Crime Library: Criminal Minds and Methods

Donald Blom: A Repeat Sex Offender Finally Stopped

Blom Seeks Attention

Donald Blom
Donald Blom

During the summer of 2006, Blom appeared ready to offer more. In a letter, he said, "It is time to talk," and Bloomington Police Sergeant Mark Stehlik said Blom had supposedly been willing to answer questions about some local unsolved homicides. Apparently Blom wanted to deal. He hoped that in exchange for information he would be transferred to a prison closer to his relatives. Investigators agreed to the deal and arranged for the transfer. Then they went to see him in the hope of closing cases from as long ago as thirty years.

Yet they also knew that Blom was a manipulative con artist. During his days as a criminal, he'd often changed his looks, name, and general presentation. As a registered sex offender, he'd been living under the name Donald Pince, but that had changed when he married Amy. He was a suspect in the sexual assault and murder of a nineteen-year-old student, whose corpse had been left in the woods near where Blom had lived. In another murder in 1983, Blom had already admitted observing part of the assault, and he also said he might have killed a man whose body was never found.

However, when detectives arrived with the transfer letter, the expected confession never materialized. Instead, Blom talked about other matters. He did this for three days, effectively killing the deal as well as dashing hopes for case resolutions.

But he has advocates who maintain that he's innocent. On some Websites, advocates claim that he was railroaded and that his trial was a travesty of justice. It's often difficult to know in such cases when a killer is lying or telling the truth. Clearly, Blom has managed to convince people on both sides.

At the end of December in 2007, the Minnesota Supreme Court denied Blom's third petition for a new evidentiary hearing. He claimed that his confession had been coerced and that he had been improperly denied the opportunity to gather evidence demonstrating his innocence. He also complained about the fact that his imprisonment in another state hindered him from working on his appeal.

However, the court decided that Blom's claims were procedurally barred, so he has effectively run out of options. Whether Blom will one day be charged or convicted of other killings remains to be seen.

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