MN MN - Joseph 'Joe' Behrend, 36, Minneapolis, 18 Aug 1989

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http://insidempd.com/cold-case-files/

Joe Behrend – Murdered August 1989

Joe Behrend left Madison, South Dakota to chase his dreams and launch his music career. As a keyboardist with the Flamin’ Ohs, he was part of a group that was one of the first to record a music video for MTV. The group was extremely popular regionally and Behrend was embarking on a new music project when he was murdered in 1989. He had been bludgeoned to death in the music room of his apartment on Columbus Avenue South. Family members, friends and musical colleagues have continued to wonder who killed Joe, and why. Investigators share their frustration and continue to work this case, but need a little help from someone, anyone, with any information that may lead to the arrest of the person who murdered musician Joe Behrend.

 

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[video=youtube;CReGCIlWTf8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CReGCIlWTf8[/video]

 

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http://www.startribune.com/80s-minneapolis-band-the-flamin-oh-s-live-on/390632041/

An early studio shot of the Flamin’ Oh’s, with Joseph Behrend, left, who was murdered in 1989. Drummer Bob Meide died in 2010 at age 59.

They looked like rock stars: Singer Robert Wilkinson with that Beatle-y mop top, guitarist Johnny Rey and bassist Jody Ray with their Jeff Beck rooster hairdos, drummer Bob Meide with his I-could-win-a-Ringo Starr-look-alike-contest-except-for-my-shaggy-hair look. And then there was keyboardist Joseph Behrend, a visual outlier with his balding professorial vibe.

It was 1977, and they called themselves Flamingo. In an era when the punkish Suicide Commandos and the arty Suburbs were dominating the Twin Cities rock scene, Flamingo was the local new-wave band with the most commercial potential.

 

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http://kstp.com/news/minneapolis-po...980-rocker-flamin-ohs-joseph-behrend/4120546/

"We found some things that were suspected – blood drops – that we couldn't find any info that those had been processed," Moore said. As well, a fingerprint taken from the apartment door jam, had not been tested. 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS obtained the police report that lists 20 pieces of evidence collected from the apartment that was in the 3700 block of Columbus Avenue South. The murder weapon is listed as Behrend’s red electric Epiphone guitar

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"It's a very time consuming effort to go into a cold case," Moore said.

In an interview, she said she has eliminated members of the band, co-workers from Behrend’s day job, and a previously named suspect off of her killer list. Instead, the veteran investigator tells 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that she's focusing on another acquaintance – but she isn't saying who.
According to the 1989 police report, detectives questioned a neighbor who recalled hearing a woman’s voice and a man’s voice coming from Behrend’s apartment the night of the murder.
But she told police that she was unsure if it was sound from a television show or from people actually inside the apartment.

 

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Cold Case Squad takes on the never-solved murder of Joseph Behrend
Cold Case Squad takes on the never-solved murder of Joseph Behrend

Photo Gallery - Cold Case Squad takes on the never-solved murder of Joseph Behrend
''Twenty-seven years after her husband was bludgeoned to death with his own guitar, Barb Behrend is hopeful she will soon be able to put the mystery of who killed him to rest.''

2016: New Mpls. Cold Case Squad seeks answers in decades-old homicides - StarTribune.com

Jerry Holt – Star Tribune

''
Gallery: Sgts. Chris Karkostas, left, and Sgt. Jane Moore, members of the Minneapolis Cold Case Squad, talked about the unsolved murder of Joseph Behrend. The red guitar is believed to be the murder weapon.''
''In a warehouse on the edge of Minneapolis, boxes filled with yellow and pink duplicates are stacked next to mounds of evidence: furniture, luggage, bicycles — and Joseph Behrend’s prized red Epiphone guitar. This is where Sgts. Jane Moore and Chris Karakostas look for answers.

As the force behind the MPD’s rejuvenated Cold Case Squad, they pore through old files and follow leads in cases that reached the limits of what science could — and witnesses would — tell them. Over time, though, labs have gotten better; people loosen their tongues, “and the answer,” Karakostas said, “is probably in that box.”