COLD CASES

Their grandmother vanished in the woods in 1975. They refuse to give up their search for answers

Tracy Briggs — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 20:00:00 GMT

BAD MEDICINE LAKE, Minn. — Like so many counties in Minnesota, Becker County is home to the familiar trappings of lake life — modern cabins, gleaming pontoons and jet skis that slice across the water.

But turn off County Road 37 and Black Bear Beach Road, and you’re in a different world.

The old logging trail seems a million miles from civilization.

The word "remote" doesn’t quite do it justice.

Here, near Bad Medicine Lake, it’s not unusual to spot a wolf or a bear, and the mosquitoes and ticks outnumber people by the thousands.

Still, on this dreary, overcast day, three Minnesota sisters have left the comfort of their homes to trek deep into the dense forest. They walk with the sheriff hoping to get closer to solving the case of their missing grandmother, a mystery that has haunted their family for 50 years.

June 17, 1975

In the early afternoon of June 17, 1975, former church secretary Milda McQuillan, 71, left her Round Lake home to visit friends at their cabin on Bad Medicine Lake, less than a half-hour away. It was raining, and the country roads were muddy.

A few miles into her journey, McQuillan's car stalled. A postman stopped to help her. Not long after, she took a wrong turn and was helped again — this time by a truck driver who pointed her in the right direction. He would be the last person known to see her.

That evening, when McQuillan didn’t return home, her sister Ida, with whom she lived, called Milda’s daughter, Carol Hinze. Carol then contacted her brother Dennis McQuillan, and the two drove from the Twin Cities to join law enforcement in searching for their mother.

Two days later, after an extensive ground and air search — including efforts from National Guard troops — Milda's pea-green 1968 Dodge sedan was found stuck in the mud on an old logging trail about three-quarters of a mile from her friends' cabin. A coat belt and plastic rain cap were found slung over some bushes nearby. There was no trace of Milda.

Then the trail went cold. For decades.

From dusty file to renewed search

In 1975, 9-year-old Todd Glander was growing up in Detroit Lakes, often hunting in the same woods where Milda McQuillan vanished. He never forgot her story.

By 2014, he was in a position to act — he'd just been elected sheriff of Becker County.

“I took those dusty case files, went to my investigative unit and I said, 'I want to do whatever we can do to find some answers',” he said.

That’s when he met the three women walking beside him in the woods today — Milda McQuillan's granddaughters: Lori Voigt of Arlington, Jo Cornell of Hackensack and Michelle Donahue of Mayer.

They were 17, 15, and 11 when their grandmother vanished.

They still remember the good times with their Grandma Milda — reading Raggedy Ann books, playing cards and helping her in the kitchen. Summers with her meant something.

Today, the sisters even wear matching T-shirts from the Ice Cracking Lodge, a local place they'd go for laughter-filled nights together.

“She’d get a Grain Belt and give us money to play the bowling machines. She was a lot of fun!” Voigt said with a smile.

A walk back to the woods

The sisters first joined Glander in 2017 at this site where their grandmother’s car had been found back in 1975. Now, they’re returning to the same logging trail, asking more questions, hoping something new will surface.

The forest has grown so thick that cars can’t pass. They ride with Deputy Adam Douglas in a side-by-side off-road vehicle to reach the swampy area where the Dodge was spotted a half-century ago.

In a twist of irony, the woods are stunning, lush and alive with color. Woodland ferns unfurl beside wild columbine and violets along the path, while cedar and birch trees either tower overhead or lie scattered across the forest floor. It’s both beautiful and heartbreaking.

“I’m going to cry. I’m so appreciative that the sheriff is willing to help us find some answers. He always calls back, always,” Donahue said, tearing up. “I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing to recognize the sheriff’s voice on the phone," she added with a laugh.

The sisters have compiled a detailed scrapbook of clippings and theories. Glander’s team has used cadaver dogs and sonar to search nearby lakes. Still, no definitive answers.

Puzzling clues and lingering theories

The most baffling detail, the family says, is how Milda’s car ended up so deep in the woods.

