(Image via kare11.com)

Staff Writer: Akshit Bagga

Email: abagga@umassd.edu

Do you remember a dramatic movie where justice for a murder victim was delayed for decades? A similar mystery has been uncovered as an 84-year-old man was arrested in connection with a murder he committed 50 years ago.  

In 1974, Mary Schlais, a young artist, was hitchhiking from her hometown in Wisconsin to an art show in Chicago, traveling through Minnesota. Little did she know that the road she was walking on led to her death. 

On February 15, 1974, Dunn County police authorities found her stabbed to death on a road near Dunn County, Wisconsin, approximately 75 miles from Minneapolis.  

Decades went by in the hope of justice for Mary.  

Fifty years later, genetic genealogy finally led the investigating authorities to arrest an 84-year-old man in the cold-blooded murder of Ms. Schlais. Jon. K Miller was arrested and taken into custody from his home in Owatonna, Minnesota. 

Officers from the Dunn County police department presented him with evidence leading him to confess the homicide crime that he once committed.  

In 1974, a stocking cap was found at the crime scene, but the hairs on that hat did not find any match in the Combined DNA Index System. Also, an eyewitness reported seeing the suspect and his vehicle, but none of these helped the authorities come to a conclusion in those years.  

It was only last year that the Sheriff’s Office partnered with Ramapo College in New Jersey and opened the case files again, this time to solve the case using investigative genetic genealogy.  

Genetic Genealogy is the technique of combining DNA profiling and DNA testing with other traditional genealogical methods to infer a genetic relationship between individuals. This process is used to create family history profiles and by citizen science groups working on research and academic studies.  

David Gurney, the director of the Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG) team at Ramapo College, iterated that their team compared the DNA found at the murder scene with the family trees available in public databases on the Internet, eventually finding Miller’s relatives. 

David said, “Our work begins once a genetic profile is developed from a biological sample that has been uploaded to two consumer genetic genealogy databases, Family Tree DNA and Gedmatch Pro.” 

The Assistant Director of IGG, Caireen Binder said, “With cooperation from some of the cousins of Jon Miller, the DNA cousins of Jon Miller, we were able to figure out who the unknown relative was.” 

Gurney’s team has been working on 75 such cases and has provided 17 leads to the police for this case alone. They help the sheriff’s office with leads and aren’t involved in or related to any arrest proceedings.  

Upon questioning, Miller narrated to the police that he saw Schlais hitchhiking on the side of the road and picked her up. After driving her off for a while, he started asking for sexual contact, and when she refused and tried to defend herself, Jon pulled out a knife and stabbed her in the back. 

He then pulled over and began hiding her body in the snow, but then a car drove by, and he panicked and took off, leaving his hat behind that led the police to him, albeit years later.  

Initially, evidence from the IGG team led the investigators to Jon’s cousins, however that did not directly lead to the culprit. Police later investigated the angle of Jon being adopted and eventually found his door.

Authorities specify Miller mentioning, “He did inform us that as soon as he had opened the door, he knew why we were there.”

Had Mary been alive, she would have celebrated her 76th birthday on November 4th, the day Miller was arrested.