1982 Barron County Mystery: Kraig King Identified as Cold Case Victim
Authorities reopens decades-old case: authorities seek leads in Kraig King’s long-unsolved death
September 21st, 1982, started like any other for loggers working on land near Highway 25 near Ridgeland, Barron County, Wisconsin. Part of the adjacent land was private property, but that afternoon, one of the loggers crossed the threshold and risked trespassing laws.
While assessing the situation and trying to ascertain what property he was on, the logger spotted a small mound of clothes around one hundred yards from the tree line.
A mound of clothes struck him as odd, as the area was private land and mostly deserted. It wasn’t near a road or junction, and it gave him an uneasy feeling.
The logger got the attention of how coworkers and the group approached the clothing together. And as they grew nearer to the clothes, their hearts sank. It wasn’t just a ‘pile of clothes.’ A skeleton lay inside them, with the skull being several feet away. The men ran back to their vans and called for the Barron County Sheriff’s Department, who, in turn, called the medical examiner to the scene.
Once the remains were located and photographed, they were sent to the medical examiner’s…