“There’s no way my grandmother would have driven her car out this far,” Cornell said.

The family suspects someone moved the car there, especially since aerial searches done the day before showed nothing in that location.

The coat belt and rain bonnet also appeared after earlier ground searches in that same area had turned up nothing.

“That cheap plastic rain hat could have blown from anywhere, but the belt had a heavy buckle on it, so I don't think we would have missed it the day before. We felt like that was planted out there to keep us in that area,” Hinze said.

Another theory involves two young men who were stealing boat motors in the area at the time.

“They recovered all but one of the stolen motors,” Voigt said in 2017. "So the theory is they used that last motor to sink her in the lake.”

The men were questioned and passed lie detector tests and were released.

Dennis McQuillan also shares a conversation he had with an Elbow Lake store clerk about his mother's disappearance. The clerk said she saw an older white woman matching Milda’s description come into the store with a 20-something Native American couple.

“The lady at Elbow Lake store told the older white woman that a lady of her description was reported missing and the lady said ‘I know — that’s me!’” said Dennis.

Hinze said the clerk even described her mother's blouse as having blue vertical stripes — details that had not been released to the public.

“Nobody ever discussed this with her (the store clerk) because they said she was known to make up stories. It made me mad,” said Hinze.

A family that won’t give up

The pain of not knowing has lingered for five decades. Dennis still remembers the heartbreak of leaving the area two weeks after the search.

“Leaving Round Lake/Bad Medicine after two-and-a-half weeks without finding Mom and feeling like I was washing my hands of my mom, who raised me. My mom never gave up on me, and now I was giving up on her,” Dennis said.

But the family never gave up.

Dennis and his wife recently visited from Florida just a week before the granddaughters came here from their homes in other parts of Minnesota. Hinze no longer returns to the site.

“I’m glad my kids still go up there, and I just can't do it anymore. I just can't. It was too depressing, wondering what happened. I just hope she didn’t suffer too much,” Hinze said.

They know, of course, that Milda is dead. She would be 121 years old today. Many of the people involved in the original case are also gone.

Still, Sheriff Glander and the family believe there may be someone out there — maybe even a child or teen at the time — who might remember the smallest detail from that overcast June day.

“We always feel that somebody knows something. We just hold out for a little bit of evidence that we can follow up,” Glander said. “We just want people to know that we’ll never quit searching. None of us will give up hope that we can find something, some kind of an answer to what happened.”

Did you see anything?

What: Disappearance of Milda McQuillan

When: June 17, 1975

Where: Near Bad Medicine Lake, Becker County, Minnesota

If you have any information, call the Becker County Sheriff’s Office at 218-847-2661.

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A dive into the archives shows 'Tylenol Murders' of 1982 spread fear throughout the country

Trisha Taurinskas — Thu, 12 Jun 2025 15:45:00 GMT

CHICAGO — A wave of mysterious deaths among those who consumed tainted Extra Strength Tylenol in the Chicago area in the early 1980s sparked panic and fear nationwide, particularly among nearby states.

The deaths, which totaled seven in all, are at the center of the Netflix docuseries, "Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders," which takes viewers behind the scenes of the investigation, featuring interviews with investigators and family members of the victims.

The crimes remain unsolved.

The string of mysterious deaths began on Sept. 29, 1982, the morning after 12-year-old Mary Mary Kellerman took a single Extra Strength Tylenol capsule to relieve a sore throat.

Family and medical professionals were left stunned. Kellerman was an otherwise healthy child.

Days later, six more victims were reported dead -– each with similar symptoms.

Panicked, law enforcement and public safety officials rushed to find the source of contamination.

The answer came when public health nurse Helen Jensen put the pieces of the puzzle together. Three of the victims belonged to the same family –- and each had taken Extra Strength Tylenol from the same bottle.

The bottle tested positive for cyanide, as did the bottles belonging to the four other victims. The bottles were traced back to two different facilities: one in Pennsylvania and one in Texas.

Yet the victims who consumed the tainted capsules lived in the Chicago area.

