Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan has frequently spoken about her family history, particularly her Native American heritage and the struggles of being raised by a single mother who relied on government assistance.
Her personal story has become a central theme of her political career, including her campaign for the U.S. Senate.
But newly uncovered newspaper archives reveal a far darker chapter of her family history — one involving four suspected murders, decades of confinement in state mental hospitals and an alleged threat against a federal judge.
Flanagan’s maternal grandfather, John Jacob Hartmann, spent more than 30 years in Minnesota state mental hospitals, escaped psychiatric custody and became a suspect in killings spanning multiple states.
Yet despite the allegations — and even a federal judge calling Hartmann a “mass murderer” — he was never charged in connection with any of the killings.
Historical newspaper accounts, family obituaries and photographs reviewed by Alpha News establish that Hartmann, who died in 1983 at age 58, was the father of Flanagan’s mother, Patricia Hartmann Flanagan.
Hartmann died decades before Flanagan entered politics, when she was still a young child. His alleged crimes are not hers, but for a politician who has made her family history a prominent part of her public story, the records reveal a chapter that, until now, has remained largely untold.
In fact, Hartmann’s history was extraordinary enough to make headlines long before his granddaughter became Minnesota’s lieutenant governor.
On Feb. 9, 1983, the Star Tribune summed up his life in one chilling headline:
“John Hartmann, suspected in 4 slayings but never tried, is dead.”
A murder suspect, but never charged
Hartmann’s decades-long confinement began in 1951, following the killing of a Minneapolis man named Theodore Foth.
According to the Star Tribune, Foth’s body was discovered on a bed burning inside Hartmann’s room.
Despite the circumstances, Hartmann was never charged with murder.
Instead, he was committed to a state security hospital after his wife filed a petition alleging he was mentally ill and dangerous.
It was the beginning of a decades-long saga that would eventually span several states and involve additional suspected killings.
In 1964, Hartmann again came under suspicion after another patient was killed at the state security hospital.
Authorities suspected Hartmann in the death of the fellow inmate, according to the 1983 newspaper account, but he was not charged because of insufficient evidence.
Hartmann was transferred to Anoka State Hospital in 1970.
He later escaped and traveled to New Mexico, where he was arrested as a suspect in the killings of a man and a woman.
Once again, no murder charges followed.
An escape, a federal judge and a chilling allegation
Hartmann’s story took another unusual turn in April 1979, when he escaped from the Minnesota Security Hospital in St. Peter.
He fled to Missouri, where authorities eventually located him.
But before his recapture, Hartmann allegedly threatened U.S. District Judge Miles Lord, leading to a federal criminal charge.
According to an April 13, 1979, Star Tribune report, Hartmann was accused of threatening the judge during a telephone call.
Lord, a former U.S. attorney, had been involved in legal proceedings concerning Hartmann. The judge reportedly obtained armed protection after learning of the alleged threats.
Lord also publicly described Hartmann as a “mass murderer,” according to the newspaper.
The connection to Minnesota’s lieutenant governor
By the time Hartmann died on Feb. 6, 1983, he had been suspected in four killings.
His death notice, published in the Star Tribune, made no mention of the murder suspicions. Instead, it listed his four surviving daughters — Kathleen, Mary, Patricia and Margaret — along with three grandchildren, including Peggy Hartmann, now Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan.
Decades later, Flanagan, who was born in 1979, used the Hartmann surname herself in a June 2013 Instagram post featuring a childhood photograph.
“Little Peggy Hartmann in 2nd grade,” she wrote.
At some point, Peggy Hartmann became Peggy Flanagan, taking the surname of her stepfather, Thomas Flanagan, whose 2020 obituary identifies her as his stepdaughter.
Notably, Flanagan did not adopt the surname of her biological father, Marvin Manypenny, the White Earth Ojibwe activist whose Native American heritage she has frequently highlighted in her political career. Nor did she adopt the surnames of either of her husbands, Tim Hellendrung or Tom Weber, continuing to use Flanagan throughout her political career.
Her mother, Patricia Elizabeth Flanagan, died in 2022. Her obituary identified her parents as Mary and John Hartmann, her sisters as Margaret (known as Peg), Kathleen and Mary, and her daughter as Peggy Flanagan.
In March 2024, the St. Cloud Times published a family photograph from the late 1960s featuring Flanagan’s mother, Patricia; her aunts Mary, Margaret (Peg) and Kathleen; and her grandmother, Mary Hartmann.
Alpha News reached out to Flanagan’s campaign for comment but did not receive a response.
Jenna Gloeb
Jenna Gloeb is an Edward R. Murrow Award-winning journalist, media producer, public speaker, and screenwriter. Most recently, she worked as a reporter and on-air host for CCX Media. Jenna is a Minnesota native and resides in the Twin Cities with her husband, son, daughter, and two dogs.
