Police: Suspected murders in North Dakota try to fool a video

MANDAN, N.D. – A North Dakota man was charged on Friday during an attack that killed four people in a company that runs the mobile home park where he lives and took steps to avoid being discovered by grabbing sockets, changing his clothes and whitening a knife and a rifle, according to the court documents

Court documents allege that after firing and stabbing the victims, Chad Isaak, 44, stole one of the company's vehicles, drove about 305 meters (1,000 feet), and then dropped the vehicle and walked to his own truck. mile (1.6 km) into a McDonald's. The documents indicate that authorities have been able to follow in his footsteps with the help of video surveillance in companies located along the road.

The affidavit and complaint filed Friday offer as many details about a mystery that has gripped the region since the authorities found the bodies of four people at RJR Maintenance and Management in Mandan, a city close to the capital of the state of Bismarck. But the documents do not reveal the reason for the massacres.

Isaak, chiropractor and veteran of the US Navy, faces four counts of murder and other charges in this attack. The victims were Robert Fakler, co-owner of RJR, 52; employee Adam Fuehrer, 42 years old; and married colleagues Lois Cobb, 45, and William Cobb, 50.

The police affidavit portrays a frightening crime scene in which the Cobbs and Fuehrer were shot and stabbed repeatedly. Fakler had multiple lacerations and knife wounds, and the first responders tried in vain to revive him. Führer and the Cobbs were all dead when the officers arrived; The death of Lois Cobb was attributed to a cut on the neck, although she was also shot, according to the affidavit.

The surveillance video shows the assailant entering RJR. wearing brightly colored clothes, then leaving in dark clothes less than 15 minutes later, according to the documents. An employee of McDonald's told the police that she had seen a man wearing a camouflage ski mask, black pants and black shoes enter a white Ford F-150 that morning.

The police then linked the vehicle to Isaak, who lives in Washburn, about 35 kilometers north (56 kilometers) from Mandan. At his home, they found clothes matching what they'd seen on videos, used sockets, as well as a knife and a bleach-smelling gun, according to court documents. .

The owner of the mobile home park, Rolf Eggers, said that he had never met Isaak and that he had never heard of problems with him. Eggers, a resident of Bismarck who spends his winters in Florida, said that he had spoken to Fakler several times a week and that Isaak had never been introduced.

"It was not a problem," said Eggers. "He has never attracted attention."

Isaak was scheduled to appear in the Morton courthouse on Friday afternoon. It was not immediately known if he had a lawyer who could comment on the allegations. The murder committed by Felony entails a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole. North Dakota does not have the death penalty.

The records show that Isaak has a chiropractic business. A marriage announcement in 1995 indicated that Isaak was a laboratory assistant in the US Navy serving Pearl Harbor. Isaak received her chiropractic license in 2006, according to the recordings.

Until the arrest of Isaak, the police had published little information about their investigation. Homicides are unusual in Mandan, a town of about 22,000 inhabitants located across the Missouri River, in the capital of Bismarck State, which has not known since 2016 – and has only had three in the last six years.

"It has been a tough week for everyone," said Mayor Tim Helbling.

A memorial service for the victims is scheduled Tuesday at the Bismarck Community Church, according to Eastgate's funeral and cremation service.