The “Tylenol Murders” docuseries presents multiple theories on who was responsible for the deaths, including one man who wrote Johnson & Johnson, the company that manufactures Tylenol, a letter claiming responsibility for the deaths — and demanding $1 million.

James W. Lewis, who was interviewed in the docuseries just before his death, admitted to writing the letter. He said he did so with the motivation of framing his wife's previous employer.

He used the alias Richard Richardson to write the letter.

Lewis denied any involvement in the Tylenol deaths.

Physical evidence fell short to charge Lewis for the deaths related to the tainted Tylenol and instead charged him with extortion, which led to a conviction and a 10-year prison sentence.

A 1982 edition of the West Central Tribune regarding James Lewis, convicted of extortion for sending a letter claiming responsibility for the Tylenol deaths. Newspapers.com. Click on image for link to original story.

Others interviewed in the docuseries question whether Johnson & Johnson played a role. No charges have been filed against the company.

In the wake of the deaths, Johnson & Johnson issued a massive recall of Extra Strength Tylenol and implemented a new tamper-free cap on all bottles of Tylenol.

For many viewers, the "Tylenol Murders" represents a blast from the past, when danger lurked in the medicine cabinets of most households around the country.

Archives from Minnesota and North Dakota newspapers in 1982 and 1983 show the fear was widespread. The mystery consumed everyday Americans, from the northern to southern borders.

A front page story in the Fargo Forum reflected that fear. With the string of deaths coming just one month after Halloween, suddenly wrapped candy didn’t seem so safe.

A front page story in the Fargo Forum in 1982 shows the fear that spread throughout the area in the wake of the Tylenol deaths. Newspapers.com. Click on image for link to original story.

The Tylenol deaths also led to a string of cop-cat crimes — and cases in which Americans feared they, too, had consumed tainted products.

A 1982 article in the Fargo Forum shows the fear felt by Americans throughout the country in the wake of the Tylenol deaths. Newspapers.com. Click on image for link to original story.

Tylenol and its manufacturer were able to withstand the public relations storm, and the fear surrounding tainted medications faded.

What caused the deaths remains unknown, and a topic of contention among victims' family members and investigators.

The three-part Tylenol Murders docuseries can be streamed now on Netflix.

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They thought the identity of the severed head would be known by now. Faulty DNA samples are derailing efforts

Trisha Taurinskas — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 14:55:00 GMT

SCANDIA, Minn. — The identity of a woman whose remains were found scattered in two Minnesota Lakes in the summer of 1993 is still unknown, despite recent attempts to create a DNA profile.

The DNA Doe Project, a nonprofit organization that utilizes DNA analysis with investigative forensic genealogy to discover the identity of the unidentified, was hopeful last summer that the identity of the woman, referred to as “Bone Lake Jane Doe,” was just a few lab tests away.

Bone Lake Jane Doe’s remains were undergoing a critical step in the identification process: DNA extraction. Yet despite multiple attempts, results were unable to create a genetic profile.

“Unfortunately, the sample did not successfully yield a DNA profile and the case is on hold while the agency tries to locate and acquire more DNA extract,” Pam Lauritzen, Executive Director of Media and Communications with DNA Doe Project, told Forum News Service. “We may have a couple of new lab options on the horizon to try, but we’ve made no progress yet.”

The female head was discovered on June 12, 1993, by a man out for a walk along the shores of Bone Lake in Scandia, Minn., a rural community with a population of 4,000 residents near the Wisconsin border.

At first glance, the man assumed he was staring at a mannequin’s head. A closer look revealed that the head, bluntly cut at the neck, belonged to a woman. With minimal days of exposure to the elements, the head remained somewhat intact.

Bone Lake Jane Doe had brown eyes and dark, short hair. Her ears were pierced — three times over. The medical examiner’s report put her age between 30 and 65 years old, according to the DNA Doe Project.

Her foot was later discovered in Pigs Eye Lake, a 628-acre shallow backwater lake on the southern end of St. Paul, roughly 35 minutes from Bone Lake. Investigators noted that two of her toes were painted with red nail polish.

