Dead of Winter (2019–…): Season 2, Episode 1 - As He Lay Frozen - full transcript

Experiencing January
in minnesota is

Something
I really kind of dread.

The darkness of the winter

And the cold bring back
so many memories.

We had car chases, shoot-outs.

This guy is dangerous.

He's armed and doesn't care.

It was just nonstop crazy.

That was a wild ride.

He informed me
not to do anything stupid.

He said, "or I will shoot you."



I was in it till the end.

they're just...

It's what my nightmares
are made of.

I was 24 years old.

My world was very small.

My life was brian and katelyn.

Brian was a really good dad.

No matter what it was --
changing diapers,

Giving baths,
feeding bottles --

He would do it all.

He was in love with
every minute of it.

We were the happiest either of
us had ever been in our lives.

Brian had gotten a job working
for the police department.

That was quick.
You got her down for a nap?



Yeah. Her first christmas
really tuckered her out.

All I had to do was rock her,
and she fell right asleep.

Well, you've got
the magic touch.

He would ask me,

"what would happen
if I got killed tonight?"

Hey. If I don't come back,

Promise me you'll wear black
for a whole year.

Full black for a year.
Got it.

I never took it seriously.

I really didn't think that
something like that

Was gonna happen
in a small town in minnesota.

One night changed all that.

It was so cold
and so brutal outside.

Shh, it's okay.

It's okay.

Brian was working
the late shift.

Where's your daddy?

He was gonna be home
around 9:00.

He should be home
by now.

I thought it was brian,
that he had forgotten his keys.

I was relieved, like,
"he's finally here."

And I go to the door,
and I look through the peephole,

And it's not brian,

But I heard the police radio.

As a wife of a police officer,

This is every wife's
worst nightmare.

I almost wish I could pause

Right before

'cause life was so good.

Mrs. Klinefelter?

Something has happened.

Brian's been shot.

I was just frozen.

No.

And then I asked them,
"is he alive?"

And he just said,
"we have to go."

I have an officer here to help
take care of your baby.

You have to
come with me now.

I went from the highest point
in my life

To the lowest in an instant.

In '96, I was working
at the high school.

I worked probably five or six
hours a day there,

And then I'd work a couple
nights at the liquor store,

And it was pretty dead
for most of the night,

And then I heard
this white pickup

Come through the parking lot.

Yippee!

Do it!

I thought, "some kids from
school recognize my car,

And they think they can come in
and get some liquor."

They all had ski masks on,
so it was a cold night,

So I didn't think
anything of it.

Open the till and give me
the money.

There was a panic button
right where I was standing.

But I'm thinking it's still
some kids from school

Playing a trick on me.

Put that toy away before I rip
that ski mask off your face

And call your parents.

He probably thought I was
a dumb old lady.

Who would argue
with a person with a gun?

Open the till and give me
the money, or I'll shoot.

Then I think it hit me that,
"holy crap.

This was for real."

Quicker!

Just -- just --
just --

There was a total, I believe,

Of about $380
from the whole day.

Just -- just take it.
Don't hurt me.

- I need a bag.
- What?

I said, "bag it."

This way.

Back room.

The guy with the gun says,
"well, then go in the back room.

We'll put you
in the cooler."

They won't find me
till the morning.

I'll die there.

I told the guy I would not
go in the cooler

Because I would freeze to death.

Go!
He sounded agitated.

I was scared and shaking.

Okay, fine.

He said, "fine.
Sit on these beer cases."

Tie her up.
Hurry!

He said, "put your hands behind
your back, and I'll tie you up."

I was in a state of shock.

Go.

Well, then they grabbed
their stuff and left.

I do thank my lucky stars
that I was not hurt.

I started wiggling
my hands loose,

Rubbing them together, and...

...The rope fell off.

Then I went to the phone
and called the police.

Dispatch alerts
all available officers.

This is unit 2582.

I'm in close proximity,
on my way.

Robbery is very unusual
in stearns county.

I had never investigated one.

It was kind of a big deal.

I was the young officer,
brand-new on the street,

So I was a little nervous
but pretty excited to get going.

Brian was a brand-new,
fresh officer

That was aggressive,

And I thought to myself,
"boy.

He's gonna stop every pickup
that comes through town."

