The strip of rural Minnesota in which I grew up has had a mystery that's lasted nearly twenty years. In May, 1989, skeletal remains of a young woman were found in a median approximately 10 miles SW of my house along US HWY 61. They had lain there approximately seven years prior to discovery.
Recently, those remains were identified.
It was a novel idea that lead to the identification. The state created decks of playing cards with cold cases of missing persons and unidentified bodies on them, in the hope that someone would recognize someone and call in a tip.
In an article in the Rochester Post Bulletin, we learn that the cards have begun their first success.
The remains of Deana Marie Patnode of Inver Grove Heights were identified through the deck, bringing some closure to her family and friends. However, as one door closes, another opens as a homicide investigation into her death.
Hopefully more memories are jogged and evidence uncovered, and her family can have full closure.
To view the deck, please follow this link. Even if you've never lived in Minnesota, I would ask that you please check it out. You never know what memories might get stirred or see a face that, though younger, looks eerily familiar.