Because the head had been preserved in the waters of Bone Lake, an accurate sketch of the woman was used as an effort to discover her identity. The sketch was distributed throughout the country. Yet over the course of 30 years, it has not led investigators to her true identity.

DNA analysis is, at this point, the last hope for answers.

Bone Lake Jane Doe wasn’t the only woman whose remains were discovered in 1993 in rural Minnesota.

Months after the discovery in Bone Lake, the remains of Martha Bacon were unearthed in rural Wright County, roughly 40 miles west of the Twin Cities. Bone Lake is located roughly 40 miles northeast of the Twin Cities.

A year after Bacon was discovered, Wright County Sheriff's Office investigators came across the severed skull of 25-year-old Victoria Marie Morris.

Each case remains unsolved.

Martha Bacon

Four months after Bone Lake Jane Doe’s head was found, a resident in Wright County’s Silver Creek Township watched as his dog returned to the yard with a human forearm and hand in its mouth.

Through fingerprint analysis, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension identified the victim as 31-year-old Martha Bacon.

Bacon had been considered missing for one month before the dog’s discovery. She was last seen in North Minneapolis in the early hours of Sept. 27 or Sept. 28, 1993.

In the wake of the discovery, the Wright County Sheriff’s Office executed an extensive search, covering two square miles over the course of several days. During that time, they were unable to locate additional remains.

Ten months later, another dog returned to its owner with Bacon’s lower leg and foot. The discovery was made one-and-a-half miles from the area where Bacon’s forearm and hand were retrieved.

Because Bacon’s remains were discovered submerged in water, they remained somewhat intact.

The second discovery prompted another search, executed by the Wright County Sheriff’s Office — this time yielding results.

The search uncovered a human head, severed at the neck. Dental records proved the remains belonged to Bacon.

The discovery launched a wave of fear throughout Wright County, prompting residents to gather for a community meeting with the Wright County Sheriff’s Office.

The meeting revealed Bacon was a sex worker in Minneapolis — and investigators theorized the person responsible was likely a customer.

Law enforcement also indicated the suspect was likely someone familiar with the Silver Creek area, as Bacon’s remains were found scattered in swampy areas known mostly by locals.

The investigative file related to the disappearance of Belinda Van Lith, who went missing from Wright County in 1974, stated there was at least one suspect in Bacon's dismemberment: Timothy Crosby.

Crosby had a family cabin in Wright County and a history of violent sexual assault and armed abduction. Crosby is civilly committed at the secure Moose Lake Sex Offender Treatment Program facility.

In a January 2024 interview with Forum News Service, Crosby said he wasn’t a violent person in the 1980s or 1990s.

Less than a year after Bacon was found, Wright County residents learned of yet another victim.

Victoria Morris

Victoria Marie Morris' skull was discovered alongside I-94, near St. Michael in Wright County on Oct. 8, 1994, according to the Minnesota BCA.

Her body was discovered 10 feet away in a grassy ditch, wrapped in rope and tape.

Investigators said marks around her neck indicated she had been strangled. The murder weapon was found by her side, but the Wright County Sheriff’s Office has not revealed the nature of the weapon.

However, a cold case investigation into Morris’ death revealed unknown male DNA was discovered on the weapon, according to a 2009 St. Paul Pioneer Press article.

Like Bacon, Morris was a sex worker in the Minneapolis area. Investigators theorized the perpetrator was also likely a customer familiar with the Wright County area.

Crosby was also named a suspect in Morris' case at one point. However, his DNA did not match the male sample taken from the murder weapon.

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Key evidence unaccounted for in 1984 gravel pit slaying

Trisha Taurinskas — Sat, 31 May 2025 14:25:00 GMT

LUVERNE, Minn. — A pair of canvas shoes discovered along the shoreline of the rural Luverne gravel pit pond where Kelly Robinson’s body was discovered in 1984 are missing.

The 22-year-old Sioux Falls resident’s body was discovered on Memorial Day weekend by a family hiking in the remote area. The family first spotted her shoes, tossed along the pond’s shoreline. Minutes later, they saw the body of a woman floating in the pond

The shoes, at this point, could be a critical part of the investigation — if their whereabouts were known.

