Mettie Myrtle (Osterloth) (Dodge) Stager

                        Mettie at her farm                      Mettie and her mother, Rosalia

Mettie was 61 years old and her mother, Rosalia (Sweet) Dodge was 84 years old  when they were shot in the chests and murdered by Frank Deninno on May 9, 1933 in Beach, North Dakota.

The sworn statement of Frank Deninno was as follows:

I, Frank Deninno, the undersigned, do hereby confess that on the 9th day of May, A.D. 1933, with the City of Beach, In the County of Golden Valley and State of North Dakota, I did kill Mrs. Mettie Stager and Mrs. Rosalia Dodge in the manner following, to-wit:

That on May 8th, Mrs. Stager reported to the Northern Pacific Railroad Detective that I had stolen wheat from the railraod. This I did not do but merely picked up wheat which was around the track. Mrs. Stager had been taking my money for some time and had been repeatedly causing me trouble. I went home and went to bed on the night of May 8th, 1933, and towards morning I was so mad because the railroad detective told me that he was going to send me to the penitentiary for 4 - 6 years, that I went up to the place where Mrs. Stager lived taking with me a 22 calibre revolver which I had in my house and shot Mrs. Stager. Mrs. Dodge hollered and she tried to hit me some time before and she was looking for a club to hit me with again, so I shot her and killed her too. Both Mrs. Stager and Mrs. Dodge were dead when I left the house. I then went home to my place and went into a little shed east of the house and shot myself. I was unconscious for sometime and the police found me at my house. I fully confess to having planned and premeditated the killing of Mrs. Stager and of Mrs. Dodge and that I did kill both of the women in a fit of anger. I want to plead guilty to the charge of Murder in the First Degree and that all of this has been explained to me.

On May 31, 1933 Frank Deninno was sentenced to the State Penitentiary at Bismarck, North Dakota for life. It was further stated in the record that Defendant was in poor physical condition and that there was an emergency which required his immediate conveyance to Bismarck, North Dakota and the Sheriff was to be paid $15.00 for his fees and mileage in taking the defendant to Bismarck.