Prosecutors seek to discredit Blom's alibi

VIRGINIA, Minn. (AP) -- Prosecutors introduced documents Monday they hope will discredit Donald Blom's assertions that he wasn't in the Moose Lake area the night Katie Poirier was abducted and that he didn't change his appearance after her abduction.

Blom, 51, of Richfield, is accused of kidnapping Poirier, 19, from a Moose Lake convenience store, killing her and burning her body on his vacation property 12 miles away on May 26, 1999. He confessed but later recanted and demanded a trial, which has completed 14 days of testimony.

Carlton County Sheriff's Deputy Paul Coughlin testified Monday that he took a sticker off a hamburger package from the freezer in Blom's trailer when he searched the rural Moose Lake property June 23, 1999. The sticker bears a "sell by" date of May 26 and the store name of Holiday Foods in Moose Lake.

The store's meat department manager said the ground beef would have been packaged for sale no later than mid-afternoon on May 25, a Tuesday, and pulled from the shelves early the morning of May 26.

Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Special Agent Bob Harvey also testified that on June 28, he found two receipts -- one from the IGA grocery store in Moose Lake -- in Blom's pickup truck. The receipt was dated May 25, the day before Poirier was abducted. The truck had been in police custody since Blom's Richfield home was searched June 19.

A bank investigator testified that Blom's account records show he bought gas using a checking account debit card in Finlayson.