“I do not know anything about the shoes,” Rock County Sheriff's Deputy Chad Kempema told Forum News Service, adding that the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is actively helping with the case.

Advanced DNA technology has been successful in cases where items of clothing were left behind at crime and death scenes. That was the case for the 1974 homicide of Mary Schlais, whose body was left in a Wisconsin ditch. Her assailant was convicted in 2025 after a hat found on the scene detected his DNA.

It is not clear what — if any — evidence the Rock County Sheriff’s Office has in their possession. When questioned about the evidence in Robinson’s case, including potential evidence near the shoreline, Sheriff Evan Verbruggee repeatedly told Forum News Service that she was found in the water.

"Well, she was in the water, so from the reports that we've been able to locate, the body was just there," Verbruggee replied when questioned about physical evidence collected in the case. "So the crime didn't probably happen in Rock County. So it's kind of hard to determine what evidence is evidence with anything around that location."

Kempema said the sheriff's office has some recordings, including interviews, in its possession. And while other evidence should be in the office, the deputy said it is not. He then referred questions to Verbruggee.

Despite being found in the water, Robinson died of asphyxiation, according to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. That’s contrary to initial reports which suggested she died from drowning.

Defensive wounds on her hands indicated she fought back. Initial reports were not able to conclusively state she was sexually assaulted. She was found wearing just her jeans and jacket — with nothing underneath.

The circumstances surrounding Robinson’s death were suspicious, leading law enforcement to almost immediately declare the likelihood of foul play.

The area where Robinson’s body was discovered was, at the time, only accessible to those willing to trudge through roughly 100 yards of tall grass and underbrush.

It was a remote area, unknown to even some locals, including Tim Connell, the Rock County attorney at the time.

“I was born and raised here,” Connell told the Argus Leader in 1984. “This particular pond, I didn’t even know it was there.”

The location puzzled investigators — and Robinson’s family members.

Robinson’s medical condition wouldn’t have allowed her to make the treacherous journey to the pond on her own. She was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis years before her body was discovered.

She didn't have any connection to the Luverne area, either.

Robinson lived in Sioux Falls, a roughly 30-minute drive from where her body was found. Two witnesses said they saw Robinson leave the Frontier Bar with a man in a Ford Torino.

Shortly after Robinson's death, investigators said they believed they knew who was responsible: a man serving a 200-year sentence in South Dakota for violent sexual assaults. No evidence has been revealed that links this man to Robinson's death.

Her case remains unsolved.

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Vault podcast takes listeners behind the scenes on cold case arrest of Baby Angel’s mother

Trisha Taurinskas — Fri, 16 May 2025 14:55:00 GMT

WINONA, Minn. — The arrest of a well-known Winona resident in the 2011 cold case death of a newborn baby found floating in the Mississippi River on Sept. 5, 2011, stunned those who knew her — and those following the case.

Jennifer Baechle, 43, was arrested in April in connection with the death of the days-old baby, referred to by the community as “Baby Angel.”

The arrest came after a DNA match revealed she is the biological mother. Baechle is facing two counts of manslaughter.

The most recent episode of The Vault podcast takes listeners behind the scenes of this story, with insight from Rochester Post Bulletin reporter John Molseed, who has been covering the Baby Angel case.

Molseed was the first to report on a 2024 search warrant application filed by the Winona County Sheriff’s Office requesting a saliva sample from Baechle, a well-known local resident investigators believed was the mother of the newborn girl.

The search warrant application cited Firebird Forensics Group, a forensic genetic genealogy organization that partners with law enforcement agencies to crack cold cases.

Through the use of publicly available DNA databases and genealogy, investigators were able to match Baby Angel’s DNA with family members.

Eventually, the trail led to Baechle.

Baechle’s arrest has left the community stunned. In the wake of Baby Angel’s discovery, 150 people attended a formal funeral for the unnamed baby girl. Donations poured in, allowing community members to purchase a gravestone.

Since then, Baby Angel has not been forgotten or set aside. Retired Winona County Sheriff Dave Brand is just one individual who has taken care of the gravesite, facilitating donations for the flowers he regularly delivers to her grave.

