| Body: | A parked car, a body inside ... unnoticed
Kelly Dahm lay dead for hours in boyfriend's Chevy in Hudson, Wis.
By Kevin Harter
kharter@pioneerpress.com
Article Last Updated: 09/22/2008 11:26:29 PM CDT
For much of Saturday, the body of Kelly Lynn Dahm lay slumped over in a car in the parking lot of a St. Croix County government building in Hudson, Wis.
And nobody noticed.
Children and families played in a nearby park that sunny day. Building workers, including those with the county sheriff's office, came and went.
It would take one Woodbury man's strange behavior miles away to raise an alarm.
Police suspect Christopher S. Ledesma repeatedly shot and killed Dahm, of Maplewood, in broad daylight, then begged a ride back to Minnesota.
"It is baffling why he did this," Hudson Police Chief Marty Jensen said Monday.
Ledesma's behavior Saturday alarmed his family, who called police. Woodbury officers arrested him on a probation violation and went looking for his car. Hudson investigators found it — with Dahm's body inside — about 10:30 p.m.
Dahm's grieving family said Monday the couple had an on-and-off relationship. She was 19, he is 29. They met while working at a restaurant in Woodbury. Even though he was married, Dahm and Ledesma lived together for a short time before she left to live with her parents.
But Dahm continued to "hang out with Chris" this summer, said her mother, Michelle Dahm. The family had its concerns, she said.
"He had two different sides," she said. "He could be perceived as soft-spoken at times, but he was also very controlling.
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In between interviews with investigators, Michelle Dahm struggled with her emotions while recalling her daughter.
"She made everything better," she said of her middle child. "She was always so excited and wonderful to be around.
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Her daughter had "a sparkle and an impish smile," she said. She loved movies and animals, and was active at Tartan High School, where she played softball and took part in the annual Relay for Life cancer fundraiser. She went on to study a year at Minnesota State University-Mankato before returning to the Twin Cities.
Investigators haven't determined a motive for the killing or why her body was found outside the St. Croix County Government Center, Jensen said Monday.
It is the courthouse where Ledesma was convicted of first-degree reckless injury in 1996. He was released after four years in a state prison. He was barred from carrying a weapon after his release.
Ledesma's family called Woodbury police about 8 a.m. Saturday. When officers arrived at a Meadow Lane home, they found |