Melissa Beson, the 5'7", medium build, brown hair, brown-eyed Native American woman who has been missing since March 17, 2025, is still the focus of an extensive search.
According to the Lac du Flambeau Tribal Police Department, "As the days have turned into weeks, the Lac du Flambeau Tribal Police Department has searched relentlessly in the area in which Melissa was last seen, as well as other areas of interest. LDFPD Officers and assisting agencies have conducted grid searches on foot, have deployed high-tech drones and airplanes, and have searched using specially trained canines.
"Many of the search areas are characterized by extremely treacherous terrain. Today, [Thursday, April 24, 2025], the tribe’s Emergency Management Director nearly lost her life during a search of a floating bog area. Only her training and experience in search and rescue prevented a tragedy. Because of the challenges and danger involved in searching on foot, LDFPD has not requested assistance from volunteers, so officers continue to come in on their days off to comb the search areas. To date, over 1,300 acres have been carefully searched."
While this dedicated search effort continues in the area where Melissa was last seen, police and Melissa's family hope she is safe somewhere. Numerous people have reported seeing Melissa in other areas. LDFPD officers have traveled to those jurisdictions to follow up on leads, but all of the reports have been investigated and found to be cases of mistaken identity or cruel hoaxes. The LDFPD has been assisted by other law enforcement agencies, including the Wausau Police Department.
Some have suggested that Melissa is afraid to come back to Lac du Flambeau, for fear she may be in trouble, and is not coming forward for that reason. In case that scenario is accurate, the LDFPD extended the following message to Melissa, “Melissa, please know that you are not in trouble. We are not going to arrest you or take you to jail. All anyone wants is for you to come home. Your family is frantic, and the entire community is worried about you. There will be relief and much happiness upon your return. We all know that it was not your intent to cause such concern and worry. It exists because you are cared about, and your absence is felt by everyone. Please contact your family or our department. If you need transportation, it will be provided. If you need money to assist you in coming home, that, too, will be provided. Just please reach out, and let your community know that you are safe.”
Melissa was last seen in the vicinity of Indian Village Road and Chequamegon Forest Trail in Lac du Flambeau. At the time, she was wearing red sweatpants, a black sleeveless shirt, and a gray sweatshirt. She has numerous tattoos, including on her neck, arms, and legs. Anyone with information about Melissa or her possible whereabouts is asked to call the Lac du Flambeau Tribal Police Department at 715-588-7717 or the Vilas County Sheriff’s Office at 715-479-4441.
A thirty-two year old Price County resident, Jesse Yanske, was last seen at about 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 17, 2025, in the Westboro area in Taylor County. He was near State Highway 13 and Gunnar Road, according to the Taylor County Sheriff's Office. He was wearing a black zip-up hoodie, black joggers, and black and white shoes.
Jesse is approximately 6'3" tall and 160 pounds. He has brown hair and blue eyes.
The Price County Sheriff’s Office and the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office have been engaged in a joint search since Jesse was reported missing on April 19, 2025. Price County Sheriff Brian Schmidt and Taylor County Sheriff Corey Dassow are asking property owners to check their properties and their cameras for any signs of Jesse. The targeted search area includes properties south of State Highway 86, north of State Highway 102, and within one mile east or west of State Highway 13.
If anyone has any information that could help in locating Jesse, they should contact the Price County Sheriff’s Office at 715-339-3011 or the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office 715-748-2200.
Cardinal Kevin Ferrell announced the death of Pope Francis on Monday, April 21, 2025. He stated, "At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the home of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of his Church."
Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio on December 17, 1936, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, he was the eldest of five children.
On March 13, 2013, he was elected the 266th pope, serving in the role for 12 years.
He was hospitalized on February 14, 2025, with bronchitis, which developed into a complex lung infection and double pneumonia. After an aggressive course of treatment, he was released from the hospital on March 23, 2025, after 38 days.
On Easter Sunday, he briefly met with Vice President JD Vance, and he made a public appearance in St. Peter's Square, blessing those in attendance. It would become his final public appearance.
It's not every day that a music video is filmed in Phillips, Wisconsin. However, it happened in 2024.
The Cactus Blossoms, an American alternative country and indie folk band based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota, recorded video footage at Fred Smith's Wisconsin Concrete Park in Phillips. The two singers, Jack Torrey and Page Burkum, who are brothers, can be seen walking through the woods and amongst the statues. Aptly, the name of the song is "Statues."
