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

 

[dotr]

By Trisha Taurinskas Aug 2 '24
Witness saw a young woman’s body thrown from a car. Investigators are still looking for her killer

Mary Schlais was last seen being thrown from a moving vehicle in Dunn County in February 1974. Investigators discovered her body covered in stab wounds. The 50-year-old case remains unsolved.
Photo courtesy of the Dunn County Sheriff's (Wis.) Office
''The 25-year-old University of Minnesota graduate was hitchhiking her way from the Twin Cities to Chicago on Feb. 15, 1974, to attend an art show when she was brutally stabbed and thrown from a vehicle.

Schlais’ body was found on a dead-end road in Dunn County, roughly 90 miles east of her Minneapolis apartment. The discovery of her body came after a witness called in to report seeing a man throw a woman out of a vehicle at around 1:30 p.m.''

'The suspect was described as a white male who stood about 6 feet tall. He had auburn hair and a thick, dark mustache.'
''The assailant was driving a gold-colored car resembling a Chevy Vega.''

 

[coleebell]

An arrest has been made!

Genetic testing leads to arrest of Owatonna man 50 years after Minneapolis woman was found dead in Wisconsin

 

[dotr]

• By: Katie Phernetton Nov 7, 2024
• Arrest made in 1974 Dunn County cold case murder
• 'The Dunn County Sheriff's Office said Thursday, Jon K Miller, 84, is in custody in connection to the murder of Mary K Schlais. He is being charged with first degree murder.'

 

[summergirl1]

Minnesota man Jon Miller, 84, charged with killing hitchhiking woman in Wisconsin in 1974

An 84-year-old southern Minnesota man has been charged with murder in a 50-year-old Wisconsin cold case once thought to be the work of a notorious serial killer and former Green Bay Packer.

www-cbsnews-com.cdn.ampproject.org

 

[Quoththeraven]

Read the official criminal complaint with mugshot here...

Minnesota man charged with murder of woman found in Dunn County more than 50 years ago

The arrest is in connection to the 1974 homicide of Mary Schlais.

www.wsaw.com

 

[Dotta]

Breakthrough in unsolved murder after DNA discovery on old hat

Mary K. Schlais, 25, was found dead in 1974 after vanishing while hitchhiking in Wisconsin.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Teamir]

I love seeing old cases get solved like this - it’s amazing!

 

[Quoththeraven]

I love seeing old cases get solved like this - it’s amazing!

Newspapers.com shows this ex-con has a pretty long criminal record reaching all the way to Arizona and New Mexico back to the 1960's. The Arizona Daily Sun Wed Sep 29 1965 page 12 shows he was arrested in Flagstaff, AZ for burglary which implicated him in another burglary in Austin, MN.

His last arrest for a crime (that he got caught for) was in 1988 In Austin, MN. for no insurance, illegal use of license plates, allowing an open bottle and no Minnesota registration at age 48, with an address in Mandeville (Park?), IA, according to the Austin Daily Herald, Thur, Dec 1, 1988, page 13. So him murdering Mary Schlais didn't end his criminal activity. I bet there's more out there.

 

[Teamir]

Newspapers.com shows this ex-con has a pretty long criminal record reaching all the way to Arizona and New Mexico back to the 1960's. The Arizona Daily Sun Wed Sep 29 1965 page 12 shows he was arrested in Flagstaff, AZ for burglary which implicated him in another burglary in Austin, MN.

His last arrest for a crime (that he got caught for) was in 1988 In Austin, MN. for no insurance, illegal use of license plates, allowing an open bottle and no Minnesota registration at age 48, with an address in Mandeville (Park?), IA, according to the Austin Daily Herald, Thur, Dec 1, 1988, page 13. So him murdering Mary Schlais didn't end his criminal activity. I bet there's more out there.

View attachment 544153

I wonder if his DNA will match any other crimes. How does that work? Does CODIS automatically check it, once his DNA is entered?

 

[dotr]

'Officials, family of Mary Schlais speak on charges in 1974 Wis. cold case killing | Live coverage'​

 

[imstilla.grandma]

A key piece of evidence -- a stocking cap -- was left at the crime scene, but the hairs on the hat had no matches in the Combined DNA Index System, the law enforcement database known as CODIS, according to the sheriff's office.

Ramapo College students help solve 1974 cold case murder of hitch-hiker in Wisconsin

The 84-year-old's DNA was found to be a match on Nov. 4 -- which would have been Mary Schlais' 76th birthday, police noted.

abc7ny.com

 

[Quoththeraven]

'Officials, family of Mary Schlais speak on charges in 1974 Wis. cold case killing | Live coverage'​

Many of the people involved in this case are websleuther's. Just like us. I think these colleges, organizations and associated researchers deserve a big fat grant from the federal and state governments to further their research on other unsolved murder cases.

 

[PommyMommy]

NOV 22, 2024

https://www.wiproud.com/news/local-news/jon-miller-makes-first-appearance-in-mary-schlais-murder-trial/

• Jon Miller made his first appearance in court on Thurs, Nov 21st.
• He was scheduled for a preliminary hearing but still doesn't have an attorney.
• The hearing was rescheduled for Dec 4th.
• He was arrested Nov 7th after DNA linked him to Mary's murder.
• He is charged with first-degree murder.