Hunter Tells of Fear in the Woods

Chai Soua Vang, charged with killing six hunters and injuring two others in the woods of northwest Wisconsin in November, took the stand Thursday and outlined in chilling detail how he attacked the hunting party as they ran for cover and screamed for help.

Vang, a 36-year-old National Guard veteran who lives in St. Paul, Minn., told jurors that the violent confrontation happened after he inadvertently trespassed on private property in Rice Lake, Wis., and one of the hunters swore at him and used racial slurs.

During his two-and-a-half hour testimony at the Sawyer County Courthouse, Vang said he feared for his life after one of the hunters shot at him, and believed the others were running away to get more guns.

“Can you tell me, on that day, did they deserve to die?” asked Wisconsin Atty. Gen. Peg Lautenschlager, who led the cross-examination of Vang.

Vang, a Hmong immigrant, answered that three of the victims did: Property owner Robert Crotteau, 42, “because he was the one who confronted me and called me names”; Crotteau’s son Joseph, 20, “because he accused me of giving him the finger and tried to cut in front of me to stop me from leaving”; and Crotteau family friend Allan Laski, 43, because “he had a gun.”

Vang faces six counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder. The trial began Saturday and jurors are expected to begin deliberations today. If convicted, Vang faces a mandatory life sentence.

“I was afraid,” Vang said. Clad in a striped shirt and scarlet-colored tie and slacks, Vang’s mood on the stand fluctuated between being animated and confused.

“I wished it wasn’t happening,” he said.

Vang reloaded the magazine of his semi-automatic rifle twice. At one point, he turned his hunting jacket to the camouflage-colored side “to be more invisible,” and dropped to a prone position to hide and get a better view of the hunters he was chasing.

All the while, chaos filled the forest as the hunters fled, screaming in terror. At least one dying man made groaning sounds, Vang said.

During cross-examination, however, Vang repeatedly acknowledged that he knew most of the hunting party was unarmed.

The other three victims were Mark Roidt, 28, and Dennis Drew, 55, of Rice Lake; and Jessica Willers, 27, of Green Bay. Jessica’s father, Terry, 48, and Lauren Hesebeck, 49, were injured.

This week, the two surviving witnesses told jurors that Vang fired first. They testified that Willers was the only armed member of the hunting party, and fired a single bullet after he had been shot.

Investigators said they found one weapon at the crime scene.

Though the killings occurred about 50 miles southwest of the courthouse, residents here say the carnage has increased the already tense relations between locals in the predominantly white region and Hmong immigrants.

The all-white jury, made up of four men and 10 women, were pooled from nearly 300 miles away in Dane County. The jury selection was moved to that area after Vang’s defense team expressed fears about being able to find unbiased jurors because of pretrial media coverage.

As this year’s deer season approaches, some residents say they are watching the trial and remain nervous about the outcome.

“We’re an extremely close-knit community,” said Helen Gubrud, 59, a housewife from Hayward who came to the courthouse to watch Vang’s proceedings.

“The people who were killed and injured were well known. Everyone has felt a part of the hurt and the pain. Folks are talking about what the Hmong community will do if he’s convicted, and what the locals will do if he’s acquitted.”

Vang, a naturalized citizen from Laos who came to the United States in 1980, said he was trained as a medical specialist by the military and earned honors as a sharp-shooter. Since getting his hunting license in 1990, he has regularly tracked game in California, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

“Are you a very good marksman?” Lautenschlager asked. “A very good hunter?”

“Yes,” Vang replied.

The father of seven said he had come home from work about 2 a.m. on Nov. 20, the day before the killings. Friends later picked him up and they drove to Wisconsin, intending to hunt and camp on public land.

He didn’t bag a deer the first day, so Vang said he and his friends decided to move over to the Rice Lake area the next day. When they arrived, Vang scoured the area until he saw a doe.

In Vang’s version of events that day, he tracked the animal for at least an hour and became lost. He asked one hunter for directions, but without either a map or a compass, he continued to wander in confusion through the dense forest.

Spotting a tree stand (a wooden platform often built into a tree branch) near a swamp, Vang climbed up and studied the terrain. He said he spent an hour there, looking for game and clues to guide him back to his friends.

Vang testified that Terry Willers approached and told him he was on private property. Vang said he hadn’t noticed any No Trespassing signs, apologized to Willers and asked where the property line was located. He also climbed out of the tree.

As he was walking away, Vang said he heard Willers tell the other hunters about his trespassing. Minutes later, Vang said he heard two ATVs draw close and thought “they were probably coming for me.”

Robert Crotteau climbed out of one of the vehicles, he said, and began yelling profanity and racial epithets at Vang.

“He said, ‘Why the [expletive] were you in my son’s stand,’ ” said Vang, who began yelling in the courtroom to mimic Crotteau’s voice. “Do you know you’re trespassing, you [racial slur]!”

When Vang said he didn’t see any signs to indicate this was private property, he said Crotteau snarled, “I’m sick of you Asians coming onto my land.... If you [expletive] Asians keep coming on my land, I’m going to kick your [expletive] Asian [expletive].”

At that point, asked Lautenschlager: “You felt disrespected?”

Vang answered: “Yes.... He [didn’t] have to yell at me.”

As Vang walked away, he said that Crotteau kept asking for the number of his hunting license. He said Joe Crotteau stood in his way, while another hunter yanked the tag from beneath Vang’s backpack and read it out loud. One of the hunters wrote down the number in the dirt-covered ATV.

As Vang left, he said he looked over his shoulder and spotted Willers pointing a rifle at him.

“I thought in my heart, they are going to shoot me,” Vang testified.

Vang said he dropped to the ground in a crouch, heard a gunshot and saw some dirt nearby puff up. He pulled the telescopic sight from his rifle because “if I had the scope, I couldn’t shoot close distance.”

He then began to fire.

As Vang spoke, members of both his family and dozens of survivors of the victims cried quietly.