February 5, 2002. Hudson, WI. Dan O’Connell, a funeral home owner, and his intern, James Ellison, are found shot to death in Dan’s office at O’Connell Family Funeral Home. Though the police had leads, none of them led to a viable suspect. Almost three years later, while investigating a separate case, detectives interviewed Father Ryan Erickson, a Catholic priest who was serving in Hudson in 2002. He revealed information only the killer and detectives knew about the double murder. As police investigated, Father Ryan hanged himself outside of his rectory and took any means of solving Dan and James’ deaths with him. This leaves the question, did a Catholic priest kill two men? And if he did, why?

Get even more episodes from Generation Why at: patreon.com/generationwhy

Listen ad free with Wondery+. Join Wondery+ for exclusives, binges, early access, and ad free listening. Available in the Wondery App. https://wondery.app.link/generationwhy.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.