NEWS ABOUT ROGER'S DEATH:

                                 NEBRASKA - death row inmate dies of heart attack
                                 Heart attack killed Bjorklund

It was a natural death, according to autopsy results released Tuesday.

Condemned murderer Roger Bjorklund died Sunday of a heart attack, brought
on by heart disease and diabetes, both of which were undiagnosed in the
39-year-old death row inmate, Lancaster County Attorney Gary Lacey said.

Lacey discussed the preliminary autopsy results at a news conference
Tuesday afternoon.

Bjorklund had been on death row since 1994 for the 1992 abduction, rape
and murder of University of Nebraska-Lincoln student Candice Harms.

He was the 1st condemned prisoner to die while awaiting execution on
Nebraska's death row since Steven Roy Harper in December 1990. Harper
died of an overdose of a drug used to control the side effects of other
drugs he was taking to treat a mental illness.

Lacey said Bjorklund was not taking any prescription drugs. Toxicology
and microscopic tests could be completed as early as next week, he said.

Bjorklund had complained of flu symptoms to visiting family members last
week, but otherwise gave no indications to prison staff of heart-related
problems, Lacey said. He said the flu symptoms would not have triggered
the heart attack.

"He may not have had any chest pain," he said, adding that "sudden death"
is often the 1st indicator of heart disease.

Lacey said the autopsy revealed Bjorklund's right and left coronary
arteries were "almost nearly shut." The blockage, he said, caused an
irregular heartbeat, which led to the death.

He said the diabetes, also uncovered by the autopsy, was a contributing
cause of Bjorklund's death. Bjorklund had Type II diabetes, also known as
adult onset diabetes, an insulin-independent form of the disease that
usually afflicts people 40 and older who eat too much.

Lacey said he did not know Bjorklund's weight, but said the man, who
looked overweight at the time of his trial, had added on more pounds to
his frame while on death row.

The autopsy results mean Lacey's office, rather than a special
prosecutor, will present evidence of Bjorklund's death to a grand jury.
Grand jury investigations are required under state law anytime a person
dies in police custody.

If the results had suggested the death was a suicide or homicide, then a
special prosecutor would have presented evidence to the grand jury, Lacey
said.

Lacey said Bjorklund's body would be cremated on Thursday at his mother's
request. He said the state would pay for the cremation. Bjorklund's wife,
Shannon, divorced him in 1997 and changed her last name and that of their
2 daughters.

Also Tuesday, the Nebraska State Patrol said Bjorklund was not
unconscious when prison staff discovered him ill in his cell Sunday
afternoon.

State Patrol investigator Jay Petersen said Bjorklund attempted to
communicate with staff but was too ill.

"He was incoherent," Petersen said. "He attempted to communicate with
officers, but he was so sick, he couldn't."

According to previous reports, Bjorklund was found "unresponsive" in his
single cell at 1:58 p.m. Sunday.

Bjorklund was taken to BryanLGH Medical Center West at 2:46 p.m., and
pronounced dead there at 8:19 p.m.

(source:  Journal Star)

                  Lincoln - Death-row inmate Roger Bjorklund died of a heart attack,
                        according to preliminary autopsy results released Tuesday.

Bjorklund's autopsy showed that he was suffering from "severe occlusive coronary
artery disease," said Gary Lacey, Lancaster County attorney.
Both Bjorklund's left and right coronary arteries were blocked, Lacey said, causing an
irregular heartbeat that led to his death.

Bjorklund, 39, was sentenced to death for the 1992 slaying of University of
Nebraska-Lincoln student Candice Harms.
He was found nonresponsive in his death-row cell about 2 p.m. Sunday and
taken to the hospital about 2:45 p.m. Bjorklund was declared dead at 8:19 p.m.
The autopsy was performed by Dr. Matthias Okoye, the same pathologist who handled
the Harms case. The autopsy was conducted at BryanLGH Medical Center West.
Lacey said Okoye told him it was the first time he had performed autopsies on both
the victim and perpetrator in a crime.

Lacey said toxicology and microscopic tests will be completed after the Independence Day holiday.

If the final autopsy results bear out the preliminary conclusion of death by natural causes,
Bjorklund's case will be presented to a grand jury within the next two months.

State law requires a grand jury investigation of all deaths in law enforcement custody.

                                     Pen Pals at the Pen

One of the Internet's many uses is to bring people together as pen pals. A Nebraskan whose name
became known in the 1990s is one of those who has placed a pen pal request online. In appealing for
people to write to him, he describes his interest in NFL football, auto racing, reading and country music.
"I was adopted when I was 6 days old and was raised on a ranch in Nebraska," he writes." I look forward
to hearing from a pen-pal. Please take really good care of yourself and be safe."

The writer who posted that message is Roger Bjorklund, now on death row at the Nebraska state pen for
the 1992 kidnap, rape and murder of Candice Harms, a freshman at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln.
The trial of Bjorklund and co-defendant Scott Barney for Harms' torture-murder was one of the more
closely followed of the past decade.

Bjorklund's pen pal solicitation, found at the Web site for the Canadian Coalition Against the Death
Penalty, is among many such requests posted on prisoner-friendly Web sites by inmates from across
the country. The practice has drawn the curiosity of journalists and state policy-makers - and generated
outrage among victims-rights advocates.

