Justice delayed for Marjorie Caldwell Hagen has become, well, a habit.
The last surviving central figure in the famous Congdon Murder Case — the 1977 murders of Duluth heiress Elisabeth Congdon and her night nurse — Hagen has spent many of the past 31 years in prison.
She was arrested for her latest alleged crime — forgery and theft — more than a year ago in Tucson. Her trial, though, has been delayed several times and was finally supposed to start this month. But now we’ve learned this week that it’s been delayed again, until Oct. 7. Reports from Arizona indicate she is scheduled for surgery of some kind.
Hagen, 75, was an adopted daughter of Elisabeth Congdon, who never married. Congdon, however, did raise two adopted daughters in the stately 39-room Congdon mansion on the shores of Lake Superior.
Glensheen mansion tours still a big draw
The house, the scene of one of Minnesota’s highest-profile murder cases, is now called Glensheen. It’s owned by the University of Minnesota and is open for popular tours of its historic interior and rambling grounds.
Until three years ago, tour guides at the mansion were told not to discuss the murders with visitors, although some would quietly mention that you could find a book about them at the local gift shops and gas stations. But now, they are allowed to point out the room and answer basic questions about the case — although some still refuse to — and they now sell my book, and two others about the case, in the mansion gift shop.
Miss Congdon was 83 and partially paralyzed when an intruder snuck into the mansion on the night of June 27, 1977. The night nurse, Velma Pietila, was beaten to death with a candlestick holder on the sweeping central staircase, trying to defend her frail charge. Then the killer went to a second-floor bedroom and smothered Miss Congdon with a pillow.
Marjorie Caldwell, as Hagen was then known, was instantly considered a suspect in her mother’s murder. She and her new husband, Roger Caldwell, were living in Colorado and were flat broke. Marjorie had been cut off from the Congdon millions because she was considered a spendthrift who was constantly trying to wheedle money from her mother.
Roger Caldwell was soon arrested for the murders. Police said he was trying to speed up his wife’s multimillion-dollar inheritance. Caldwell was convicted and ultimately signed a confession; he killed himself in 1988.
String of legal run-ins
After Roger’s conviction, Marjorie was arrested and charged with helping plan the murders. But she was acquitted after a lengthy trial in Hastings. Afterward, she stopped visiting Roger in jail and, in 1981, married an old family friend, Wally Hagen. She apparently never divorced Roger, though, and was charged in North Dakota with bigamy.
Marjorie served more than two years in a Minnesota prison for burning down a Mound home in the mid-1980s, then moved to Arizona with Hagen. Houses around their tiny bungalow in Ajo, though, began burning down, and Marjorie was convicted of attempted arson. She served nearly 11 years in prison for that.
After her arson conviction but before she was imprisoned, Wally Hagen died. At first, police thought she’d turned on the gas to kill him, and Marjorie was charged again with murder. But an autopsy showed Wally Hagen had ingested large amounts of prescription drugs, and there was evidence that they’d concocted a dual suicide plot. Marjorie, though, apparently hadn’t joined him in the act.
Marjorie was released on the arson prison term in January 2004 and continued living in the Tucson area. She stayed busy though, suing her landlord, accusing her lawyer of theft and adopting a greyhound.
The latest charges came to light last spring, when police learned that Marjorie had befriended an elderly man in an assisted-living home. She helped the man with his finances but, after he died, allegedly continued cashing his checks. After bank officials noticed the problem, police checked to see what had become of the victim. They’ll never know, though. On Marjorie’s orders, the body was cremated before the checking irregularities were discovered.
The greyhound adoption group took back Marjorie’s dog, Blueberry, after this latest arrest. She sued them to get the dog back, but the case was dismissed.
I’ve been waiting to hear about the latest trial because I need to update and reprint my book about the murders, “Secrets of the Congdon Mansion,” which has sold tens of thousands of copies since its original release in 1985. I’ve held off on the new version, hoping to include the outcome of her latest trial. But it’s not going to happen in time for this year’s edition.
Never far from my mind and my lists of must do things, is the matter of putting in written form, what it was liked to be handcuffed to Roger Caldwell after he was convicted of murder in Crow Wing County and sentenced to life in prison.
Being seated next to Roger during that trip to Stillwater on that day, I was able to feel much of Rogers emotions of that day, both that of being a human who had just been informed by the court that he would be spending the rest of his life behind the walls of Minnesota correction facility in Stillwater, And a certain amount of reality sinking in for Roger as the weight of his conviction and sentence began to set in for him.
Because of personnel reasons, as time slips past, my intentions to put into words what Roger said to me as well as his demeanor during that Three hour trip to prison, have become more important to me for the sake of history, that the facts around Rogers state of mind after being sentenced to prison for the muders of Elizabeth Congdon and her personnel nurse be put on paper.As well as the body language spoken through the cold metal which locked us together in a space which seemed to get more and more small with each mile put behind us.
It is interesting what one feels through the cold steel of the handcuffs when one cuff is locked onto the wrist of a just convicted and sentenced crimminal and the other to your own wrist.Being butt to butt in the back set of the transport vehical for the three hour trip, in a strange way although not meant to be mistaken in any way other than the need to be locked together as a security measure, does tend to bring a closeness to the situation.
Over the years, I have thought about and relived the what seemed to be a never ending trip, during which time, I experienced many different emotions and reactions from Roger than I would have ever expected prior to being locked to him for the trip.
I had dealt with Roger over the duration of the murder trial by escorting him back and forth from the jail to his trial. But that was before his conviction and sentenceing.
I have started the short story many times in my mind, but I have alawys gotten stumped as to how to put into words what I felt from the newly convicted murderer.
Because of health concerns, I do have to find the energy and words to leave for history, those hours on the ups and downs, I felt from Roger during our trip.
I believe for history, it is the appropriate thing to do. Although, it may or may not show the position of guilt or innocense, I am sure that the emotions and reactions that I recieved from Roger during that trip will give for great thought regarding those issues. I say that becasuse, all of it has given me, many hours of pondering the end of this mystery over the years.
So, because of personnel reasons and for the sake of history, soon I will need to express on paper what I have been experienceing and reliving over the past years since that trip to Stillwater.
What happened to Marjorie at October ’08 trial?
In my opinion she needs a mental institution, with some sincere care, not more jail.
house fire in mound
I was a loan manager in mound MN, for thorpe finance, and Wally hagen was a loan customer, I called the police after the house fire, because we had a second mtg on the house, and that is when I met Marjorie, who came in to sign loan documents so wally could get another loan before the fire was set, I cannot believe she is still alive.
Hello,
I lived most of my life in MN. The Congdon Mansion Murders were intriguing . My husband and I toured the mansion a few times and attended a dinner after Christmas in the lower level.
I have noticed some of info published online to be inaccurate. When I click on CLARA CONGDON, it refers to her as being wheelchair bound, and being smothered in her bed in 1977. I believe that was Elisabeth Congdon. Clara Congdon died in 1950.
I would like to see this information updated and accurate .
The first time I visited the mansion, I figured out which room Elisabeth was killed in. Since she was the only one living there at the time, makes sense that she would have the bigger bedroom with a view of Lake Superior and an attached bathroom.
Thank you for your time.
Janice Lind 651-269-7299