State briefs

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Police arrested a 17-year-old boy in the death of a 20-year-old St. Paul man whose dismembered body was found in Wisconsin, police said.

Authorities were trying Wednesday to figure out how and why Bobbie D. Holder was killed in Minneapolis and his body dumped in Colburn Township, southeast of Holcombe, Wis. They used tattoos to identify his body.

"That's what makes this so hard in this investigation, the area is so wide," said the Rev. Devin Miller, who will preside at a memorial service for Holder on Saturday.

The teen-ager was arrested without incident Tuesday in south Minneapolis. Police would not say how they connected the remains to Minneapolis.

Holder was last seen July 5 by his mother, who reported him missing three days later. She told police she feared her son was dead because he usually checked in with her.

On July 8, about the same time the missing-person report was being filed, a Wisconsin man cutting his grass found a portion of Holder's remains buried in his back yard. The remains had been mutilated and the head and the limbs were missing, according to the Chippewa County, Wis., Sheriff's Office.

Holder's car was found a short time later in a park-and-ride lot in Baldwin, Wis., Chippewa County sheriff's deputy Jim Clark said Wednesday. The area is about 70 miles from where the torso was found, leading investigators to believe that at least one additional person is involved.

Oven smoke causes emergency landing of Northwest 747

in British Columbia

FORT ST. JOHN, British Columbia (AP) -- A Northwest Airlines Boeing 747 carrying 177 passengers made an emergency landing in British Columbia because of smoke from an oven on board.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the flight from Anchorage, Alaska, to Detroit landed safely Tuesday night at the North Peace Airport in this town about 500 miles northeast of Vancouver.

Emergency crews from nearby communities were called to the airport in case of a fire, but the cause of the smoke turned out to be an overheated oven, Staff Sgt. Wayne Mossman said.

"If they had continued on another hour it probably would have cooled off, but would you want to take the chance?" said Vern Lace, a local aircraft maintenance engineer. "They were just being very careful."

The plane resumed the flight early Wednesday after a passenger's dog was moved from the cargo hold to the cabin. Fire Chief Larry Evans said the ventilation system in the luggage compartment had been shut down.

Records of St. Paul officers released

ST. PAUL (AP) -- Five police officers accused of beating a teen after a weekend festival have a collective 23 previous complaints on their records. All but three of the complaints were cleared, police said.

The police department released the officers' records Wednesday in response to witnesses who said they saw them beating Devonsha Thompson, 18, as they were controlling a large crowd downtown.

The officers' files included many letters of thanks from residents and commendations.

The complaints:

--Officer Vincent E. Martin was suspended four days in 2000 for improper conduct after he was charged with driving under the influence.

--Officer Isaac D. Rinehart has 13 complaints -- the most of the five officers -- with two charges pending against him.

In 1997, Rinehart got a written reprimand after Minneapolis police were called to an argument in a downtown nightclub. Also that year, he was suspended four days for conduct unbecoming an officer after fighting with a woman while on duty.

But those officers also have their fair share of commendations.

Martin was given the department's Medal of Valor in 1996 for aiding in the arrest of an armed suspect; a Medal of Merit in 1997 for responding to another armed suspect case; two thank-you letters; and one letter of recognition.