While I was responding
to the call,

I heard officer klinefelter
on the radio

Advising that he was
behind a white pickup.

Dispatch asked him
for the plate of the vehicle.

Alls he replied back was
that it was snow-covered.

Brian, buddy, be careful.

I was concerned that he was
stopping the vehicle

Without a second car with him.

If these people were armed,
that's not a scenario

Any one of us
wants to be in,

So I said,
"I'll be there in a minute."

Hey, brian.
I'm on my way to back you up.

I was going probably
100-plus miles an hour

As I went through there.

As I was going westbound on 75,
I could see brian's squad car.

I could see the lights flashing,

But the pickup was gone.

As soon as I got parallel
to his vehicle,

I could see him down.

My god.

I got out of the car,
and I ran up.

No, no, no, no, no.

It looked like he just landed
flat on his back

And never moved from there.

Hold on, buddy.
Okay? Hold on.

Brian had been shot
several times,

And he was in bad, bad shape.

Stay with me.
You're gonna be okay.

It's not that bad.

All of his gear was there.

His service weapon was just
kind of laying in his hand.

The blood was dripping out
of the wound in his head,

And it was literally freezing,
you know, right next to him.

Hey, hey, stay with me.
Stay awake.

It's something
that I can picture today,

And I've -- you know,
for 20-some years, it's...

I'll never forget it.

Unit 2582. Officer down.
Repeat, officer down.

I need
medical assistance now!

Just listen to my voice.

The ambulance came down,
and the medics were jumping out

To get to brian
as quickly as they could.

They started cpr immediately,
just jumped right in.

They just kind of grabbed on
to one side,

Started pulling him up to get
the backboard underneath him,

And when they pulled,
his head wasn't moving.

His head was frozen
to the ground

In just that few minutes.

My god.

It was gruesome.
It was tough.

It wasn't something
I want anybody else

To have to ever deal with.

We got you, brian.

I just grabbed onto his head
and helped ease it up.

We just put him right
on our backboard,

Straight into the ambulance,
and he was gone.

I should've said,
"don't approach that vehicle."

I should've said,
"I'll be there in a minute.

Just wait for me,"

But that's the guilt.

I wanted to catch and kill
these guys.

The only thing I remember

About the drive to the hospital
is the extreme cold.

It was so bitterly cold,
but it was beautiful.

The stars were out.

Things take on a little bit of
a shimmer when it's that cold,

And it was...A beautiful night

For something so tragic.

I felt brutally alone.

Officers around the county are
looking out for a white pickup.

When this call came out,
the suspect vehicle

Was coming in potentially
on county road 134.

This is unit 34.

I'm in close proximity
en route.

I was the closest officer
working the road that night,

So that's where
I started heading to.

So I tried to put myself
in their shoes

Of where I thought
they'd pop out at,

And as I got
to that intersection

That I had in my mind,
there was a white pickup truck.

The initial description
was an older white truck,

And this appears to be
a newer white pickup truck.

I start following them
on county road 4.

It's occupied with
three individuals,

And the license plate
is snow-packed.

It's them.

And then I advised dispatch,

"I believe I have the right
vehicle in front of me."

I wholeheartedly believe
they intentionally covered

The license plate with snow

So no one would be ever to grab
a license-plate number.

I felt lucky because
if I would have been,

You know, 30 seconds later,

That vehicle would've been gone.

You're not
getting away.

I just had to make sure that
I was gonna

Keep them in sight
until my backup got there.

What I can say is
I was on a mission.

Being in the right place
at the right time,

It was for all the marbles.

Walking into the hospital,

The waiting room
had a bunch of people in it,

But the first person I saw
was brian's mom, and...

...She was crying.

And I said, "is he dead?"

And she said, "yes."

And I just remember collapsing.

I don't know who helped me
to the couch.

I...Just remembered somebody
telling me

To put my head
between my knees,

And I'm thinking...

"my husband is dead,

And you want me to put
my head between my knees?"

And they asked me
if I wanted to see him.

Ma'am, would you like to be
with your husband?

And I was so scared to go
back there and see him.

I actually called my mom,
and she said,

"you absolutely go,
and you stand with him.

And you tell him you love him."

So that's what I did.

On the other side of the county,

Officer mortenson is following

The unidentified
white pickup truck.