This episode of The Vault podcast features Brand’s thoughts in the wake of Baechle’s arrest, a woman who had been hiding in plain sight for more than a decade.

Molseed’s reporting on the story also sheds light on how community members are dealing with the revelation that a once-trusted community member is the mother of Baby Angel.

For more than a decade, Baechle kept the secret that the entire town desperately wanted to know.

Baechle is currently out on a $200,000 bond. Her next court appearance is scheduled for July 7.

You can listen to the nearly 15-minute “Cold Case Arrest: The Baby Angel Story” episode on all major podcast platforms.

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Records: Before he killed, Jon Keith Miller showed violent streak

Trisha Taurinskas — Mon, 05 May 2025 14:55:00 GMT

Jon Keith Miller, 84, was sentenced to life in prison March 27, 2024 for the 1974 murder of Mary Schlais, who he stabbed more than a dozen times and dumped in a Wisconsin snowbank.

The sentencing culminated the 50-year search for her killer — and led investigators to Miller's Owatonna assisted living facility apartment, where he confessed to the murder.

A Forum News Service investigation traced Miller's known history — from his high school graduation to the day of his arrest.

Public records and an interview with his first ex-wife helped fill in the gaps.

Click below to see documentation from his stay at St. Cloud's Minnesota State Reformatory for Men, stemming from two forgery convictions in 1959 and 1960.

Miller was paroled on Jan. 7, 1963, and discharged from parole on Jan. 22, 1965.

After being released on parole, he married his first wife on Oct. 19, 1963.

In an interview with Forum News Service, Miller's first wife said he inflicted severe acts of violence, including one incidence in which he severely damaged her jaw and dragged her body down a street.

In addition to violence, Miller would often disappear without communicating his whereabouts, according to his first wife.

During one of those vanishing acts, while still married, Miller was arrested in Arizona for robbing the Flagstaff Auto Supply store on Sept. 1, 1965.

A newspaper article in the Arizona Daily Sun states that cigarettes found on Miller led Flagstaff police to contact law enforcement in Austin, Minn.

Law enforcement there were looking for a person who burglarized the DeBrock Service Station and stole $275, a shotgun and a carton of cigarettes.

Miller denied having anything to do with the Austin burglary, but admitted he kicked in the glass door of the Flagstaff Auto Supply store and burglarized it.

In 1966, Miller's first wife filed for divorce while he was in prison, citing cruel and inhuman treatment. Below is an excerpt from the divorce papers.

Miller, who was to serve a two- to three-year prison sentence, was released after 13 months.

By 1967, he had made his way to California, where, before his 1969 arrest for armed robbery, he was convicted for petty theft. He was also arrested for burglary, but that charge was dismissed.

In 1969, Miller was convicted for armed robbery after he used a loaded gun to threaten a convenience store clerk.

Below are court documents related to his conviction and sentencing.

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Click the image above to view part 1.

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Click the image above to view part 2.

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Click the image above to view part 3.

Miller was released from California's San Quentin prison on May 5, 1972. A marriage application filed in 1973 displays a Minneapolis suburb address as his place of residence.

On Feb. 15, 1974, less than two years after being released from San Quentin prison, Miller picked up 25-year-old Mary Schlais in Uptown Minneapolis. When she refused his sexual advances, he stabbed her more than a dozen times before throwing her body in a rural Wisconsin snowbank.

Samples of DNA were obtained from a winter hat left at the scene. Years later, forensic genealogy traced the sample to Miller. He was arrested on Nov. 7, 2024 at an Owatonna assisted living facility.

During his arrest last fall, Miller confessed to killing Schlais. During his March court hearing, he pleaded no contest and was sentenced in March to life in prison for Schlais' death.

Miller's known criminal history from 1974 to his arrest in 2024 includes just two arrests.

In 1994, he was arrested and convicted for driving under the influence of alcohol. In 2014, he was convicted in Iowa for possession of drug paraphernalia and public intoxication.

Miller moved to the Owatonna assisted living facility just months before his arrest for Schlais' murder.

