UPDATE: Missing Convict Found

Wednesday, 7 p.m.

Authorities have found William Pfeffer, a 25-year-old patient from St. Peter Regional Treatment Center who went missing yesterday, MPR News reports.

The 25-year-old man who was committed to the facility in 2008 after being convicted of assault with a dangerous weapon. He was classified as "mentally ill and dangerous." Pfeffer was wearing an electronic monitor at the time he disappeared, but the monitor merely infomred employees that he'd left the grounds. It contained no GPS tracking device.

Searchers found Pfeffer at noon on Wednesday at nearby Seven Mile Creek Park.

Pfeffer is back in custody. However, investigators are looking into another incident involving a fellow patient at the facility that occurred on Tuesday: Another male patient left —this time with permission from staff —for a day out with his 69-year-old mother. The pair also headed to Seven Mile Creek Park. About two hours later, deputies found the 48-year-old patient stabbing his mother, who remains in critical condition at Hennepin County Medical Center.

The man is currently in custody at the Nicollet County Jail.

At this point, authorities do not believe that the two incidents are connected, though they may launch an inquiry into security measures at the facility. 

Tuesday

Law enforcement officials are searching for a patient reported missing Tuesday afternoon from the St. Peter Regional Treatment Center in St. Peter, MN, about 45 miles south of Shakopee on Highway 169.

At approximately 1:58 p.m. today staff at the Regional Treatment Center reported that William Daniel Pfeffer, Jr., age 25, was missing. The treatment center houses more than 230 patients in the Minnesota Security Hospital and a portion of the nearly 700 in the Minnesota Sex Offender Program housed there and in Moose Lake.

Pfeffer is described as a white male, 5’-6” tall, weighing 240 lbs. He has a black beard and a shaved head. He was last seen wearing black pants, a navy blue t-shirt, black shoes and a white skull cap.

He was convicted in 2007 of felony second-degree assault with a weapon and in 2008 was sentenced to inpatient mental health treatment for an indeterminate amount of time, according to court documents.

If you see Pfeffer in Burnsville or Savage, please report to authorities immediately. Anyone who comes into contact with this individual is asked to call St. Peter Police at 507-931-1550.