical therzpy experience.

Specializing In the most advanced treatment techniques for acute and chronic pain. For appointments call (60S) 343-4142 ft JOMfVIUNITY Before the surgery, I could not fully enjoy life. After my LASIX surgery performed by Dr. Koaoal and her staff at Black Hills Regional Eye Institute, I no longer have to worry about my eyeglasses, and novo I'm enjoying life to the fullest. BUtklfCrmpmtj EETINGS Please come to an informal focus group lunch meeting sponsored by the City of Rapid City Solid Waste Division.

Your input regarding the Rapid City Blue Bag Recycling Program is important. 11:30 am Tuesday, Sept. 21 or I ml Thursday, Sept. 23, 1999 FREE Refractive Surgery Education Progress Date: Wcdnesdiy, September 15, 5:30 p.m. Pkce: Black Hills Regional Eye Institute, Third Floor Conference Room Presenter Yen 0.

Kowid, Director of RefrsctnT Surgery Learn shevt cor new FDA approved lntr, Ca2 toizj tot i rumution. 341-9180 or 1-800-658-3500 Brown bag lunch provided CitySchool Administration Building BLACK HILLS REGIONAL EYE INSTITUTE 2800Third Street Rapid City, SD wvmbhrelccm 300 Sixth Street Community Room-First Floor RSVP: Community Development Office 394-4181 by Sept. 16, 1999. Bring your ideas!.