歪歪漫画

WARREN, Minn. 鈥� Veronica Safranski spent the evening of Oct. 26, 1996, preparing to transform her appearance.

It was the Saturday before Halloween, the unofficial celebration evening for those who have outgrown trick-or-treating 鈥� and Safranski was going out dressed as Pocahantas.

She made her way to Mick鈥檚 Bar in Warren with a group of friends. At some point throughout the evening, she left.

She hasn鈥檛 been seen since.

For decades, Melanie Safranski Noyes and her three siblings have spent holidays, birthdays and sleepless nights wondering what happened to their mom that night.

Noyes was 16 years old when her mother vanished, with two younger siblings and an older sister, who was just shy of 21 years old at the time.

They hold close the memory of her laugh, and the way it felt to be held in her arms. What they want most now, though, are answers 鈥� and to finally lay their mother to rest, alongside family members who have passed on.

"It would be such a blessing for her to come home and, if she did pass away that night, to come and be buried," Noyes told Forum News Service.

Investigators initially believed Safranski voluntarily left town, leaving her children and friends behind.

Her family knew better.

鈥淭hat would never have been like her, because her kids were everything to her,鈥� Noyes said.

The rush to assumption meant critical aspects of the initial investigation were overlooked. It wasn鈥檛 until recently that investigators began interviewing friends Safranski went out with the night she disappeared.

Initial searches conducted throughout Marshall County yielded no results, despite numerous efforts by law enforcement to search every possible area they believed she could be.

"We've drained ponds, we've done searches in culverts, and we've had cadaver dogs," Marshall County Sheriff Jason Boman told Forum News Service.

A belt believed to belong to Safranski was discovered in Marshall County in late 1996. The belt matched the description of the one she was wearing, as part of her costume, the night she went missing.

Safranski's family has not seen the belt. The belt did not result in any DNA evidence.

Image courtesy of the Minnesota BCA

The last known person to allegedly see Safranski that evening was Kevin Scott Skjerven, who had been attending the same party at Mick鈥檚 Bar.

A friend who attended the party with Safranski said she last saw her at 12:30 a.m., according to the National Missing and Identified Persons System.

After the friend went to the bathroom, she searched the bar for Safranski, but she was gone.

Boman recently confirmed with Forum News Service that Skjerven remains a suspect.

Skjerven has not been charged with any crime related to Safranski's disappearance.

Witnesses at the bar told investigators they saw Safranski leave with a male in a black 1997 Dodge pickup truck with Oregon license plates.

Boman would not confirm that the truck belonged to Skjerven.

Investigators honed in on Skjerven because he was the last person to be seen with Safranski 鈥� and because he had a known history of sexual misconduct.

In 1987, Skjerven was convicted of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct, and was sentenced to 22 months in prison. The crime occurred in Anoka County, Minnesota.

Skjerven was initially charged with additional charges related to the incident, including two second-degree criminal sexual conduct charges and kidnapping. Those charges were dropped, resulting in one fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct conviction.

Documents associated with his conviction are no longer available through the Minnesota Judicial Branch.

A background check conducted on behalf of Forum News Service indicated no additional convictions in other states.

Skjerven recently moved back to Marshall County, after living in Wisconsin.

Attempts to reach Skjerven for this story were not successful.

In a , Skjerven said he was just trying to help Safranski, who had allegedly told him that friends had left her at the bar.

"She like followed me out the door," Skjerven said.

In the 2016 interview, Skjerven said he did nothing wrong.

Noyes was 16 years old when her mother vanished. Her older sister was just shy of 21, and was living in Grand Forks.

Noyes had a younger sister and brother at home. When their mom went missing, their lives drastically changed.

While navigating grief, Safranski's children also dealt with accusations against their father, Ed Safranski.

The couple had been in the midst of separation, and rumors began to swirl that he was involved.

Yet Noyes said the accusations were baseless 鈥� and caused additional turmoil for the family, particularly when community members began thoroughly searching their father's land.

"My dad was a farmer, so they trampled on a lot of his fields," Noyes said. "A lot of fields were planted. They didn't care. But in reality, nobody understood the aftermath of that either. They ruined a lot of the crops. That's my dad's living."

Ed Safranski is not a suspect, according to Marshall County Sheriff's Department investigators.

Aside from the sadness and hardship that came with her mother's disappearance, Noyes said she and her siblings have warm memories of their mom.

Photo courtesy of the Minnesota BCA

Safranski was a talented artist, who shared her love of drawing with her children.

"My mom and I would at times sit down, and she would teach me how to draw," Noyes said.

That love of creating beauty extended to the way she handled her own appearance, too.

"As she would be getting ready, I would sit down on the floor behind her and we would chit chat about anything and everything," Noyes said. "I remember thinking, wow she is really good at this. I hope one day I can be too."

Safranski was a successful Mary Kay consultant. When she went missing, she was wearing a Mary Kay brand ring, comprised with diamonds in the shape of an S.

Her ring has never been recovered.

At this point in the investigation, Noyes and Boman admit that the likely ending to this case will result in the person 鈥� or people 鈥� involved with Safranski's disappearance coming forward.

Despite that, he said his team is committed to following every lead.

"I will tell you that we have been doing as far as working a cold case, is that when we do get information, we always run with it," Boman said. "We always go no matter how far fetched it is. We've always done it."

Boman said they'll continue to do so, until Safranski's family has the answers they're looking for 鈥� and can finally bring their mom home.