Blocks away from Joel Lovelien slaying, a stranger in yellow staggers home

GRAND FORKS — Steven Raasakka was walking home that night, after a quiet night hanging out, watching hockey with a friend. It was the early morning hours of Oct. 28, 2007.

Then he saw the man.

He was leaning against a back fence in an alley. Odd, Raasakka noted. Then the man started to follow him. Raasakka noticed he was staggering, like a drunk person.

Raasakka arrived at his garage and looked behind him — there was the man still, staggering toward him, pulling up a sleeve of his yellow sweatshirt. The stranger lunged forward, taking a wild swing at Raasakka, but missed as Raasakka dodged, and he fell to the ground.

Raasakka ran inside. He grabbed a baseball bat, called his friend and went out to look for his assailant — the man in yellow. The hunt had begun. Who was this guy, and why had he tried to attack Raasakka?

Listen to Episode 3 — Travis Stay, the Man in Yellow

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In this episode of Dakota Spotlight, the podcast tracks the movements and actions of the man in yellow, Travis Stay. What was going on with him and his friends that weekend night just before Halloween?

Relying on statements made to police, including by Travis Stay, and comparing and cross-referencing them, Dakota Spotlight will attempt to map out who was where that night, and why — all in an attempt to reconstruct the fateful evening that Joel Lovelien was killed outside the Broken Drum bar in Grand Forks.

Joel Lovelien was beaten to death outside the Broken Drum bar in Grand Forks in the early morning hours of Oct. 28, 2007, amid a night of Halloween revelry. Nobody has ever been found guilty for his murder.

Suspicion immediately fell on a variety of costumed partiers that night, including some dressed as a lion, the joker and a hunter. Local police and prosecutors thought they had their man, the one dressed as a lion that night: Travis Stay. But Stay was found not guilty in December 2008 in a high-profile trial -- a sensational result that has made the case a staple of true crime shows, including the Dateline TV program.

Gallery - Browse with arrow on right

1/13: 'The Joker' stands with Anna Barrett who is dressed for Halloween partying as socialite reality star Paris Hilton on the night of Oct. 27-28, 2007. The man dressed as a joker was ruled out as a person of interest in the investigation into the death of Joel Lovelien.

2/13: Interior of Travis Stay's residence in 2007.

3/13: Police cars and police tape surround the scene of the crime at the Broken Drum bar in Grand Forks in the early morning hours Oct. 28, 2007, in this police evidence photo, lightened in post-processing by Forum News Service to show additional detail. Joel Lovelien, 38, was beaten to death in this parking lot that evening.

4/13: Grand Forks police took a photo of Travis Stay's bruised face as evidence. It is shown here backed by a photo of cemetery by which he walked home the night of Joel Lovelien's death, Oct. 28, 2007.

5/13: Travis Stay — center in yellow — is show in this surveillance camera photo footage screengrab from the Broken Drum bar in Grand Forks, North Dakota, the night Joel Lovelien was killed, in the early morning hours of Oct. 28, 2007. Stay was later the prime suspect in the case.

6/13: Joel Lovelien is show in this surveillance camera footage screengrab from the Broken Drum bar in Grand Forks, North Dakota on Oct. 27, 2007. Lovelien was later killed in the parking lot outside the bar.

7/13: Anna Barrett, dressed for Halloween partying as socialite reality star Paris Hilton, poses next to James Wavra, who is wearing a hunter costume. The two were some of the revelers who visited the Broken Drum bar in Grand Forks on the night of Oct. 27-28, 2007.

8/13: In the early morning hours of October 27, 2007, during the initial hours of the investigation, the Clown and the Cowboy were located in downtown Grand Forks and taken to the police department for questioning.

9/13: The Broken Drum Bar

10/13: The exterior of the home of Travis Stay, where taxi driver Paul Balstad dropped him off in the early morning hours of Oct. 28, 2007, in Grand Forks, North Dakota, after noticing he was injured, dazed and covered in blood.

11/13: Joel Lovelien

12/13: Interior of Travis Stay's residence in 2007.

13/13: Interior of Travis Stay's residence in 2007.

Welcome to Dakota Spotlight's eighth season: "Unresolved: The Murder of Joel Lovelien." With unprecedented access to case files and evidence, prosecutors, police, witnesses and family members, Dakota Spotlight creator and host James Wolner will use his unique investigation and reporting style to pursue the case's central questions: Who killed Joel Lovelien? Why was Travis Stay found not guilty? And why does so much suspicion linger around others in this case?

• Paul Balstad: A taxi driver in Grand Forks the night Lovelien was killed, he drove Travis Stay home and noticed he was dazed, had blood on him and looked like he had been in a fight.
• Bryce Larson: Dressed as a cowboy. Interviewed by Grand Forks investigators the night Joel died.
• Erika Lovelien: Joel Lovelien's older sister.
• Joel Lovelien: 38-years-old, a technical systems analyst for Altru Hospital. Joel went to the Broken Drum bar with his fiancée Heather Eastling, then later went outside to take the phone call. He was found beaten to death in the bar's parking lot.
• Eli McVey: Travis Stay's childhood friend. Accompanied Travis on the party bus. Has no recollection of being at the Broken Drum Bar but paid for a drink there with a debit card. Was awake when Travis arrived at home covered in blood.
• Steven Raasakka: Was walking home in the alley between 10th Ave North and 11th Ave North at approximately 12:20 am, Sunday Oct 28, 2007 when he encountered a seemingly intoxicated Travis Stay. Stay took a swing at Raasakka but missed and then fell to the ground. 
• Cora Lee Taylor: Travis Stay's roommate. Partied with Travis and others on the party bus. Spoke with Travis the next morning about his injuries and condition. 
• Travis Stay: A reveler at the Broken Drum bar that night who was driven home with blood on his lion costume. He was later charged with Lovelien's murder and found not guilty in December 2008.
• James Wavra: Dressed as a Hunter. Involved in a short fight with Travis Stay. Interviewed by Grand Forks investigators the night Joel died.
  

  People in previous episode

• Jon Deziel: Dressed as a clown. Interviewed by Grand Forks investigators the night Joel died.
• Heather Eastling: Joel Lovelien's fiancée.
• Mike Ferguson: Grand Forks Police sergeant.
• Heather Holter: Party bus passenger and Jon Deziel's girlfriend.
• Jennifer Holter: Party bus passenger and sister to Heather Holter.
• William Macki: Grand Forks Police sergeant.
• Keith Swartz: Discovered Lovelien in the parking lot of the Broken Drum bar.