MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A coed who was allegedly kidnapped Feb. 19 purportedly was the object of “an experiment in love” which included “brainwashing” at a New Ulm home, authorities said Friday.

Thomas R. Lippert, 25, formerly of New Ulm, an assistant professor at Southwest State College in Marshall, was one of two men charged with kidnapping the coed. He had bond set at $50,000 Friday.

LIPPERT’S FATHER, Ray, of 1513Oakwood, declined to answer any questions Saturday but said he had employed an attorney for his son.

“His mother and I are behind him all the way,”he told the Journal.

HAROLD R. TENNESON,21, Southwest State junior from Burnsville, was also charged with kidnapping and had bail set at $10,000. He is reportedly a student of Lippert.

U.S. Magistrate J. Earl Cudd ordered a preliminary hearing for the pair at 2 p.m. next Friday in Minneapolis. Both were being held in Hennepin County jail.

Joseph Trimbach, agent in charge of the FBI Twin Cities office, said Thomas Lippert was armed with a .25 caliber pistol when arrested at his Marshall apartment late Thursday. Tenneson was carrying a .38 caliber pistol when he was arrested on the Marshall campus. The men offered no resistance when arrested.

SUSAN WELLS COCHRAN, 20,Little Falls, N.J., the coed allegedly kidnapped, was found alone Thursday by FBI agents at a table in the library at the Marshall college.

“She started crying and as they were walking out she said she was afraid of Lippert,” said Thor Anderson, assistant U.S. attorney.

Anderson said the alleged abduction and subsequent events apparently revolved around a bizarre plan “to brainwash her so that she would love Lippert.”

IN AN AFFIDAVIT given to the FBI Miss Cochran said she placed a notice on a “trip board” at Purdue seeking a ride to Boston. She said arrangements were made to ride with a man who turned out to be Lippert.

About 30 miles out of Lafayette, Ind., Miss Cochran said, the car pulled off the road and the two men “pulled weapons.” They told her she was wanted for an experiment and they would “have her for up to several weeks.”

The coed said she was forced to drink a “large quantity” of liquor and passed out.

EVENTUALLY THE trio reached a house in New Ulm.

Anderson said Miss Cochran was “told some sort of box was being built in the basement which Lippert’s parents thought was a darkroom and that Cochran would be placed in the box where the brain-washing would occur.

“Cochran was forced to take off her clothes, whereupon she was wrapped in a cloth material and tied to a board. Nothing happened and she was released from the box in an hour.”

Although the complaint made no other reference to the brain washing plan, Anderson said it involved the use of electric shock and other devices.

“The box didn’t work so they kept her there, trying to complete the experiment,”Anderson said.

THE COMPLAINT stated that from that time until her rescue, the coed was “afraid to do anything but what he (Lippert)said,” according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

The complaint also stated she accompanied Lippert on an auto trip to Atlanta, Ga., and the Twin Cities.

Miss Cochran was not under physical restraint during the 23-day incident but was “afraid to run away because Lippert had threatened to harm her, her parents and other individuals, including her boyfriend,” the complaint alleged.

Anderson said no ransom demands had been made of Miss Cochran’s parents.

ED O’BRION, a professor at Southwest, said he saw Miss Cochran on campus on a number of occasions under no apparent restraint.

“I can’t say I ever saw her away from Lippert, but I did see her in his office and in the hallway,”” O’Brien said.

Miss Cochran reportedly telephoned her parents, her boyfriend in Boston, and her sorority sisters on a number of occasions during the 23 days. One of the phone calls to her boyfriend was traced to Marshall, where authorities located her.

LIPPERT HAS a law degree from the University of Notre Dame at South Bend, Ind., and started teaching in the business administration department at Marshall last fall.

Two weeks ago, Lippert submitted a letter of resignation from his teaching post effective the end of the spring quarter.

Jay Jones, the college president, said Lippert’s resignation was accepted and described it as a “mutual parting of ways.”

New Ulm Daily Journal

March 16, 1975