The cold case of a hitchhiker in Wisconsin was solved 50 years later after DNA was discovered in evidence extracted from a hat left at the scene by the murder suspect.
John Keith Miller, 84, was arrested Thursday after his “confirmed involvement” in the brutal stabbing of Mary Schleiss, whose body was found at a Springbrook intersection in February 1974.
Schleiss, just 25 years old, was hitchhiked to a Chicago art show that cold morning when his body was discovered. Investigators had few clues left behind that could be considered evidence. A stocking cap was found near her body, with several hairs missing from it. I was pulled.
But for 50 years, there was little police could do about them until the Dunn County Sheriff's Office partnered with the Genetic Genealogy Division at Ramapo College in New Jersey. CBS News reported.
Researchers used the hair to create genetic profiles from which they were able to identify potential relatives.
In the process, Miller's daughter was born, ensuring that Hare's DNA was tied to her.
When police interviewed Miller, who now lives in Minnesota, on Thursday, he initially denied knowing anything about the murders, but denied it when presented with DNA evidence.
A gray-haired man in his 80s said he saw Schleiss hitchhiking on the side of the road that night and came to pick him up, according to an arrest criminal complaint cited by CBS News.
After driving away, the man began asking her for “sexual contact,” but when she refused, he pulled out a knife and began stabbing her in the back, striking her as she tried to defend herself, according to the complaint. He said he started cutting her.
He then parked his car and began hiding her body in a snowbank, but when a car passed, he panicked and drove off – leaving behind a hat that would be associated with him 50 years later.
“As he passed, the man just stared at him. “I'll never forget that face,” Mary Dodge said, CBS News reported. The man who drove away Miller was a neighbor, Denny Anderson, police said.
Police said Miller was “pretty calm about what happened” when he confessed.
“I believe it must be a comfort to him after living with this for 50 years. I'm sure it was on his mind almost every day,” Dunn County Sheriff Kevin Bycked told reporters Friday. According to CNN.
“Anyone with a conscience would think so. So personally I think he's done fighting.”
Vigdo called the arrests “a huge victory for our agency,” explaining that for decades, officers assigned to cold cases always came up empty-handed, and without the help of Ramapo College. I explained that it might have been a smoke.
“Government agencies can spend thousands of dollars sending DNA samples to private labs across the country to get results, but we had universities willing to help with this process,” he said. said.
Before Mr. Miller became involved, for many years the main suspect in Mr. Schleiss's murder was Randall Woodfield. He was briefly a member of the Green Bay Packers, but was later sent to prison on murder charges. He is suspected of being the “I-5 killer” who killed many people in the 1980s.
