DUNN COUNTY, Wis. — More than 50 years after a Minneapolis woman was stabbed to death while hitchhiking to Chicago, an elderly man stands charged with murder in a cold case that has stymied investigators for decades.
Dunn County Sheriff Kevin Bygd told reporters during a press conference that he was sitting in a deer stand Thursday when his investigators called him with the news they had arrested 84-year-old Jon Keith Miller for the death of a promising young artist back in February of 1974.
"I had trouble containing my excitement," Sheriff Bygd admitted.
A criminal complaint filed in Dunn County Circuit Court lays out the allegations against Miller, who was identified as a suspect with the help of genetic genealogy. Miller, now a resident of Owatonna, is 84 years old 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, Wis. Authorities said Schlais 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 a body out of a car before driving away.
Schlais was found in a snowbank with multiple stab wounds to her upper body, including her back. An 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."
Court documents filed Thursday said an orange and black stocking cap was located on the road near Schlais' body, and investigators recovered human hairs from it that did not belong to the victim.
After following tips and exhausting leads over the years, the Dunn County Sheriff's Office turned to investigative genetic genealogy experts at Ramapo College in New Jersey, who used DNA samples recovered from the stocking cap to identify potential suspects. The DNA led to interviews with people in Wyoming and Michigan who were potential relatives of the killer, which led to another trail that eventually pointed to Jon Miller.
The criminal complaint says when interviewed on Thursday, Nov. 7, Miller initially denied knowing anything about the homicide but when presented with the DNA evidence, he allegedly admitted to detectives that he picked up Schlais while she was hitchhiking and at one point asked her for sex. The suspect told his interrogators Schlais said no, and when she leaned forward at one point he reportedly grabbed a knife stowed above the passenger seat visor and stabbed her in the back. Miller indicated at that point Schlais was dead.
Investigators say Miller told them he pulled off the highway and attempted to hide Schlais' body in a snowbank but another vehicle drove by. He got scared and left the area, Miller allegedly confessed, leaving his stocking cap behind. He was shown a picture of the stocking cap that yielded the case-breaking DNA and reportedly admitted it was his. The 84-year-old was arrested, and booked into the Steele County jail.
During Friday's press conference, Sheriff Bygd was asked about Schlais, a U of M graduate, honor student and artist who was following her passion when she took off that morning for Chicago. He reflected on the times, and how stories like hers changed the way we live.
"In 1974, it wasn't that unusual for somebody to hitchhike their way from Minneapolis to Chicago. But it's stories like this that are the reasons we don't let our kids do it anymore," Bygd said. "A very bright young lady with a bright future in front of her, and her life was taken away way too young."
The sheriff, who has spent 35 years working law enforcement in Dunn County, noted that many of the deputies and investigators who worked hard to find Mary's killer "have gone to their own grave," and shared that he texted his predecessor and two former chief deputies, telling them the case is finally closed.
"I never gave up hope," he shared.
KARE 11 News interviewed Mary's brother Don Schlais in 2009 when authorities exhumed her body for additional DNA testing. At the time he called it "the last option" that hopefully would bring justice for his sister.
Now that the suspect is charged, Don Schlais who is nearly 80 himself said that he is "too old to have a lot of emotion about it anymore."
"I'm overwhelmed and surprised and it's just been so damn long," Don Schlais said.
He thanked the Dunn County officials who never gave up on his sister's case.
"I owe them a debt of gratitude," he said. "They really stepped up and did their best over the years."