VIRGINIA, Minn. 鈥� wondering if he'd get any answers as to who killed his 83-year-old mother, Leona Mary Maslowski. For a brief period, he thought he'd received an answer when a suspect was charged.
But in the eight years since those charges were dismissed, no new progress has been made in the case, according to officials with the Virginia Police Department.
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"The last piece of correspondence that I got from anybody from the St. Louis County Attorney's office stated it would remain an open case, but since that time, I haven't heard nothing at all," said Jim, now a resident of Wichita, Kansas. "I don't know if there's anything to further research or what else they could do."
The Maslowski family
Leona Mary Maslowski was born Oct. 7, 1903, in Eveleth, Minnesota, and spent her whole life as a resident of the Iron Range. She married Adolph Maslowski and raised four children. The family home was a duplex in Virginia, Minnesota, at 328 Seventh St. S., where the Maslowskis lived in the bottom half while renting out the top half. Leona worked as a school teacher before marrying Adolph.
"She was a very caring, very engaging but rigid woman. A very disciplined environment," Jim said. "I think it helped all of us 鈥� it certainly did me. She pointed me in the right direction, to go into the military and make a career out of it."
After his father died, Jim said his mother remained in the family home while her children spread across the country, returning to visit occasionally.
Jim is the only surviving member of the Maslowski family after the death of his brother last fall. The brothers didn't remain very close after his mother's murder, outside of an annual duck hunt in northern Minnesota.
Oct. 5, 1987
What else can they do? You have to accept it. It's reality. It's sad and unfortunate.
A friend found Leona Maslowski dead in her duplex on Oct. 5, 1987, having been stabbed, beaten and strangled, according to an autopsy report. Police never found the knife that was the source of the stab wounds on her body. An Old Spice bottle was suspected to have been used in the attack.
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Reports at the time cited a party happening in the upper level of the duplex the night before, but police had no leads to follow despite the evidence.
Jim Maslowski was enlisted in the Navy and stationed in Annapolis, Maryland, when he received the call about his mother鈥檚 death.
"There were some suspicions that someone had come down from the crowd that was up at the party," Jim said. "And that my mother confronted them, and she was a feisty lady, so I can envision it. But there was nothing for quite some time."
According to later reports in the Duluth News Tribune, there were fingerprints found on the bedroom door of the lower duplex, but no matches were located at the time. Evidence was saved and occasionally tested by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for matches.
The palm print on the door
Jim was retired from the U.S. Navy as a rear admiral by the time he got another phone call regarding his mother's case in 2015. He said he hadn't expected to hear anything more since so long had passed.
According to a Duluth News Tribune report from 2015, a potential match for the palm print on the door was identified for 45. He would have been 16 at the time of the homicide.
Cameron was reportedly at the party in the unit above Leona's apartment. When interviewed by law enforcement the first time, Cameron denied any involvement, but allegedly confessed to having a confrontation with Leona that night in her apartment, while denying any use of a knife.
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Cameron was arrested and charged in 2015, but a year later, his defense attorneys successfully suppressed the alleged confession due to a judge ruling it a "highly coercive" interrogation where BCA agents spoke for "nearly 90% of the time."
Cameron was also reportedly led to believe that he could be tried as a juvenile and that the fingerprint evidence would be enough to convict him. that without the statements, there was no probable cause to proceed, and dismissed the charges against Cameron.
Jim said he felt disappointed with having to "go back to square one."
"It's unfortunate. It'll always be a sticking point in all of our lives 鈥� my life, anyways," he said. "You always think about it. I think of my mom and the injustice there."
Seeking new leads
That was the last time Jim has heard anything regarding the case.
According to Virginia Police Chief Nicole Young-Mattson, there "have been no new breaks in the case since 2016," but it is still considered open.
"Evidence collected in 1987 has been examined and processed by the MN BCA lab several times with no further leads, no further fingerprint identification and no DNA clues at this time," Young-Mattson said. "If further information were to be received, we would pursue and investigate."
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Maslowski doubts anything more will come forth.
"That's the $64,000 question. What else can they do?" Jim said. "You have to accept it. It's reality. It's sad and unfortunate. It's something I live with every day."
The Trust Project
