Ecklund, Engstrom
sentenced in Randy
Pool murder case

The last two of six defendants in the Randy Pool murder case were sentenced recently in McLeod County Court.
Heather L. Ecklund, 20, Hutchinson, received a 36-year prison sentence from Judge Robert Carolan on June 2. There is a possibility of parole after 24 years. On Feb. 3, she pled guilty to second degree murder.
Isaac L. Engstrom, 22, Hutchinson, formerly of Cokato, was sentenced to 30 years on June 9. He may be eligible for parole in 20 years. In January, he pled guilty to second degree murder.
On July 28, 1999, Pool’s body was discovered in the Clearwater River near South Haven in Wright County. Testimony revealed that Pool had been held captive, beaten and tortured in his home in Hutchinson for three days prior to his death.
Six people were charged in the case; all were found guilty or pled guilty. The Hutchinson Leader reported that, at the sentencing, Engstrom’s attorney said that of the four murder defendants, Engstrom is the most likely to lead a productive life after prison. He was the first murder defendant to come forward with information.
Saying he had “lost himself to drugs,” Engstrom apologized to the Pool family at his sentencing and said he could understand that the Pools would not be able to forgive him. He also apologized to his family for breaking their hearts and said that, since being locked up, he has turned his life over to God.
Ecklund’s case has an additional tragic factor. She was pregnant at the time the murder took place and has since given birth to a son. Her parents plan to raise the child, but he will be an adult before his mother is eligible for parole.
Ecklund’s sentence was longer than Engstrom’s because the judge agreed with arguments from the county attorney’s office that, although Ecklund also came forth with information, she had been present from the beginning to the end of the particularly cruel kidnapping, torture and murder of Pool.
The defendants must also pay fines and restitution to the Pool family.
The murder took place when a group of young people involved in illegal drug use surmised that Pool, 31, was an informant in the July 14, 1999, drug arrests of Salem Bernhardt and Jason Caldwell and decided to “punish” him.
(Bernhardt and Ecklund had been staying in upstairs rooms of Pool’s home in Hutchinson. Police later denied that Pool had been an informant in the case; they were made aware of Bernhardt and Caldwell’s presence at Pool’s house through other means.)
The other defendants were Shawn A. McCollum, 26, Minneapolis, sentenced to life without parole after a jury found him guilty of first- and second-degree murder in March; Toby Johnson, 19, Howard Lake, sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to first- and second-degree murder in April; Tanya Caldwell, 24, formerly of Silver Lake, sentenced to four years after pleading guilty to kidnapping; and Richard Ligenza, 21, Hutchinson, sentenced to three years after admitting his role in the kidnapping. Pleading the fifth amendment, Ligenza and Johnson did not testify at McCollum’s trial.