It was very quiet that night

Because of the extreme
cold temperatures,

And so it was just me,

And it was them out there
on the roadway.

We were going slow.

They knew that
I was following them.

Finally, they pulled over
to the shoulder of the road.

And I'm like,
"well, here we go.

They're gonna try
and suck me into

The same type of traffic stop
that they sucked brian into."

I stopped a couple hundred yards
behind them in the traffic lane,

Didn't turn on my red lights.

I knew that these guys
had enough balls

To shoot an officer.

No doubt that
they would do it again.

I knew it was a trap.

Damn it!

Their intentions was to get me
into a traffic stop,

Just like they did with brian,

And I was afraid
they were gonna get out,

And I would have three people
shooting at me.

What are you doing?

You just feel all alone,
you know?

And you kind of feel helpless.

I was just making sure
that I was not providing them

With the opportunity to get
into a gun battle with me.

They probably stayed there
for about 15 seconds,

And then they slowly moved
back out and then continued on.

Now we're heading into
a portion of the city

That was completely
foreign to me.

I followed the pickup for
what seemed like a lifetime.

My main goal there was
to keep them in view,

And they pulled
into the neighborhood

Off of the main thoroughfare.

The neighborhood was desolate.
It was just me and them.

And then they pulled
into a driveway.

I had no idea where I was at,

And he jumped out of the truck
and started running.

Suspects are out of vehicle.

Repeat,
suspects are out of vehicle!

I know I have officers
coming my way.

I know the cavalry's coming.

But the roads were complete ice,

So it was --
I knew they'd be coming slow,

And I knew they were
a long ways behind me.

I've lost sight of them.

The only protection I had
was the glass of the window

And the door, and that wasn't
gonna stop anything.

And I got my shotgun in hand
and waited to see

If they were gonna ambush me.

It was just a few minutes,
and then my backup got there.

Everybody in.

We'll have units
stationed around

The perimeter
of the neighborhood.

Once they're in place,
we'll go door-to-door

Following their footsteps.

They had a fairly decent
jump on us,

But while we're waiting for
all that team to get assembled,

We had a lady run down the road
at us in a bathrobe.

Help me, please!

Ma'am, what's wrong?

He -- he's been taken.

Th-there was a gun.

Initially,
we couldn't understand

What she was saying,

But you could tell
she was just scared to death.

Ma'am,
I need you to calm down.

I need you to tell me
what happened.

It's my husband.

He's been kidnapped.

In my entire career,
I can only count on one hand

How many times
I was truly scared.

This night, I was terrified.

When I went to see brian...

He had been shot under the chin,

And the bullet went out
the back of his head here,

And
his eye was very mangled...

...And protruding from his head.

I knew at that moment
that the brian I knew,

The soul of the person I knew,
was gone,

And that body laying there
was just what held it.

And I didn't need
to be with that

'cause he wasn't there.

Well, not only did we have
an armed robbery

And an officer get shot.

Now we have a kidnapping,

And we have
a hostage situation.

It just keeps getting worse
and worse.

It was just a regular night,

Regular Monday night.

Heck of a storm out there.

My daughter was down
in the basement.

I was in my bedroom
watching the news.

My wife was
redoing her fingernails,

And we were waiting
for our son to come home.

I heard somebody pounding
on our door.

- What are you doing?
- Aah!

What do you want?
What do you -- !

I wasn't expecting to see that.

What are you doing?
What do you want?

I need a car.

Okay.
We can help you.

Please, there's no need
to hurt anybody.

Wait.
Please.

Please, don't hurt anybody.

Well, I saw the gun,
and that's all I needed to see.

I said, "there's keys
for three vehicles there.

Help yourself."

Take the keys and go.

You're coming with me.

I was concentrated
for my safety.

I was concerned
for my wife's safety.

I was concerned for
my daughter's safety.

I don't know how I stayed calm.

I just did.

All I wanted to do was
get him out of my house.

That's all.

Just -- just let me
grab my coat.

No.

You don't want to be out there
in the middle of the night,

Though, in just a sweatshirt.

You'll freeze to death.

It's almost 40-below out.

Okay.
I said no.

Now, let's move.
Now.

Then I grabbed the car keys,
and we headed out to the garage.

