On a cold December day in 1941, the small farming community of Buckman, Minnesota, was shattered by a brutal act of violence that would forever mark its history. Five-year-old Kenneth Joseph Dehler, a White male, was tragically killed on December 19, 1941, not by a stranger, but by his own teenage brother. The idyllic family life on the Dehler farm was violently disrupted when 16-year-old Richard Edward Dehler turned a firearm on his own family, resulting in the deaths of his parents, August
and Regina Dehler, and his two youngest siblings, Anna Mae and Kenneth.
The motive behind the shocking crime, as later presented by Richard's defense, was a desperate feeling of being trapped by the responsibilities of the family farm and the burden of his father's illness. He reportedly felt he could "never be free of the farm and its debts." However, the prosecution painted a different picture, suggesting that Richard was not solely responsible for the farm work, as his older brother, Ralph, a university student, would return to help during busy seasons. At the time of the incident, the other older Dehler children were not at home.
Richard Dehler was swiftly arrested and, in January 1942, was tried and convicted for the murder of his mother, Regina, receiving a life sentence in prison. The indictments for the deaths of his father and siblings were later dismissed. In a surprising turn of events, Richard was released from prison in 1959 due to legal issues concerning the due process of his original trial. However, his freedom was short-lived as he was immediately re-arrested and faced new charges for his mother's murder.
In December of 1960, Richard Dehler pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of second-degree murder and was once again sentenced to life in prison. This plea brought a final, albeit somber, conclusion to a case that had haunted the Buckman community for nearly two decades, leaving a lasting scar on the surviving members of the Dehler family.
