STATE OF MINNESOTA DISTRICT COURT

COUNTY OF DAKOTA FIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT

---------------------------------

State of Minnesota, JURY

TRIAL

VOLU
ME III

Plaintiff,

vs. Court File No. 19HA-CR-15-4227

Deirdre Elise Evavold,

Defendant.

______________________________________________________________________
__________________________

THE WITNESS: Richard James Hakanson. R-I-C-H-A-R-D. Last name Hakanson, H-

A-K-A-N-S-O-N.

THE CLERK: Thank you.

THE COURT: You may inquire.

MS. KEENA: Thank you, Your Honor.

RICHARD J. HAKANSON, having been first duly sworn, was examined and testified on
his oath as follows:

DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MS. KEENA:

Q. What's your current occupation? A. Police officer.

Q. With which department?

A. The City of Lakeville.

Q. Are you a licensed and certified peace officer in the state of Minnesota? A. Yes, I
am.

Q. Since when?

A. Since February of 1997.

Q. How long have you been employed with the Lakeville Police Department?

A. Since February of 1997.

Q. So your whole career?

A. My whole career.

Q. What's your current assignment in the department as of today?

A. As of today, I'm going back to patrol, but the last two years, I was an investigative
detective.

Q. And was that in a -- some type of rotating position or something?

A. Yes, it was predetermined. It's a two-year rotating 17 position. You leave

patrol, do two years detective work, and then go back to patrol.

Q. And so you then were in patrol for 17 years?

A. Correct.

Q. What is your educational background starting post-high school?A. I attended the

University of Minnesota-Duluth for a year. I then enlisted in the United

States Marine Corps, did four years active duty. I returned back to Minnesota, where I
obtained a two-year degree, associate's degree in law enforcement,

from Normandale Community College.

Q. Drawing your attention to April 19th, 2013, were you employed as a patrol officer
with the Lakeville Police Department?

A. Yes, I was.

Q. And on that date, did you respond to a residence in the city of Lakeville regarding a
report of two missing girls?

A. Yes, I did.

Q. And did that come in as a 911 call?

A. I believe it was. It was a runaway report.

Q. And who made the report?

A. Tammy Love.

Q. And do you recall what time the report was made?

A. I believe it was around 7:45 p.m.

Q. And what was the address of the residence that you were dispatched to?

A. 19675 Ireland Place.

Q. And that's in Lakeville?

A. Correct.

Q. And that's in Dakota County?

A. Correct.

Q. Did you immediately respond to the residence? A. Yes, I did.

Q. And did you speak to anyone when you reached the residence?

A. I spoke to Tammy Love.

Q. And what was the substance of that conversation?

A. She told me that earlier that day, she had received a court order, a copy of a court
order for temporary guardianship of her two nieces, Samantha and Gianna. Later in the
day,
around 5:30 I think it was, she said that the custody exchange occurred. Both girls were
upset about the living arrangements. They then returned to the Ireland Place

address together, and a short while later, the girls left the house. Tammy was upset
and believed that the girls' biological mother, Sandra Rucki, had something to do with it.

Q. And did Tammy Love provide you any information as to where Sandra Grazzini-
Rucki or the girls might be?

13 A. I don't recall if she provided me the information or if I 14 found it on our in-

house records check on my squad computer.

Q. So what did you do after you received this report?

A. Took the basic information for a runaway report, possible destination information, that
kind of thing, clothing

description. Completed those, and then I went to my car and attempted to make
contact with Sandra via her cell phone, so I made a phone call. However, her phone
was turned off and I

couldn't leave a voicemail message.

Q. And who provided you with Ms. -- when you say "Sandra," it was Ms. Grazzini-
Rucki?

A. Correct. The girls' biological mother.

Q. And who provided you with the cell phone number?

A. You know, I don't recall, again, if that was provided to me by Tammy or if I had it
on our in-house records check.

Q. And did you receive any information about a residence that

Ms. Grazzini-Rucki might be at?