We start driving.

He was in the back seat,
and I couldn't really see him.

He had that gun pointed at me.

As we drove down the road,

I knew why
he got in the back seat.

There were police officers in
both directions from my house.

Don't even
think about it.

He informed me
not to do anything stupid.

He said, "or I will shoot you."

You're sure?

It's just one person
that took your husband?

Yes.

Okay.

That means the other two
are still on foot.

She knew that her husband
was in a very bad place

With a very bad person.

Do you think this guy
would really shoot someone?

Now we have a hostage situation
and a kidnapping.

Ma'am,
I need you trust me.

We're gonna find
your husband, okay?

Unit 34 for dispatch.

I've got a kidnapping here.

It just put a whole new twist
on this.

Crouched down in
the back seat of the vehicle,

The gunman orders doug thomsen
to drive out of town.

Take a left up there.

He directed me to drive the car
down a country road

That I had never been on.

I had no idea
where we were going.

Where are we headed?

The road conditions
were typical of minnesota --

Compacted ice and snow.

There was no traction
with the front wheels.

They were not gripping
as you turned,

And this car was swerving.

What was that?

You better keep this thing
on the road.

I'm trying.

I'm not a choirboy,
but he said,

"quit **** with me, man,
or I'm gonna shoot you."

He was as panicky
as I had seen him.

I don't ever want to hear
those words again,

"I will shoot you,"
but, again,

I just concentrated on driving
the car as straight as I could.

This has been one hell
of a Monday night, hasn't it?

And I just responded.
I said, "yeah.

It's been one hell
of a Monday night,"

And then it was just
a short time after that

That he said...
Pull over.

I had no idea what was
gonna happen then.

Please, I've done
everything you've asked.

Please.

I was just reacting to what
he had instructed me to do.

I said, "pull over."

Just let me go home
to my family.

You aren't going home
to them.

You're getting
in the trunk.

Crawling in that trunk,

I didn't know how I was
gonna get out of there.

This must've been taken just...

Just before...

He was supposed to go home.

I'm sorry.
I wasn't expecting that.

Just takes my breath away,

Knowing...That he had no idea.

That...

It's just really hard
to look at.

The other two suspects
on foot remain at large.

It was quite a while
before we actually started

The ground search.

I knew they had a fairly decent
jump in front of us.

These two sets of tracks
split off here.

This must be the two
that are still on foot.

We got to follow them.

Stay here.

We needed to keep on the trail
of these two

That were still out on foot.

The temperature was about
40-below.

I didn't care what
my body was telling me.

I would've kept going.

I was in it till the end.

It was pitch-black out.

We could only see so far
out in front of us,

And that's a scary feeling
of going into a situation

And not knowing
what your surroundings are.

They had every opportunity
to ambush us,

And every corner we go around,

We got to wonder
if this is the corner

They're waiting for us at.

Looks like the tracks
stop here.

As we were walking
through the yards,

We followed the trail
until it hit the pavement.

The snow on the ground
in the yards was waist-deep,

But the roads were plowed.

Now I have no idea
which way they went.

We must've gone
at least half a mile.

They could be anywhere
out here.

I knew they just made this
whole scenario a lot harder.

We're completely exposed.

They took on
a distinct advantage

'cause now we're vulnerable.

When I got into the trunk,
I knew we were going north.

It was cold in the trunk.

There was no heat back there.

I'm in a sweatshirt
and blue jeans,

And you don't last very long

Out in cold weather like that.

I don't fear winter.
I don't fear things like that.

But I respect the hell
out of it,

I'll tell you that.

You couldn't see anything.

15 minutes
I was in the trunk of that car.

I was lost.

I had no idea what direction
I was going anymore then,

So I'd given up on trying
to figure out where I was.

And I'm christian,

So I went through
my prayer list.

I recited the lord's prayer,
the 23rd psalm.

There was another little ditty
that came through my mind.

"help to get me
through this night."

"god of mercy, god of might,

Help to get me
through this night."

That went over and over
in my head.

And all of a sudden,
the car stopped.

I heard the car door open
right away,

And I heard footsteps
on the compacted snow.

I had no idea what was going on.

I was just laying there
listening,

And that's when I heard
a female voice yell,

"drop the gun."