The website for The Cactus Blossoms shows four albums, though it appears they have recorded five. "Statues" is on the one entitled, "Every Time I Think About You."
Deer Creek Angus, LLC has a large selection of Black Angus burgers, steaks, roasts, and other beef products sold by individual packages and in quarters, halves, and whole. Contact Deer Creek Angus, LLC at 715-550-6156, find products & pricing on their website, and follow their Facebook page.
Wisconsin Central Railroad wooden trestle and sawmill log dam on the Jump River
A little over a century ago, the government granted the Wisconsin Central Railroad a 20-mile-wide strip of every odd-numbered section of land between Stevens Point and Ashland. It was priced at $1.25 an acre and was to be used for a railroad connecting the northern and southern sections of the state. Except for its wealth of standing virgin pine, land in northern Wisconsin was considered worthless. Still, the government raised the price of the remaining land to $2.50 per acre.
The Wisconsin Central had built a railroad from Menasha to Stevens Point, but its ultimate aim was to complete the line to Superior, where the Great Lakes played such an important role in the transportation of ore.
In 1872, work on the proposed railroad began and rails were laid from Stevens Point to Colby. In 1873, they were extended to Worcester, a distance of 101 miles from Stevens Point. Work on the railroad extending south from Ashland had begun but was temporarily brought to a stand-still by the panic of 1873. It was completed in 1876.
Mr. Sackett, in his History of Price County, writes about the laying of the rails, "Sixty-three miles in all, running from Menasha to Stevens point, being completed in one-hundred twenty days with the aid of 2,000 men, 600 horses, 100 yokes of oxen."
The tracks were made of wood with only a steel railing in the center and often secured with wooden pegs. But wooden or otherwise, they were a boom to progress and an instrumental factor in the formation of new settlements. Later they brought an influx of European immigrants, in the Prentice area mainly Germans and Scandinavians, also French Canadians. Many of these people took advantage of the Homestead Act, acquired a parcel of land, built a log cabin, cleared enough land for a garden, bought a cow or hog plus a few chickens, and somehow or other managed to eke out a living. Others, with a mind for business, established boarding houses. The railroad also brought in loggers to whom the rich woodlands spilled opportunity.
There were difficulties. Tree stumps presented problems in the clearing of land. Removal had to be accomplished entirely by horsepower, a laborious process. Then, around the turn of the century, a powerful substance called dynamite came into being and was made available for use. It was a mixture of nitroglycerin soaked in some absorbent, such as wood pulp or sodium nitrate. It was first produced by Alfred Noble in 1867. Dynamite usage in the clearing of land for farms, roads, and railways was a gigantic step forward.
For a time, the Wisconsin Central Railroad terminal, generally known as "101," was a lively little town. It had received its official name of Worcester from a city in Massachusetts. There were high expectations that "101," too, would someday become a city. There were mills and work for more mills as dense woodland separated Worcester from its nearest neighbor to the south, Ogema, in 1875. This almost impenetrable wilderness was broken only by the rails of the Wisconsin Central.
Reprinted from the Prentice History Walk with encouragement from Dale Heikkinen
In the early evening of March 8, 2025, Officer Fohr of the Park Falls Police Department received a phone complaint about tires being deflated in the grocery store's parking lot. Being on another call, Officer Yusten responded.
The loss prevention specialist at the store had video footage of the incident.
Officer Yusten arrived in the parking lot where he talked with a man who stated someone had pulled the valve stem covers off and then unscrewed the valve stem core, causing the tires to deflate on his cousin's vehicle. According to the police report, a specific tool is needed to accomplish this. Two of the valve stem cores were on the ground by each wheel.
Given the man had seen the video footage, he described the vehicle driven by the person who damaged the tires. It was a black lifted Chevrolet with dark-colored rims. When being told this information, Officer Yusten realized he saw a vehicle matching that description at the laundromat.
The officer went to the laundromat where he saw a man walk into the building with a basket of clothes. The man looked at the patrol vehicle a number of times.
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Officer Yusten took photos of the Chevrolet. While doing so, the man exited the laundromat with his basket of clothes. He replied that he was the owner of the truck and was from out of town but was staying at his girlfriend's residence. He said he had been at the grocery store. When the officer asked him what he had been doing there, he said he was working on his tires and admitted that he took the valve stem covers off someone's vehicle, because he thought it would be funny. The man said he only took the valve stem covers off, but the officer did not believe that to be true.