A. Yes, her last known believed-to-be residence was in Elko. 6 Q. And did you take
any actions in regards to checking out that

residence?

A. I did. After the phone call was unsuccessful, I asked Scott

County deputies if they would respond to the residence and try to make contact with
either Sandra or see if the girls

were there.

Q. And do you know whose residence it was?

A. I believe the home owner is Michael Rhedin.

Q. And do you know if Scott County deputies went to that residence?

A. They did.

Q. And did they report back to you?

A. They did, and they said they had no contact at the residence.

Q. Did you determine or were you able to determine what type of vehicle Ms. Grazzini-
Rucki was driving as of April 19th, 2013?

A. I did, and that would be a white Cadillac Escalade. Q. And how did you determine
that information?A. Again, I -- it may have been provided to me by Tammy, or more
likely, it was

probably something I found in our in-house records check.

Q. What did you do upon learning that information?

A. I contacted our dispatchers and asked them to disseminate a Attempt to

Locate, a cops' alert, on that vehicle and check the welfare of the girls.

Q. And what does an Attempt to Locate mean?

A. It's a tool law enforcement uses to disseminate a message to the mobile computers
in police squad cars to try to help locate either an individual or a vehicle. It's a tool
where

we can ask other agencies' assistance in finding somebody.

Q. And do you know how widespread this Attempt to Locate went?

A. You can determine how far that goes depending on the circumstances. I believe in
this one, it was metro-wide.

Q. And we've all heard of AMBER Alerts. Are you familiar with AMBER Alerts?

A. Yes, I am.

Q. And why was an AMBER Alert not issued in this situation?

A. Based on the information at the scene, based on the information provided to me by

Ms. Love, there was no indication at this point that the girls did not leave on

their own free will or that there was any type of foul play involved.

Q. When you issued the Attempt to Locate, did you have any success in
locating Ms. Grazzini-Rucki?

A. No, we did not.

Q. Did you attempt to -- so all of that occurred right after the girls went missing on April
19th?

A. That's correct.

4. Q. Did you attempt to contact Ms. Grazzini-Rucki the next day, on April 20th,
2013?

. Well, on the 19th before my -- before my shift would end, we would have the girls
entered into the National Crime

Information Center, NCIC, that they were runaways, so any contact with the girls after
that time would show that they

were runaways, and any agency that had contact with them would take them into
custody.

Q. And did you -- did any agencies have contact with the girls?

A. No.

Q. So --
A. So the next night when I returned on the 20th for my shift and the girls were still
runaways -- no one had found them --

I made another effort to contact Sandra, their mother. And 18 this time, her phone was
turned on and I was able to leave a voicemail message.

Q. And did she ever return your call?

A. Never got a return call.

Q. Did you take any other action that day?

A. Yes, I asked Scott County to make a second effort to go back to the -- her last
known address in Elko again.

Q. And did they, in fact, do that?

A. They did. This time they made contact with Mr. Rhedin. The deputy asked if he
knew the whereabouts of Sandra or the kids. He told her that -- he claimed he hadn't
seen the

4girls in six months, and he said he hadn't seen Sandra and that she might be flying
somewhere, being that she's a flight attendant, and had no idea where they were.

Q. So thereafter, was the case then assigned to a detective in the Lakeville Police
Department?

A. Correct, then it would be forwarded to a detective.

MS. KEENA: I have no further questions.

THE COURT: Any questions, any cross-examination?

THE DEFENDANT: How could I question him? I don't have his preliminary
statement. (Just a summary written by Detective Dronen)

THE COURT: Was Officer Hakanson's report provided to Ms. Evavold in the discovery
the State provided?

MS. KEENA: Yes, Your Honor - THE COURT: All right, thank you.

MS. KEENA: -- along with all the other reports.

THE COURT: All right, thank you. You may step down.