In 'Unresolved: the Murder of Joel Lovelien,' Dakota Spotlight investigates the beating death of a man outside a bar amid Halloween festivities. Nobody has ever been found guilty of killing him.
15 years after Joel Lovelien was found slain, his death, and the murder trial and verdict that followed, continues to reverberate in many people's lives.
Charged with murder in Joel Lovelien's death, Travis Stay went on trial in Grand Forks in December 2008. 'Everyone had an opinion,' recalled a reporter who covered the trial. The verdict: not guilty.
The Dakota Spotlight podcast reviews what evidence Grand Forks County submitted against Travis Stay when he was arrested for the murder of Joel Lovelien in 2007.
Joel Lovelien was a big man with a big personality. Not aggressive, but smart, with a dry, raunchy sense of humor. And don't forget his fondness for belting out the "SpongeBob Squarepants" theme song.
In this Dakota Spotlight episode, the podcast tracks the movements and actions of Travis Stay and others. What was going on with him and his friends that weekend night just before Halloween?
As police responded to the scene of the beating death of Lovelien in Grand Forks on Oct. 28, 2007, they quickly zeroed in on three costumed partiers that night: a clown, a cowboy and a hunter.
In its eighth season, the Dakota Spotlight podcast is re-examining the killing of Joel Lovelien, which took place outside the Broken Drum bar in Grand Forks on Oct. 28, 2007.
