Father Of Missing St. John's Student Josh Guimond Files Lawsuit Against Stearns County In Search For Answers
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A push in court for answers in the nearly two-decade old disappearance of a Minnesota college student. WCCO shares the latest developments in a lawsuit targeting the early days of the investigation.
Attorney Mike Padden is representing Josh Guimond's father, still fighting to find out what happened to his son. Guimond hasn't been seen since 2002 when he left a party at St. John's University in Collegeville.
"We've commenced a lawsuit against Stearns County to secure the investigative file from the Stearns County Sheriff's Office," Padden said.
This latest move started with a formal request to the sheriff's office two years ago to access the work of Stearns County. A request the county denied.
RELATED: 'It Can Be Solved': 17 Years On, Search For St. John's Student Josh Guimond Continues (2019)
"We feel that if we have that there's a reasonable chance we can figure out what happened to Josh," he added.
Padden has taken that push to court, with the desire their own private investigator can see what's documented from the early days of Guimond's November 2002 disappearance.
Padden points to Jacob Wetterling's kidnapping 13 years earlier, led by the same people, as the main reason the information should be released.
"You had a guy who was a known pedophile whose footprints and tire tracks were on Dan Rassier's driveway. To this day I can't understand what was going on there," Padden said.
RELATED: 15 Years Later, Josh Guimond's Disappearance Still Unsolved (2017)
"If the FBI didn't come into the Wetterling case and secure that file from the Stearns County Sheriff's Office, the Jacob Wetterling case as I'm talking to you right now still would not be solved," he added.
Stearns County has said the Guimond case remains active and in court filings contends releasing data would "jeopardize the integrity of the investigation and could impede potential prosecution of anyone who played a role."
A judge will make the final decision on what to do in the coming months. A father hoping it means his theories will see some follow-up after holding onto them for so long.
Guimond went missing in the late hours of Nov. 9, 2002. He was walking back to his own dorm room which was located at St. Maur House, the walk from his friends dorm to his own was only a 3 minute walk. He didn't bring anything with him when he disappeared, he didn't have his glasses or contact lenses on him, no credit card or jacket.