In the decade before that, Miller resided in an Austin, Minn. apartment building, located across the street from the Austin Police Department.

A representative from the Austin Police Department told Forum News Service they had no documented contact with Miller in his decade of residence.

Miller is currently serving his life sentence at the Dodge Correctional Facility in Wisconsin.

Miller's history is highlighted in "Joli Truelson: Connecting the Dots," a 5-part series on The Vault podcast.

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Dateline to air 'Murder in Minot' special on Anita Knutson killing

Jeremy Fugleberg — Fri, 02 May 2025 21:18:19 GMT

FARGO — Dateline will broadcast a special about the 2007 murder of Anita Knutson, and the ensuing trial of her college roommate Nichole Rice, on Friday, May 2, at 8 p.m. central.

The two-hour episode is titled "Murder in Minot" and will be reported by Dateline NBC correspondent Blayne Alexander, with exclusive interviews with Knutson's relatives and friends, as well as jury members and local law enforcement.

The episode synopsis: "Beloved 18-year-old college student Anita Knutson is found stabbed to death in her apartment. The case takes nearly eighteen years and the undying commitment of friends, family, and investigators to reach resolution."

Knutson, a student at Minot State University, was found dead in her off-campus apartment by her father on June 3, 2007. She was 18.

Her unsolved murder remained a cold case until March 16, 2022, when Minot police announced they had arrested Knutson's roommate, Nichole Rice.

Rice's trial was moved to Grand Forks due to its high-profile nature, and got underway on March 17.

Rice was found not guilty by a jury on March 26 after four hours of deliberation.

The verdict ignited an outpouring of emotion in the courtroom.

"Murdered in Minot" will air on NBC stations and stream via the Peacock app and on NBC's website.

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In just-released 'Footprint to Murder' documentary, WCCO reveals Jeanie Childs case

Jeremy Fugleberg — Fri, 02 May 2025 16:45:00 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS — A Minneapolis television station has produced a documentary about the Jeanie Childs murder in 1993.

"Footprint to Murder," an hour-long documentary by WCCO, a CBS affiliate, was released Monday, April 27. It includes in-depth interviews, police interrogation footage and evidence photos.

"Footprint to Murder" is available to view online for free on YouTube and on WCCO's website.

The documentary is a deep dive into what was a multi-decade-long cold case before dogged police work, with the help of new DNA techniques, solved the crime.

Jeanne Ann Childs, 35, was found dead in her apartment on Pillsbury Avenue South in south Minneapolis on June 13, 1993. She had been stabbed to death. Police never identified a suspect in Childs' murder, and it became a cold case.

"I know that my daughter was crying for me — I know she was," said Betty Eakman, Childs' mother, in the documentary.

Then in February 2019, police announced they had arrested Jerry Westrom, 52, of Isanti, Minnesota. They alleged they had matched DNA collected at the crime scene to Westrom's, as well as some bloody footprints in the apartment.

They had uploaded the then-unknown DNA to geneology website MyHeritage.com in 2018, which had pointed them toward Westrom. In 2019, authorities trailed Westrom for weeks before following him to a hockey game in Wisconsin, where they collected a napkin he discarded after buying a hot dog. The DNA matched.

On Aug. 22, 2022, after a weeklong trial, a jury deliberated for about two hours before convicting Westrom of Childs' murder. He was later sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The WCCO documentary was produced by investigative reporter Jennifer Mayerle, with photography and editing by Grand Verdon.

WCCO's online page for the documentary includes a detailed timeline and its YouTube page includes links to WCCO news coverage of the case as well as raw footage and full interviews.

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Read the investigative documents related to the 1972 slaying of Joli Truelson

Trisha Taurinskas — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 18:55:00 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS — Investigative documents related to the 1972 slaying of 16-year-old Joli Truelson show the Minneapolis Police Department destroyed and failed to document evidence.

Truelson was found dead on July 4, 1972 in the shallow waters of Minnehaha Creek, hours after she hitched a ride in Uptown Minneapolis . She died from blunt force trauma to the back of her head.

