Minnesota Dem Senate nominee Lt Gov Flanagan's grandfather was suspected in serial killings: report

Minnesota Democratic Senate nominee Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan's grandfather was reportedly suspected in a string of four killings that spanned decades, though he was never charged in any of the cases.

Flanagan’s maternal grandfather, John Jacob Hartmann, who died in 1983, spent more than 30 years in Minnesota mental hospitals, escaped psychiatric custody and became a suspect in killings that stretched across multiple states.

Newly uncovered newspaper archives revealed that Hartmann's decades-long confinement began in 1951, following the death of a Minneapolis man named Theodore Foth, whose body was discovered on a bed burning inside Hartmann’s room.

Hartmann was never charged but was committed to a state security hospital after his wife claimed he was mentally ill and dangerous, according to Alpha News.

Flanagan's grandfather was later suspected in another murder, in 1964, that occurred at the Minnesota state security hospital. The victim was another patient at the facility. He was never charged because of insufficient evidence.

Hartmann was later transferred to Anoka State Hospital in 1970, from which he escaped, then traveled to New Mexico, where he has been suspected of killing a man and a woman.

The grandfather escaped again in 1979, this time fleeing to Missouri, where he allegedly threatened U.S. District Judge Miles Lord during a telephone call, according to records reviewed by Alpha News.

Lord, a former U.S. attorney, had been involved in legal proceedings regarding Hartmann, whom he publicly called a “mass murderer."

The revelations come after Flanagan made her personal story regarding her Native American heritage a key part of her campaign for the Senate, but has omitted the portion about her grandfather. 

The outlet was able to link Hartmann to Flanagan by reviewing his death notice, published in the Star Tribune, which listed his four surviving daughters, along with three grandchildren, including Peggy Hartmann, who is now Flanagan.

Flanagan, who was a child when her grandfather died, previously referred to herself in 2013 in a social media post that showed a picture of her as a child as “Little Peggy Hartmann." She later took her stepfather's name, which was Flanagan.

The Democrat, who has not commented on the revelations so far, is running against GOP nominee sports broadcaster Michele Tafoya.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.