MINNEAPOLIS - Minneapolis Police have made an arrest in the cold case murder of a woman who was killed back in 1980.
Mary Catherine Steinhart, age 22, was found stabbed to death inside her home at the Santa Rosa apartments at 3242 Girard Avenue South on November 25,1980.
A criminal complaint released Wednesday says her parents became worried when they didn't hear from Steinhart and asked her sister to check on her. It was then that her lifeless body was found laying on the floor of her bedroom.
An autopsy showed that Steinhart had been stabbed multiple times in the abomen, chest and head. Tests revealed that she had also been sexually assaulted before her death.
Despite their best efforts investigators were not able to locate a suspect.
In 2001 semen was recovered from evidence samples using new DNA technology. Still, homicide investigators were unable to match a known suspect.
The key to breaking the murder case came in 2010, when more samples were recovered from underneath Steinhart's fingernails, and on her bed sheets.
Those samples led police to 57-year-old Robert Skogstad, who was living in Kansas. Investigators learned that Skogstadwas the caretaker of Steinhart's building one year before the murder, and that he was on parole for a burglary he had committed.
In the years following Steinhart's murder the defendant was convicted of numerous crimes, including a burglary and sexual assault in California that got him classified as a sex offender.
Skogstad was arrested inKansas City, where he remains awaiting extradition. He is expected to arrive in Hennepin County within the week to face second degree murder charges.
The defendant denies knowing the victim or being involved in her murder.