Her case has never been solved — and is now closed.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension report details three samples that were taken in for lab testing, including a hammer discovered in the trunk of a vehicle pulled over by law enforcement the day after Truelson's death.

There is no mention of the hammer — or the stop — in the Minneapolis Police Department file.

The hammer had what appeared to be possible spots of blood on the handle, according to the BCA report. Lab testing at the time determined the spots did not originate from human blood.

Samples from a pool of blood discovered near Truelson's body and a blood-soaked portion of a shirt found at the scene were tested.

The samples yielded two blood type results: Type A and Type O.

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Click the image above to view the BCA lab documents.

The Minneapolis Police Department investigative file for Truelson's case does not include results of BCA testing.

Image and PDF Viewer

Click the image above to view the Minneapolis Police Department report.

Minneapolis Police Department Sgt. Mark Suchta interviewed a potential suspect in Truelson's case in 2024, following the arrest of Jon K Miller for the 1974 slaying of 25-year-old Mary Schlais.

Both Truelson and Schlais were picked up while hitchhiking in Uptown Minneapolis. Schlais' body, which had sustained more than a dozen stab wounds, was found in a Wisconsin ditch.

Miller pleaded no contest and received a life sentence in March for the murder of Schlais.

The brief interview, featured in a recent Vault podcast series about Truelson, did not lead to a confession.

In an April meeting with the Minneapolis Police Department, family members of Truelson were told her case is closed — and they will not question Miller again.

Listen to the full five-part Joli Truelson: Connecting the Dots podcast series, which includes information found in these documents, by clicking here. The series is also available on all major podcast platforms.

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Podcast series looks to connect the dots in girl's 1972 murder

Trisha Taurinskas — Sat, 26 Apr 2025 13:40:00 GMT

It's been nearly 53 years since Joli Truelson was last seen alive by friends on July 3, 1972, when she hitchhiked a ride from Lake Calhoun in Uptown Minneapolis.

The following day, on the Fourth of July, her 16-year-old body was found — with fatal blows to the back of the head — in the shallow waters of Minneapolis' Minnehaha Creek. Her case has never been solved.

However, the case has striking similarities to another case that took investigators five decades to solve.

A new five-part podcast series takes listeners behind the scenes of a live investigation that examines circumstances surrounding Truelson's murder — and homes in on one potential suspect: Jon Keith Miller.

Police arrested Miller, 84, last fall for the 1974 slaying of 25-year-old Mary Schlais, who was also picked up hitchhiking in Uptown Minneapolis. Her body was discovered in a rural Dunn County, Wisconsin, snowbank hours later. She had been stabbed more than a dozen times.

Miller entered a "no contest" plea in March, and the conviction closes the chapter on a crime that went unsolved for more than 50 years.

The series, "Joli Truelson: Connecting the Dots," is the latest release from The Vault, a true-crime investigative podcast from Forum Communication Co.

The series features audio from Miller's Nov. 7, 2024, arrest — and confession — at an Owatonna assisted living facility for the murder of Schlais. Listeners hear that Miller first denied having anything to do with Schlais' murder, before eventually breaking down and confessing.

The podcast also includes audio of Miller being interviewed by a Minneapolis Police Department investigator for Truelson's death, along with audio from Miller's sentencing for the murder of Schlais.

In addition to the live footage, the podcast series takes listeners through Truelson's official Minneapolis Police Department investigative file, along with the corresponding forensics report, prepared by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

Miller's criminal history — and timeline — is also on display in this series.

An interview with one of Miller's survivors — his ex-wife — illustrates the type of violence Miller inflicted in the past. Court documents related to his known crimes, including a 1969 armed robbery, give listeners insight into the mind of Miller, who told one probation agent he believed he should be committed to a psychiatric institution.

Throughout the five-part series, the podcast aims to connect the dots in Truelson's case and Miller's known timeline of events — all while asking the questions: Did Miller have the means, motive and opportunity to kill Truelson?

Truelson's family weighs in on that question, too.

"Joli Truelson: Connecting the Dots" is available on The Vault podcast. It can be found wherever you listen to podcasts.

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