WI WI - Mary Schlais, 25, Dunn County, 15 February 1974

[Fede]

The body of 25-year-old Mary Schlais was found in a snowy ditch 90 miles east of the Twin Cities in Dunn County, Wis. three hours after she left her apartment to hitchhike to an art show in Chicago. Schlais had been stabbed more than a dozen times.
One of the key clues is a black and white photo of a man found in Schlais’ apartment. The man in the photo has never been identified and police have appealed for help from the public to help solve the brutal murder that happened February 15, 1974.

Here are some articles on Mary Schlais murder:
Detectives Exhume Body in 1974 Murder Case (this is a very recent article. Her body was exhumed in 2019)
Did the 'I-5 Killer' Murder a Minnesota Woman in 1974? | What Lies Beyond
Cold Case Revisited: Mary Schlais Found Murdered In 1974

 

[Quoththeraven]

Detectives are actively searching for 25-year-old Mary Schlais' killer. Schlais was murdered in 1974 and her body dumped in southeast Dunn County.

The former Dunn County sheriff says a witness saw a man take her body out of a trunk and drag it to the side of 408th Avenue. That's near Elk Creek Lake about 4 miles west of Eau Claire.

"Well, we bought the house in 1970," says Mary Dodge, who still remembers when Schlais’ body was found about 200 yards away.

She was home that afternoon and still lives in that same house. She remembers that day when a delivery man told her there was a body just a quarter mile from her home.

“I asked him what was wrong and he said there's a girl's body down at the end of the road," Dodge says.

Dodge's neighbor told investigators he saw a man dragging a body from a gold or orange car.

“He saw the body as the guy opened up the trunk he saw the body," Dodge says.

That neighbor, Denny Anderson, has since passed away but former Dunn County Sheriff Daryl “Corky” Spagnoletti says he remembers the call on February 15, 1974, as if it were yesterday. He says before officers even got to the scene they knew it was a murder case.

Detectives Exhume Body in 1974 Murder Case

 

[Quoththeraven]

Mary Kathleen Schlais was an artist and honors grad from the University of Minnesota when she was murdered in February 1974.

Schlais left her Uptown Minneapolis apartment to go to an art show in Chicago.

Her body was found several hours later in a snowbank off a rural road 90 miles away in Dunn County, Wis. She had been stabbed more than a dozen times.

1) A composite color sketch of the killer
2) A photo found in her apartment and a sketch of the killer.
3) Schlais' body lying in the snow, partially covered with snow by the killer in an attempt to hide it.

 

[Quoththeraven]

Another article from Eau Claire Leader Telegram February 16, 1974 showing sketch of suspect described as a white male between ages of 25-25, 6 feet tall, 180 lbs, medium length auburn hair and thick mustache.

 

[Quoththeraven]

First article states car found in Marathon County might have been involved in slaying but there were no follow up articles confirming that.

Second article states she was stabbed while in a standing position so that must have occurred by the car where the witness saw the suspect and Schlais fighting. The police said the body was still warm when they got there. Article states she was also struck between the eyes with a heavy object, making visual identification difficult.

 

[Quoththeraven]

This abduction and murder case may or may not be connected to the Mary Schlais abduction and murder. I haven't researched it yet. It involves an ex-CIA agent. The victim was Joan Butterbach who left Waukesha for Minnesota in October 1971. She was found in April, 1977. Sheriff Spagnoletti of Dunn County was in charge of both investigations.

Note that in my post#5 above, an automobile was located in Menomonie that may have been involved in the abduction of Mary Schlais. It was at an auto shop. Was it the same auto shop that Joan Butterbach had been at before she disappeared? The article link below has a good story about it. (Ignore the warning when you go to the page and click advanced.)

Incredibly, townspeople diving in the lake had known the car was in Tainter Lake for four years prior to it being found but never bothered to report it to the authorities.

"During the summer of 1972, local kids discovered a submerged vehicle in Tainter Lake, Menomonie, WI. They used it to dive from into the cool waters. (This “lake” looks more like a river as it is approximately 50 yards wide. On one side is a Supper Club called Jake’s and directly across, on the other shoreline, is the boat launch that was used to launch the car into the water). The kids had reported to authorities that the car was there and went so far as to break off a windshield wiper to prove their finding. It would be safe to say that many (if not all) of the town’s 11,112 residents knew there was a submerged car in the water. This included the Sheriff of Dunn County, Sheriff Daryl “Corky” Spagnoletti, who took no interest or action. Why?"

https://www.citizensagainsthomicide.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/CAH-Newsletter-July-2019.pdf

Spagnoletti's obit.
Daryl 'Corky' Spagnoletti

 

[imstilla.grandma]

DUNN COUNTY (WQOW) - On February 15, 1974, Mary Schlais was found alongside a road in Dunn county, and her murderer was never found.

25-year-old Schlais was on her way from Minneapolis to Chicago for an art show.

On that fateful Friday afternoon, she was found stabbed to death in the township of Spring Brook in Dunn county.

Authorities say there was one witness who saw Schlais's body get thrown into a ditch.

At the time, the Dunn County sheriff's office could not find her killer, and half a century later, the case remains unsolved.

"All of the reports, everything that's been done in the last 50 years, it's a lot to read and understand, the case of what's been done, what needs to be done, what can we relook at," said Sargent Jason Stalker of the Dunn County Sheriff's Office. "There's just a lot to digest, I guess. That's the biggest hurdle first off."

50 years later, murder of Minneapolis woman remains unsolved

DUNN COUNTY (WQOW) - On February 15, 1974, Mary Schlais was found alongside a road in Dunn county, and her murderer was never found.

www.wqow.com