Man's death is apparent homicide

Springfield residents shocked at possibility Saffert was murdered

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

SPRINGFIELD -- Police confirmed early Tuesday morning what most Springfield residents were talking about all day Monday.

Authorities issued a press release calling the death of Edwin J. "Speedy" Saffert, 79, an "apparent homicide."

Saffert was found dead in his Springfield home early Monday morning by a utilities worker who came to check a meter.

Springfield Police Chief Jeff Cummins said the elements that investigators found at the scene of the crime Monday made Saffert's demise a suspicious death. The focus of the investigation moved toward a homicide after Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agents took evidence from the house.

Investigators are waiting for an autopsy report from the Ramsey County Medical Examiner's Office. The report is needed to confirm suspicions that Saffert was murdered.

"We need the report to confirm whether or not it was actually a murder, since there are no witnesses to the crime itself," Cummins said.

The last confirmed murder case in Brown County came in August of 1987, when the owner of a New Ulm pizza parlor was stabbed to death in his downtown apartment by a man who was later convicted of the killing.

While it is still unclear if Saffert's death is a homicide, Cummins said it is the first such case that he's seen in Springfield.

"In any community, especially in a small community, I think everybody feels it," Cummins said.

Laurie Schumacher, assistant manager of the Hardware Hank store in Springfield, said she knew of Saffert but didn't know him very well.

"Whoever did it is pretty cold. He never harmed anybody," she said. "He was pretty well liked around town."

Schumacher saw Saffert in the store periodically. He bought padlocks for his house and letters for the signs on his garage and mailbox and a few other hardware items from time to time. She said Saffert was someone who "kept to his own."

Like many others in Springfield, Schumacher said she's heard the rumors about how Saffert was killed, but said she's skeptical about the stories.

"With something like this, you always hear rumors and that's a shame but that's how Springfield is," she said. "Everybody likes to try and figure it out themselves."

Doug Gatzlaff, owner of CG Gatsby's located on Marshall Avenue a short distance from the Hardware Hank and the Springfield Police Department, remembered Saffert.

"Few knew him, but everybody knew of him," Gatzlaff said. Like Schumacher, Gatzlaff said he's heard the various versions of how Saffert died but refused to comment on them, saying he didn't feel right repeating things he didn't know to be true.

David Egenes, postmaster at the Springfield Post Office, recalled that Saffert was working there shoveling off the sidewalk in front of the building when Egenes was named postmaster. Egenes said kids sometimes threw stones at Saffert's house to irritate him, but had no other trouble.

Saffert's death shocked Egenes.

"You'd think you'd be safe in a city the size of Springfield. But I was coming to work this morning, and there were police cars still outside the house at 6 a.m.," said Egenes.

Cummins said the autopsy report will help investigators get some direction and may help explain or give ideas of the killer's motive if it finds that Saffert's death was a homicide. Although investigators are still following leads and interviewing people daily, the investigation is still "very much in a preliminary stage until the medical examiner's report is complete," he said.

"I've been chief since 1995 and this is the first homicide I've dealt with since I've been here," Cummins said. "Hopefully, it's the last."