DUNN COUNTY, Wis. — More than 50 years after a Minneapolis woman was stabbed to death, an arrest has been made in the cold case, authorities in western Wisconsin confirmed, adding he was identified as a suspect with the help of genetic genealogy.
A first-degree murder charge was filed Thursday against Jon Keith Miller of Owatonna, court records filed in Dunn County show. He is 84 today, but was 33 on Feb. 15, 1974.
That's the day 25-year-old Mary Schlais was discovered dead in the town of Spring Brook in Dunn County, Wisconsin. Authorities say she left her Minneapolis home and was hitchhiking to an art show in Chicago. Just a few hours later, someone called authorities to report seeing a man throw her body out of a car before driving away.
According to the Dunn County Sheriff's Office, her autopsy showed she had "more than a dozen stab wounds and defensive cuts to hands, indicating she had put up a big struggle with her killer."
Dunn County Sheriff Kevin Bygd confirmed to KARE 11 Miller has been arrested in this case.
In a statement released Thursday night, he said many tips, leads, and interviews were conducted over the past five decades, with several pieces of evidence being examined and reexamined.
In recent years, Bygd said his department worked with Ramapo College in New Jersey and its team of genetic genealogists. He said through investigative genealogy a viable suspect was identified.