Dispatch advised the officer that the man did not have a valid driver's license, so the officer informed him that his girlfriend, who had a valid driver's license, would need to drive his truck. The girlfriend gave the officer two black valve stem caps that her boyfriend had taken from the truck, though it was unclear if she played a role in the theft.
Officer Yusten returned to the grocery store's parking lot to ask the woman if she wanted to pursue charges for theft, and she explained that she did, because the man stole her property and inconvenienced her with two flat tires, though her cousin was able to help her put the valve stem cores back in and a portable air pump was used to inflate the tires without issue. The officer returned the valve stem caps to the woman.
The man committing the theft is no longer allowed in the grocery store, and he received a non-traffic citation for theft of movable property less than $2,500.
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In the evening of March 7, 2025, Officer Fohr, from the Park Falls Police Department, heard dispatch contacting the Park Falls Ambulance Service and Park Falls Fire & Rescue, calling them to Hines Park.
Officer Fohr responded to the walking trail where he saw a woman near a parked vehicle. She stated that her husband was attempting to rescue their dog, which had run off the walking trail to chase a fox or some other animal. The dog went onto the ice of the river and had fallen through.
The officer found the man, who had taken two ATV ramps, which he was kneeling on while inching his way on the ice toward the dog. The man was about twenty yards out, and he had at least forty more yards to reach the dog.
The man was instructed to come to the shore, because he could fall through the ice. The river is directly above the dam, which commonly has fast-moving water. The man stated he wanted to rescue the dog. Upon the officer's second instruction to come back to shore, the man did return.
Emergency services arrived on scene and were able to successfully retrieve the dog from the ice.
Park Village offers affordable, active living in a park-like setting for those 55+ and disabled persons in Park Falls. Rent is based on 30% Adjusted Gross Income. Small pets under 30 pounds are welcome. Contact Park Village at 715-762-4747.
Alli Mathys resigned as the clerk/treasurer of the Town of Worcester on January 6, 2025, "effective immediately," but did continue her clerk/treasurer services during the transition through April 1, 2025. See related article.
Regina Damjanovic, the current clerk for the Town of Elk, was appointed the deputy clerk/treasurer for the Town of Worcester on February 11, 2025. Regina was appointed as the clerk/treasurer for the Town of Worcester at a special town board meeting on April 8, 2025.
Regina then appointed Alli Mathys as the deputy clerk/treasurer, which was approved by the town board.
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Around 10 p.m. on Wednesday, April 9, 2025, a 911 call was received in Taylor County requesting emergency medical services at a residence in the 14000 block of County Road M in the Town of Pershing. The caller stated there were two severely injured adults inside the residence.
Upon investigation, a person of interest has developed as of 4-12-2025. Kadyn D. Hadden, born on 6-25-2009, and believed to be driving a silver 2012 Chevrolet Impala with license plate ASW-2781, is the person of interest.
If you have information regarding the incident or the location of Kadyn, the police request that you call 715-748-2200, Extension 5, to give them that information.
The incident remains under investigation. Updates will be added to this article as information becomes available.
UPDATED 4-12-2025 at 7:20 PM:
At approximately 12:40 p.m. on Saturday, April 12, 2025, law enforcement located a silver 2012 Chevy Impala on private property in the Township of Spirit in Price County. Kadyn Hadden, the suspect in the deaths of two Taylor County residents, was found inside. He was deceased due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
It has been determined that Kadyn killed Joshua Mann, born 8/21/1980, and Rebecca Mann, born 5/6/1981, at their home on County Road M in the Town of Pershing in Taylor County. He acted alone during the homicide.
Becky & Josh Mann
Submitted photo / Hemer Funeral Service
The obituary for Becky and Josh Mann can be found at this link.
Eric and Danette Kellesvig lost their home to a fire in Fifield, Wisconsin on March 19, 2025. The fire started in the detached garage and quickly spread to the nearby house.
Submitted photo.
According to Kathi Hlasny, organizer of a fundraiser for the couple, "The insurance coverage falls short of replacing all they have lost, and now they are confronted with the daunting task of starting afresh, finding a new place to call home, and slowly rebuilding their shattered lives."
They currently need a temporary home and essential provisions, for which the donated funds will be used.
If you wish to contribute, the fundraiser can be found at this link.
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