Online snapshots of smiling murderers and rapists are adding to the pain of victims and their families,
critics contend. The solicitations also raise the possibility that inmates will manipulate or defraud people
who respond.

Bjorklund has already demonstrated the lengths to which he will try to manipulate people. During his trial
in 1993, Bjorklund duped his minister into mailing letters, written by Bjorklund, to jurors in an apparent
attempt to create a mistrial.

During the trial, a sworn statement from Bjorklund's psychiatrist was quoted in court as stating that
Bjorklund was "not as interested in having sex with (Harms) as in playing psychological mind games
with her." 'See Where It Leads'

An online search by The World-Herald turned up only three postings from individuals serving time for
crimes committed in Nebraska. Bjorklund is the only one of the state's 10 death row prisoners listed for
pen pal solicitation at the Canadian site.

The World-Herald found online messages from eight prisoners in Iowa (which, unlike Nebraska, has no
death penalty).

The pen pal request from one Iowa prisoner stated, "I hope we can add more joy, strength and
imagination into each other's lives. ... I'm very sensitive to women's feelings and needs." The posting was from Jim Dorsey, an inmate at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison. He is serving a life sentence for first-degree murder.

Another Iowa inmate posted these thoughts: "Nothing to do but time on my hands, so what better way to spend my days and nights than writing to all you ladies who decide to respond. Let's get to know one
another and see where it leads us." The writer is William E. Auer, serving 25 years for attempted murder
and 10 years for assault to commit sexual abuse with serious injury.

Despite the pain that such inmate postings cause for victims' families, prison systems face considerable legal obstacles in trying to restrict them. Courts have upheld prisoners' right to communicate with people on the outside in a variety of situations, said Susan Herman, a law professor at Brooklyn Law School
who specializes in First Amendment issues involving prisoners. The exceptions that courts have granted
for limiting prisoners' speech rights have centered on prison security concerns. Rearguing Cases

Courts have also upheld prisoners' rights to reargue their cases in their writings to the outside, according to Herman. In that regard, a World-Herald search turned up a lengthy online message from Charles
Watkins, an inmate at the Iowa State Penitentiary, who argues his innocence in regard to his first-degree kidnapping conviction.

Along the same line, a different prisoner Web site includes a posting that proclaims the innocence of
Jose Deltoro, a Mexican citizen living in California who was convicted in 1996 of supplying 75 to 85
pounds of methamphetamine to the Omaha area.

Nebraska prisoners are not able to post their online messages directly, said Harold Clarke, director of
the State Department of Correctional Services, because the state deliberately provides no modems for
computers used in educational classes for inmates. Material is relayed by friends or relatives to
third-party Internet services that specialize in posting inmate messages.

Lancaster County Attorney Gary Lacey, who oversaw the prosecution of Bjorklund in the Candice Harms case, expressed concern that the death row inmate has placed a pen pal request on the Internet. Before
his incarceration, Bjorklund was a computer devotee active on computer bulletin boards, Lacey noted.

After his arrest, Bjorklund asked the trial judge for computer access in order to do legal research. The
request was denied.

It hardly makes sense, Lacey said, to open up prisoner access to the Internet at the very time
authorities are dealing with a rising tide of computer-facilitated crime. Potential for Abuse

Clarke, the director of Nebraska's prison system, said Internet messaging from the state's inmates has
been so minimal that it hasn't become a matter for major discussion in the Legislature yet. Prisoners do
have considerable speech rights, Clarke said, but at the same time, prison administrators from across
the country are aware of the potential abuses and have begun discussing the issue with each other.

Two states, New York and Arizona, have attempted to thread the legal needle by approving laws that
prohibit prisoners from using third-party Internet services to post messages. That step doesn't stop
inmates from posting messages online, but it does enable prison authorities to better deal with the
issue. The New York correctional system is also putting information about prisoners online to inform
potential pen pals.

Such measures are worthy of debate by state policy-makers in the Midlands.

(Copyright 2000 Omaha World-Herald Company) 

I have been on death row since September 20, 1994.  I am interested in alot
of different things.  First and foremost would be sports.  I have always been
involved in sport in one way or another.  I like to watch football, my favorite
teams in the NFL are St. Louis and the NY jets, of course I am a Nebraska
Cornhusker fan.  I also enjoy auto racing of all types, NBA Basketball, baseball
and boxing.  I enjoy reading, writing and music, mostly Country and Rock.
I am 32 years old and was born March 16th.  I was in the computer profession
for many years and I owned my own computer store.   I've lived all over the
U.S. mostly in Nevada.  I was adopted when I was 6 days old and was raised
on a ranch in Nebraska.  I look forward to hearing  from a pen-pal.
Please take really good care of  yourselves and be safe.  Sincerely

                                            
                       Roger Bjorklund  46017
                                                  P.O.Box 2500
                                          Lincoln, Nebraska
                                            68542-0500   USA

                   The CCADP offers free webpages to over 500 Death Row Prisoners
                                               Contact us for more information.
            
                                                       "The Eyes Of The World Are Watching Now"