Monday, January 26, 2026

A 28-year-old International Falls man has been charged with abducting a seven-year-old girl from Zimmerman on Wednesday and raping her. Joseph Andrew Bragg appeared in Sherburne County District Court on Friday, where he was charged with one felony count of kidnapping to facilitate a felony or flight and one felony charge of 1st-degree criminal sexual conduct. According to court documents, the girl’s mother reported her daughter missing around 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 21st, after the child didn’t come home from school. The mother learned she wasn’t with her father or grandmother, and no one else had permission to be with her. Police say the girl had been dropped off by her school bus around 3:40 p.m. Neighbor surveillance footage showed her walking toward her home at 3:53 p.m. before turning back toward the bus stop and disappearing from view. During the investigation, the mother told authorities about an unusual online interaction in December with a Facebook user identified as Bragg. She accepted a friend request because she thought she knew him. The mother said the 28-year-old had contacted her, asked whether she had children, and expressed interest in working with children and childcare services in the Zimmerman-Princeton area. She ultimately learned she didn’t know him and blocked him. Investigators say they tracked Bragg using cell phone location data and identified him as traveling southbound toward Iowa in a white 2025 Dodge Ram rental vehicle with Tennessee plates. An Amber Alert was issued after information was shared with multiple agencies. Bragg was taken into custody around 12:34 a.m. on January 22nd after an Albert Lea Police Department sergeant stopped the white pickup truck near the Trails Travel Center and Love’s Truck Stop, about 140 miles south of Zimmerman and 12 miles from the Iowa border. Officers say the truck was packed with items, and they spotted a young girl with blonde hair in the backseat, partially obscured by belongings, including a large red suitcase that appeared to be empty. The girl was safely recovered and identified as the missing child from Zimmerman. Bragg was placed under arrest and declined to speak with police. Investigators discovered Bragg had parked a car at a house in Hamel and asked the homeowner if he could leave it there for a while because he was going out of state. Bragg used the Lyft ride service to take him and the girl from a house in the Hamel/Corcoran area to a Ramada Inn in Plymouth, where he had reserved a room from December 27th, 2025, through January 21st, 2026. Hotel surveillance footage showed him entering alone while carrying a large red suitcase that appeared to be heavy and hard for him to lift. Prosecutors say location data confirmed the rental vehicle was in the area of the victim’s residence on January 21st around the time she would have gotten off the school bus. The child underwent a forensic interview and examination, and it was determined she had been sexually assaulted.

Saturday morning, it was reported that federal officers shot and killed a 37-year-old man in Minneapolis. Minneapolis Gov. Tim Walz, said in a social media post that he had been in contact with the White House after the shooting. He called on President Donald Trump to end the crackdown in his state. The details surrounding the shooting weren’t immediately clear. Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told The Associated Press in a text messages that person had a firearm with two magazines. The shooting came amid widespread daily protests in the Twin Cities on Friday and more expected Saturday. An angry crowd gathered after the shooting and screamed profanities at federal officers, calling them “cowards” and telling them to go home. The intersection where the shooting was then blocked off. This is the second killing by ICE agents in the Twin Cities since they were deployed in by President Trump. 

St. Cloud police are asking for your help as they search for two teenage runaway girls. On Tuesday at about 6:20 p.m., St. Cloud Police were notified by the Olmstead County Sheriff's Office about two teenage girls who had run away together from a non-secure juvenile facility.  Information was learned that one of the two were likely in the St. Cloud area, and it is believed that they are still together.  Officers have checked several locations but have not been able to find them. Neither one of the girls appears to have any connections to the St. Cloud area, and their current locations are not known. If you have any information regarding 16-year-old Chloe Merrow or 15-year-old Maci Covey, call the St. Cloud Police Department at (320) 251-1200.

This week is Catholic Schools Week. Holy Trinity School in Pierz and Mary of Lourdes Elementary and Middle School have events scheduled throughout the week. AM960 KLTF Party Line will be live at Holy Trinity in Pierz Monday at 10:05am and live at Mary of Lourdes Middle School Tuesday at 10:05am with students and faculty members on what is happening at the school and this week. Hear both programs online also at fallsradio.com and again on AM960 KLTF Little Falls.

The Pierz City Council meets Monday at 7pm at Pierz City Hall.

Death Notices: Constance "Connie" Harthan, age 87 of Upsala.

Weather: Monday partly sunny, high 12, cloudy with flurries Monday night, low -1. Tuesday sunny skies, high around 8 above, clear low around -6, Wednesday sunny 8 above, clear at night low around -10. 

Sports: Pierz beat Little Falls 48-20 in wrestling Friday night. Little Falls and Holdingford girls basketball won Friday while Pierz boys and girls both took tough losses. Pittsburgh Steelers announced on Saturday they are hiring former Packer and Cowboy coach Mike McCarthy to be their next head coach for Steelers.