84-Year-Old Man Arrested in Wisconsin in Connection to 50-Year-Old Cold Case

An 84-year-old Minnesota man was arrested after new genetic technology linked him to the unsolved murder of a woman in the 1970s.

The Dunn County Sheriff’s Office in Wisconsin made an announcement. Press release He said Jon K. Miller was arrested Thursday, Nov. 7, for the murder of Mary K. Schlais, who was found dead near an intersection in Dunn County, Wisconsin, on Feb. 15, 1974.

According to the initial police investigation, Schlais, originally from Minneapolis, was “believed to have hitchhiked” from his hometown to an art exhibit in Chicago.

“There was a suspect believed to be connected to the murder of Mary Schlais and an eyewitness who observed the suspect vehicle,” police said in a statement.

But even though investigators reviewed “clues” and “leads” and conducted interviews in the case, they were unable to identify a “viable suspect.”

But then, thanks to advances in DNA technology and investigative genetic genealogy, where police worked with a team of Genetic Genealogists from Ramapo College in Mahwah, N.J., they were finally able to identify Miller, from Owatonna, Minn., as the suspect.

The Dunn County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that Miller “is in custody and awaiting extradition to Wisconsin.” It is not known whether he has legal representation to comment on his behalf.

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Dunn County Sheriff Kevin Bygd said at a press conference: CNNHe also explained that solving the case was “a major victory for our agency” and that it did not come without challenges.

He said Miller’s pedigree, in particular, has presented detectives with a “twist” since he was adopted.

“These guys need to do a lot more to get over this turn of events over the last few weeks… We sat down with him and got him to confirm his involvement in her murder yesterday,” Bygd said. CNN.

The sheriff also said at the press conference that this is the first time their office has used genetic genealogy to solve a case.

“I was actually sitting in a deer stand yesterday when I got a text from investigator (Dan) Westland (who was working on the case) and I was having a hard time containing my excitement,” Bygd said, according to CNN.

He added: “I’m done with any researcher who figures this out and carries on with this and gets bogged down.”