Wedding News

A Crosby woman has written a book about a criminal who robbed several North Dakota banks. But Cecile Wehrman's book is much more than the story of a modern-day Jesse James. It's a look at how two brothers who grew up in a single household can take such diverse paths in life one becoming a serial bank robber, the other a 20-year veteran of the Marine Corps and Air Force. Jim Olson reports on Wehrman's book, The Brothers Krimm. (Cecile Wehrman, Crosby Author) "September 14, 2009." It's a date that Cecile Wehrman will never forget. The date Jimmy Krimm robbed the north branch of the American State Bank in Williston, led authorities on a gunfighting, car-stealing chase through eastern Montana and northwestern North Dakota, and killed himself within a few miles of Cecile's home. She'll remember it for the drama (Cecile Wehrman, Crosby Author) "Everybody in the neighborhood literally was armed. It seems kind of foolish to think that we were sitting in our living room with guns loaded, but when you're sitting there in a remote area and know someone is out there with a gun, you just do it." But she'll remember it more clearly because of how Jimmy Krimm's felonious acts that night changed her life. (Cecile Wehrman, Crosby Author) "I was so curious about how someone like this would end up here." Turns out, Jimmy Krimm had robbed banks all of his adult life. Wehrman is editor The Journal in Crosby. Her research showed Jimmy had served prison sentences, but kept getting out, and going right back to what he knew best. Bank workers and whole communities in towns across Iowa, Minnesota, and the Dakotas were terrorized by this masked man, waving a gun. Wehrman's interest in this modern-day Jesse James led her to Michigan - to interview Jimmy's mother and brother Rob. She learned that Rob had served two decades in the Marine Corps and Air Force - an upstanding member of society. (Cecile Wehrman, Crosby Author) "The idea that two brothers could start out in the same place with the same challenges and one go and become a serial criminal and the other serve his country for 20 years, that just seemed like a good story to tell." Wehrman learned that bank robber Jimmy had sexually abused younger brother Rob for years while they grew up. (Cecile Wehrman, Crosby Author) "Childhood sexual abuse is at the root perhaps of developing both of these brothers, and myself too. When I knew I had a shared background with these two men, the question had always been in my mind, why did I turn out OK, and I think Rob had those same questions." As for Rob, he too remembers the date of brother Jimmy's death well - because it was a date he savored. (Rob Krimm, Brother of Bank Robber) "For me, hearing that my abuser from my childhood was dead, it was like a celebration inside my head. I was satisfied." Rob says helping Wehrman with the book helped him close the chapter of his life that was so emotionally exhausting. (Rob Krimm, Brother of Bank Robber) "He was just a monsterous figure that only did terrible things and it helped for me to see him through some of his friends' eyes that we also spoke with." The author says the book can serve as a way for the victims of Jimmy's robbery spree to understand his background - there are indications he too had been sexually abused as a child. But she says the book is not intended to excuse what he did. (Cecile Wehrman, Crosby Author) "In some places as I was setting up the book tour I learned that people didn't even know that he was dead." Both Wehrman and Rob Krimm remember the date of Jimmy Krimm's death very well. But the process of writing the book together has helped them focus on a different date - they're engaged and will soon set a wedding date. In Crosby, Jim Olson, KX News. Wehrman and Rob Krimm will begin a month-long tour of 19 towns in North Dakota, Minnesota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Saskatchewan - many of which were places where Jimmy Krimm robbed banks, Thursday night in Crosby at the Dakota Theater. You can find The Brothers Krimm on amazon.com, and at local bookstores in the region.