Bemidji man convicted of aiding in slaying of missing mother
Published 10:05 am Wednesday, October 26, 2016
BEMIDJI — A Bemidji man has been convicted of helping burn and bury a woman’s body.
According to a press release, a Beltrami County jury found 32-year-old Brandon Rossbach guilty of aiding an offender in the death of Rose Downwind, a mother of five and the granddaughter of American Indian Movement co-founder Dennis Banks.
Downwind disappeared in October 2015. Her burned body was found in a shallow grave in a forest northwest of Bemidji last December.
An autopsy indicated she had been strangled. Her ex-boyfriend, Marchello Cimmarusti, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in April.