The Misery Machine - PLEASE HELP: There is Nothing More I Can Do For the Ludger Belanger Case

Episode Date: November 25, 2021

Ludger Belanger has been missing 46 years - please help us bring him home for his family.  Ludger lived in Washington, Maine with his wife Linda at the time of his disappearance. Ludger was allegedly murdered for a deer he had shot to help feed his family for the winter. His disappearance is still unsolved. They had three daughters - Michelle, Traci, and Angel, whom was only four months old. Our episode from last year on Ludger's case goes into much more detail about the circumstances surrounding his disappearance and the controversies around the suspects involved. I highly recommend you go back and listen to it to learn more. Levi's Fundraising Page: https://gofund.me/6b9e4f07 Support Our Patreon For More Unreleased Content: https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachine Buy Us A Coffee! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/miserymachine Join Our Facebook Group to Request a Topic: https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1 PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachine Instagram: miserymachinepodcast Twitter: misery_podcast Discord: https://discord.gg/kCCzjZM #themiserymachine #podcast #truecrime

46 years ago today, Luger Blander was murdered, and his body has not been brought home to his family, nor have his killers been brought to justice. Luger was a 25-year-old father of three and went out into the woods in the morning of November 25th on a Tuesday and hopes to get an end of season deer to feed his family, apparently not having much luck earlier in the hunting season. Luger was an experienced hunter and dressed for the element, so this wasn't anything out of the ordinary. However, Luger did get his deer, and he field-dressed it and dragged it over to an old logging road where he gained the attention of two men. Now the information going forward isn't exactly concrete. Allegedly Luger was offered help to transport his deer and got into a vehicle with these two men. The Maine State Police officially referred to them as suspect A and suspect B, but their names are David Svenningsen and Danny Collins Jr. Allegedly, Luger was told that they were taking his deer, and when he protested, he was shot to death.

For those that think this is a crazy notion, in rural Maine, getting a deer like this could mean the difference between feeding your family for the winter or not. This isn't the first time somebody's been murdered over a deer in this neck of the woods. There was a long-standing rumor that Luger's body was then taken to someone's house, in burlap and chains and dumped in a nearby lake. Only one person that I'm aware of has come forward with a statement in the story, and his name was Charles Christensen Jr. In 1977, he claims that Danny Collins Jr. confessed the murder to him. It took until 1985 for the main state police to meet with the district attorney's office, and they decided they didn't have enough information to bring to a grand jury for charges. So this time, they started re-interviewing people,

However, Charles Christensen Jr. had already passed away by this time. Danny Collins Jr. maintains his innocence to this day. David Sfenningson, on the other hand, died not even a year later, due to setting his house on fire, causing an explosion, an attempt to kill his then-wife, Susan. Susan escaped through a second-story window and survived and went on later to remarry. She had a daughter named Danny, who we got in touch with and was in touch with, and was in a second-story window. incredibly gracious with her time and sharing her mother's story with us. David died in a burn unit in Texas after being airlifted there. Allegedly somebody from the state police was sent down there to try to get a deathbed confession from him,

but they were too late. This is all besides the point. It's been 46 years since Luger has disappeared. His family have not found his body. Then district attorney Janet Mills has allegedly denied. access from film crews coming in to do a documentary about this, and even threatened legal action, allegedly. There was a retired FBI couple that wanted to take on this case free of charge to try to get to the bottom of this, and they too were turned away by the state. Even to this day,

Luger's widow, Linda, does not have access to his case file. We released our episode on this case 11 months ago. And since then, nothing has changed. We were able to dig up information on David Svenningson that wasn't available before, but we didn't find anything that could further the case insofar as finding Luger's body or bringing those responsible to justice. The most frustrating thing about researching this case is there weren't many people alive that we could talk to that knew the suspects or had an idea of what happened that day. This case is running out of time. And as much as I want to see, his killers brought to justice,

I just want Luzer's body brought home to his family. And it won't be long until nobody is left alive that could provide some sort of firsthand knowledge as to where Luger is. And from my understanding, the last official thing to come from this case was in 2001 when Luger was declared legally dead. We need your help to keep this case alive. This case needs resources. If Luger's body truly was dumped in a nearby lake,

it is possible that certain equipment could find it. If you're familiar with the YouTube channel Adventures with Purpose, they do exactly this in order to try to find missing loved ones for families. We've linked our case down below, and if you could share our episode to get the... word out, that would be beneficial. I mean, hell, share anyone's episode that has done a case on this. Not many people have. Anything to get the word out. If you are a true crime or missing persons podcast, we will offer you full transparency of our research so that way you can do an

episode and use your platform to help get more awareness brought to this case. Luger Belanger would be 71 years old today. A lot of you watching are celebrating Thanksgiving in the States. But to Luger's family, this day has to serve as a reminder of 46 years without him. I didn't feel it right to start my day today without putting this out there. Please be safe out there. Enjoy your time with your loved ones today. And please do not take them for granted. Not everyone gets to be with the people they want to be with today.