Six Green Bay, Wisconsin paper mill workers (including, above, Dale Basten, Rey Moore and Mike Hirn) spent dozens of years behind bars in connection with the death of a co-worker. They’ve never wavered in their claims of innocence.
The Monfils Six:
Mystery at the Mill
Projected Release: TBA
The 1992 Associated Press newspaper blurb was short:
Body discovered in paper mill vat Green Bay, Wis.—A worker’s body was found in a giant pulp vat at a paper mill with a 40-pound weight tied around the neck, police said Tuesday. Thomas J. Monfils, 35, of Ashwaubenon was found dead at the James River Corp. paper mill Sunday. He disappeared Saturday, shortly after arguing with other workers, Deputy Chief of Detectives Jim Taylor said. Investigators said Monfils was alive when he entered the vat.
And so the mystery began.
It’s origins, say some, stem from Monfils’ co-worker Keith Kutska and his decision to ignore paper mill policy by taking a scrap piece of electrical cord home one day.
Monfils, a married father of two, made a 911 call to report the theft.
Eleven days later, Kutska learned about the 911 call during a disciplinary hearing. He then confronted Monfils at work, with the recording in hand. Monfils went missing soon after. His body was found the following evening submerged in the paper pulp vat.
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Tom Monfils was considered to be a “snitch” by some of his co-workers for telling police that a co-worker had stolen an electrical cord from the Green Bay, Wisconsin mill where he worked. Investigators concluded that’s why Monfils was attacked and, perhaps accidentally, killed in the process.
Monfils’ death threw the residents of Green Bay, with a population of roughly 120,000 people, into shock. Two and a half years went by without a single arrest. Rumors and conspiracies ran rampant.
As the community clamored for answers—and justice—law enforcement and the local media further focused their investigation on the mill workers. To some, it was clear that “murderous union thugs” in the mill were to blame.
In 1995, Kutska and five other paper mill workers (Mike Piaskowski, Mike Johnson, Mike Hirn, Dale Basten and Rey Moore) were charged with murder, each accused of taking part in the killing of Monfils.
They became known as “The Monfils Six.”
None of the six men have ever wavered in their claims of innocence.
The six were tried jointly, during a 28-day trial featuring 81 witnesses—though again, none of them were actual eyewitnesses to Monfils’ death.
The joint trial was meant to save taxpayer money and cause minimal trauma to Monfils’ grieving family. Years later, one of the jurors would admit she couldn’t tell the defendants apart.
Monfils’ body was found submerged at the bottom of this paper vat. Investigators concluded that his co-workers dumped him here after beating him up.
Six of Monfils’ co-workers were convicted of killing him. The case became one of Green Bay’s most controversial and notorious.
The jury would take just eight hours to rule the six men conspired to kill Monfils. Each man was sentenced to life in prison.
Six years later, in 2001, a federal court determined there was “scant evidence” that supported Piaskowski’s guilt in the matter. It ordered his release and ruled he could not be retried in connection with Monfils’ death “without offending the Double Jeopardy Clause.”
Mike Piaskowski, the first of the six men to be released from prison, shows The Reporters Inc. his exhaustive amount of files, records and evidence.
In July 2019, Mike Johnson greeted family and friends as he walked out of the Sanger B. Powers Correctional Center in Oneida, Wisconsin after serving 25 years in connection with Tom Monfils’ death. He was 71-years-old.
The other five men weren’t as lucky.
Mike Johnson was denied parole 10 times. The Wisconsin Department of Corrections repeatedly ruled against his release because Johnson refused to admit any wrongdoing or show remorse.
In 2009 Johnson said, “I realize that as I continue to profess my innocence, I will never be allowed to leave prison…I continue to claim I am falsely accused and unjustly convicted of a crime I did not commit or have any knowledge about…I know I didn’t harm Tom Monfils. God knows I didn’t harm Tom Monfils.”
Johnson was finally set free in 2019 after serving nearly 25 years behind bars.
Watch The Reporters Inc.’s Exclusive Video of Mike Johnson’s Release Here.
Johnson’s alleged link to the death of Monfils stemmed largely from a supposed repressed memory of yet another paper mill worker, six months after Monfils’ body was found. This worker told authorities that he suddenly recalled seeing Mike and co-defendant Dale Basten hunched over, as if they were carrying something heavy toward the paper pulp vat (where Monfils’ body was found), the day of Monfils disappearance.
Those who believe in the innocence of The Monfils Six also believe this mill worker’s claim was a complete fabrication, conjured up to try and remove suspicion about his own involvement. This man was never charged in connection with Monfils’ death but was convicted of killing his own brother 13 months later.
Basten, the oldest of the six men, was given a “compassionate release” from prison in 2017 because of failing health. He was 77 at the time and died shortly afterwards.
Mike Hirn, the youngest of the convicted men, had his first bid for parole denied in 2010 even though, according to parole commission documents, he was described as the “least culpable” in Monfils’ death. The fundamental roadblock for all of Hirn’s subsequent denials was, once again, the commission’s belief that he and the other men were unwilling to show remorse by admitting guilt.
A supporter hugs Mike Hirn, one of the six convicted men, as he leaves prison in December 2018.
During the original investigation into Monfils death, Hirn readily took four polygraph tests. In fact, he and the other five men took several tests and passed them all. Hirn also pushed for FBI involvement during the investigation. Although the feds were involved initially, their inquiry was brief. The reason is still unclear.
In 2018, at the age of 54, Hirn was finally released from prison after serving 23 years. The parole commission called him “a model prisoner.”
Watch The Reporters Inc.’s Exclusive Video of Mike Hirn’s Release Here.
Rey Moore was 73 when he was released in 2019. Keith Kutska, deemed to be the “ringleader” in Monfils’ death, was the last to be set free, in 2023, after serving 28 years. He was 72.
Tom Monfils’ brother, Cal Monfils, has serious doubts about the guilt of the six men convicted of killing his brother.
Monfils’ death is still considered to be a heinous crime in the eyes of the investigators and prosecutors involved in his case, and they reject any and all alternative possible theories of how he might have died.
Emily Basten speaks to The Reporters Inc. about her father, Dale Basten, who died at age 77 in 2018 just a few months after he was granted parole.
Yet the six men, and those who believe in their innocence—including Tom Monfils’ own brother, Cal—say that crucial evidence was ignored or dismissed as insignificant during the initial investigation. They’re convinced that police and prosecutorial “tunnel vision” resulted in the most egregious miscarriage of justice in Wisconsin history.
In fact, many believe there was no murder at all. They think Monfils committed suicide.
Reporters Inc. Board Member Joan Treppa has also written a book about this case, Reclaiming Lives: Pursuing Justice for Six Innocent Men.
The Reporters Inc. began investigating this case in 2017 and has conducted dozens of on-camera interviews in connection with it, including in-depth one-on-ones with all members of “The Monfils Six,” the lead detective in the case and the lead prosecutor, in hopes of truly unraveling the “Mystery at the Mill.”
Rey Moore talks with The Reporters Inc. about the Monfils case. He was 72 at the time of his release in 2019.
Keith Kutska was the last of “The Monfils Six” to be released from prison, in 2023. Seen here during an interview with The Reporters Inc., Kutska speaks about his 28 years behind bars. He was 72 when he was finally granted freedom.
To provide information, or learn more about this project, email The Reporters Inc. at info@thereporters.org or call us at 612-333-3180.
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