FILE 329 / 23 October 2022 / 69 MIN / express

The Warlock Test

Eyota, MinnesotaListen

The town

N ↑Town centre (approximate places)
Static locations; no street basemap. Places and details. OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles Data from OpenStreetMap.

We're going to Eyota, Minnesota, in southeastern Minnesota, damn near Wisconsin, right outside Rochester. about 0:03:20

History, in brief

Town note

The name means greatest or most and is derived from a Sioux Indian word.

about 0:05:00

1853

The earliest settler was Benjamin Bear, who came in 1853 looking for a site with an ever-flowing spring and returned the following year with his family.

about 0:05:12
All 8 history facts

Town note

The name means greatest or most and is derived from a Sioux Indian word.

about 0:05:00

1853

The earliest settler was Benjamin Bear, who came in 1853 looking for a site with an ever-flowing spring and returned the following year with his family.

about 0:05:12

Town note

The stream that runs from the spring is called Bear Creek.

about 0:05:51

Town note

The railroad was the big employer over the years.

about 0:05:57

2022

In September 2022 the last bank in town closed, leaving no physical bank.

about 0:06:07

The figures, as told

Money

Median home valuejust above the national average
Median household incomeabout $70,000 a year
All figures and comparisons, as told in 2022

Population

"about 1,892"

Comparison: "less than two thousand". Direction: below.

As told in 2022 about 0:04:27

Population change

"down 14%"

Comparison: "since 2020". Direction: below.

As told in 2022 about 0:04:33

Median household income

"about $70,000 a year"

Comparison: "above the national average". Direction: above.

As told in 2022 about 0:04:38

Median home price

"just above the national average"

Comparison: "national figure of $315,000". Direction: above.

As told in 2022 about 0:04:44

The reviews

3.5 / 5 · average of 2

4 stars

“The people are kind and friendly, but there are not many hot spots; the most exciting places are the QuickTrip and the Dollar General.”
about 0:06:59

3 stars

“A very close community where everyone is friendly and willing to help; a safe town where not many bad things happen and there is no need to be scared walking home or to school.”
about 0:07:49

In Minnesota

Closest episodes

  1. Losing Streak LoisBlooming Prairie, Minnesota · 9 January 202567 km / 42 miShow on map
  2. Sadistic Isn't Sexually TransmittedRed Wing, Minnesota · 5 September 201872 km / 45 miShow on map
  3. When A Bloody Person KnocksSpring Brook, Wisconsin · 3 September 202699 km / 62 miShow on map
  4. Singing Serial KillerMenomonie, Wisconsin · 13 November 2025103 km / 64 miShow on map
  5. The Office StalkerWoodbury, Minnesota · 3 August 2024116 km / 72 miShow on map

The story

Wayne Edward Lang was twenty-two in the autumn of 1989, the second youngest of six children of Geneve and Kenneth Lang, raised on a small farm in the Hinckley and Pine City area of Minnesota. In October 1989 he moved to Rochester, the nearest bigger town to Eyota, and on 24 October he started work as a trainee cook at the Ground Round. A warrant was outstanding for him because he had missed a court appearance in Pine County on 12 October.

The wider circle called itself 'the family'.

On Saturday 28 October 1989 the group went to a Halloween party. At the party he spiked Lang's beer with sleeping pills, amitriptyline, and later pulled the knife on some party crashers. They stopped at a soybean field near Eyota. Lang's body was found at ten that morning about sixty feet from a gravel road, ten miles east of Rochester, with his shirt open and an X carved on his midsection and the knife pushed through the centre into a vertebra. There had been no attempt to conceal the body.

On the drive back he switched on the dome light, showed his bloodied hands and said, 'this is death.' The two then threw their shoes and Lang's shoes into the Zumbro River from a bridge. The Ground Round manager, Pat Daley, told police that Lang had last been seen at the party at about two and that there were rumours his drink had been spiked and a knife brandished. On 30 October an anonymous caller told police about the visit to Dornack, and she told them everything.

The court admitted evidence of his interest in witchcraft and Satanism over the defence's objections, including books seized from the group.

The case

Murder of Wayne Edward Lang

Victims

Wayne Edward Lang (22). trainee cook at the Ground Round in Rochester, from a farm family in the Hinckley and Pine City area

Accused and outcomes

As told in the episode, on 23 October 2022.

Accused

Accused

Accused

Accused

Accused

Accused

Outcome

Other people

Pat Daley. manager of the Ground Round, interviewed by police
Sandra Molleter. owner of the house where , and Lang lived
Geneve and Kenneth Lang. Wayne Lang's parents

The timeline

  1. 1988 speaks to a community education class about Satanism and calls himself a high priest in a satanic group.about 0:23:51
  2. October 1989 Lang moves to Rochester and lives in a house owned by Sandra Molleter with and . (Molleter house)about 0:20:59
  3. October 24th, 1989 Lang starts work as a trainee cook at the Ground Round. (Ground Round)about 0:15:08
  4. October 28th, 1989 Someone in the group buys a boot knife as a gift; he calls it his new toy and swipes it through the air.about 0:27:42
  5. October 28th, 1989 At a Halloween party spikes Lang's beer with sleeping pills, amitriptyline.about 0:29:51
  6. October 28th, 1989 pulls the boot knife on party crashers during an argument.about 0:31:15
  7. October 29th, 1989 Around two in the morning the party breaks up and seven of the group drive out into the country in car.about 0:31:43
  8. October 29th, 1989 They stop at a soybean field; beats Lang, drags him into the dark field, slashes his throat three times and stabs him in the chest and back. (Soybean field)about 0:33:23
  9. October 29th, 1989 Driving back, turns on the dome light, shows his blood-covered hands and says, 'this is death.'about 0:38:01
  10. October 29th, 1989 At about 4.30 a.m. and call at Laura Dornack's farm and admits killing Lang and asks her to smell the blood on his hands. (Dornack farm)about 0:39:09
  11. October 29th, 1989 and throw their shoes and Lang's shoes into the Zumbro River from a bridge. (Zumbro River bridge)about 0:41:04
  12. October 29th, 1989 At ten in the morning a farmer finds Lang's body in the soybean field about sixty feet from a gravel road, ten miles east of Rochester. (Soybean field)about 0:41:26

Places and phrases

N ↑Town centre (approximate places)
Static locations; no street basemap. Places and details. OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles Data from OpenStreetMap.

Places in the story

Public places are marked on the map.

Heard in this episode