State briefs

CHISAGO CITY. (AP) -- Police arrested a 17-year-old boy Tuesday after the snowmobile he was driving struck and killed a 2-year-old boy Monday night.

The teen may be charged with criminal vehicular operation and criminal vehicular homicide, Chisago City Police Chief Bill Schlumbohm said.

A preliminary investigation found the teen had been drinking alcohol before the accident. Results of a blood-alcohol-content test were pending, according to police. Police declined to release the 17-year-old's name until he is formally charged.

Son charged in father's 1996 killing in Mora area

MORA (AP) -- Prosecutors have charged a 25-year-old Cottage Grove man in the 1996 death of his father after friends of the accused man changed their stories and ruined his alibis

Jason Lee Bolstad was charged with second-degree murder Tuesday. He is accused of shooting and beating his father, Gary David Bolstad, to death nearly six years ago during a robbery. He was jailed in Kanabec County on Tuesday in lieu of $500,000 bail.

Jason Bolstad got about $100,000 from his father's estate after the death. And when Gary Bolstad's body was found in his Mora-area home, his wallet was missing and a safe was open and empty, according to court documents.

The father had sold his interest in a housing business at the time and was known to carry large amounts of cash.

While detectives investigated the son in 1996, he had alibis from his friends.

After getting a tip that Jason Bolstad's friends may have lied, investigators re-interviewed them. Many then changed their stories, Kanabec County Chief Sheriff's Deputy Steve Schulz said.

A childhood friend of Jason Bolstad turned over the gun believed used in Gary Bolstad's death.

"Someone overheard someone had given a false alibi and thought it was wrong,' Schulz said. The person called investigators.

Gary Bolstad was found just before 10 p.m. April 2, 1996, when a neighbor went to check on him. As the neighbor approached his home, he discovered Gary Bolstad lying face down in a pool of blood on the steps.

When the investigators arrived, they found blood on the steps, in the driveway, in the house's kitchen, dining room, living room and porch. A trail of blood led to an opened safe.

Gary Bolstad had been shot at least three times, and was beaten on the head, court records said. He was probably beaten with the gun that shot him.

After the recent tip, childhood friend Billy vonWald told detectives he loaned Jason Bolstad his family's Colt .32-caliber automatic pistol the weekend before the shooting. And vonWald also said he lied to investigators in 1996 because he didn't want to get into trouble.

Investigators examining vonWald's gun reported finding human blood on the weapon. The gun was test-fired, and the bullets matched those from Gary Bolstad's body.

According to court records, vonWald did not know it was going to be used in a crime. Prosecutors have given vonWald immunity from prosecution in the case.