Drop the gun!

And I've watched enough cop
shows and other things to know

That that was the command
brought forward

By a law-enforcement official.

It was very quiet for probably
another...30, 40 seconds,

And then I heard
the command again,

"drop the gun."

Drop the gun!

And then all of a sudden,
there was one single gunshot.

Then I heard nothing.

I thought I would die
that night.

That was the most frightening
moment of my life.

Drop the gun!

It was dead silence
after that gunshot.

I don't know how long of a time
I laid there,

But it was...
Very short period of time.

And all of a sudden,
I heard sirens

And cars approaching,
radios, voices.

And that's when
I had thought to myself,

"those are all good sounds,"

And that was at the point
I pounded on the trunk.

I -- I'm in here.

I'm in here.

Thank god.

The best way to describe
what I saw then

Is something from
"the twilight zone" --

Rod sterling's "twilight zone."

It was exhaust from cars,
breath, flashing lights.

And then laying just,
I guess, 20 feet behind me

Was this body
in front of the police car

That I recognized
as my assailant.

A police officer shot him,

And I think it went down
as a cop-assisted suicide.

Are you hurt?
Let's go.

Come on.
Let's get you out of here.

I thank god for her.

I do.

I'm sitting here today because
I think god answered my prayers.

I believe that
with all my heart.

With that phone call,
we knew where we were going,

And we were heading
in the right direction.

We had stayed on their trail
to the back of a house.

Trying to trudge through snow
that's waist-deep is like

Tying a 100-pound weight
on a rope to your waist

And trying to walk.

You're basically
like a snowplow.

But we were
absolutely determined

To take them into custody.

Freeze!
Don't move, or I'll shoot!

- Hands in the air!
- Hands in the air!

- Hands in the air!
- Get your hands in the air!

Hands in the air now!

Keep your hands where
I can see them...

- Because we will shoot you!
- ...And drop your weapons!

Do not move!
- Keep your hands in the air.

Against the wall!

They gave up.

As much as we were tired of
trudging through the snow,

They were probably
just as tired.

The weather conditions
beat them into submission.

They were done.

We finally took them
into custody.

We all high-fived each other,
and we had a victory.

We avenged brian's death,

And that was, you know,

My greatest accomplishment
in my career, hands down.

You can see that it
even makes me, you know,

Tear up a little bit
just talking about it.

It's -- I don't know.

It's, you know, it's --
to get there --

His killer and the people
that were involved with this

And end that nightmare
for everyone,

That was a big deal, definitely.

Kenneth roering
and brian ederhoff

Are being held in jail,
charged with first-degree murder

In connection
with the shooting death

Of police officer
brian klinefelter.

Their ringleader, thomas kantor,
shot and murdered the officer,

Stole a vehicle,
and took a local man hostage.

Kantor was shot by police
later that same evening.

He was a fricking **** head.

He's a nowhere, just a punk kid
that had nothing going for him,

And, honestly, I believe
that he was suicidal.

I believe that thomas kantor
had a death wish.

He wanted to go out
in a blaze of glory,

And I think he got his wish.

Ederhoff and roering
were the followers.

Kantor is pure evil.

When they pulled over
to the shoulder of the road,

That was a life-or-death moment.

Somebody died in this.

Was it gonna be just brian,
or was it gonna be me?

There's many of us that were
touched with the potential

Of getting into
a gunfight that night.

The incident started out
as a death moment,

So I don't struggle
with the fact that kantor died,

You know, from something
that he started.

He got instant justice.

Thomas kantor was the driver
of the vehicle

And the one who shot
brian five times.

Someone told me that the person
who shot brian was dead,

And I said, "good."

There are a lot of things
I would love to say to him,

To thomas kantor,

The most basic being,
"why?

Why?"

The funeral for brian
was very large.

there were
so many people there.

Those bagpipes.

I can't hear them

And not be brought back
to that day.

They're just haunting.

It's what my nightmares
are made of.

I remarried four years later.

I was...

I was ready to move forward
with my life.

I wanted katelyn to have a dad,

And I knew I had a good guy,
one that brian would've liked.

And it felt right.

I still see brian in her
all the time.

I see brian in katelyn.

It makes me proud and nostalgic

And happy and sad all at once
when I see that.