HURLEY, Wis. – Attorney General Josh Kaul today announced Evan Oungst of Woodruff, Wis. pled guilty to second degree reckless homicide, seven counts of aiding a felon, and four counts of delivery of gabapentin on May 6, 2019.
“This investigation and prosecution has been a team effort among state and local law enforcement,” said Attorney General Kaul. “DOJ and other agencies continue to seek justice in this important case.”
On January 1, 2018, the body of Wayne M. Valliere Jr. of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa was recovered in Iron County, after he was reported missing by family on Christmas Day.
Joseph D. Lussier and Richard Francis Alexander Allen were found guilty of First Degree Homicide with a Dangerous Weapon and Hiding a Corpse in August 2018. They were both sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, an additional five years for use of a dangerous weapon concurrent to the life sentence, as well as an additional 11 years of incarceration consecutive for hiding a corpse.
The investigation into Mr. Valliere’s death was led by the DOJ Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI), with collaboration between Ashland County Sheriff’s Office, Forest County Sheriff’s Office, Iron County Sheriff’s Office, Lac du Flambeau Police Department, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, Milwaukee Police Department, Oneida County Sheriff’s Office, Vilas County Sheriff’s Office, and Wisconsin State Patrol. Victim services were provided by the Iron County District Attorney’s Victim Services and DOJ’s Office of Crime Victim Services.
DOJ Criminal Litigation Unit Assistant Attorneys General Richard Dufour and Chad Verbeten handled the prosecution of this case, and the successful prosecution against Lussier and Allen for the murder of Wayne Valliere.
