St. Paul Family Gets Closure In Grandmother's Murder
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A Minnesota family now has answers they thought they would never get. They finally know who killed their beloved grandmother.
Lillian Kuller was strangled in her St. Paul home off Grand Avenue in 1987.
The 81-year-old left behind a devastated and puzzled family.
The case was unsolved until Friday, when Michael Anthony Withers, who was in prison for a series of burglaries, pleaded guilty to killing Kuller.
Cindy Brill was 27 when she lost her grandmother, Mark Kuller was 23.
Brill says of Lillian was, "She was feisty, vivacious, inquisitive," Brill said.
Brill says she loved her banana cream pie.
"Her mushroom barley soup was spectacular," Mark Kuller said.
Lillian Kuller is still making her grandchildren proud. The lifelong dancer toured the country and caught the eye of the man with whom she would build a family.
Elegant into her 80s, the new widow lived in a St. Paul home. That home is also where she died.
Brill lived in Colorado at the time.
"I don't remember who called me but I do remember the minute I picked up the phone this feeling came over me, and my knees buckled," Brill said.
Their grandmother was strangled in the night by an intruder. Nothing was stolen, but for Lillian's family, everything had been taken.
"You don't think anyone would do something that violent to someone who's old and frail," Mark Kuller said.
But they did, and for three decades, the case went unsolved.
"For us to not know for so long. And what I did about every year or two to kind of keep it in their hearts and in their minds to do that too," Mark Kuller said.
St. Paul's cold case officers stayed on it. Even after they say funding for the cold case unit was cut.
"A year-and-a-half ago I got a call and they got a hit on the DNA and we're going to pursue it to its end point," Mark Kuller said.
The break came when the BCA did DNA testing on fingernail clippings. It led them to a Stillwater inmate with a history of burglaries, and Friday, he pleaded guilty to killing Lillian.
"I can't be more than happy enough to know he's gonna be put away for a very long time and if he gets out, he'll be a very old man and he won't be a danger to society anymore," Mark Kuller said.
And now, after three decades of unrest, Lillian's family has some peace.
Lillian's grandchildren say the reason they agreed to sit down for such a personal interview is that they hope to raise awareness for cold case unit funding.
They say their case proves cold case investigations work, especially with new DNA tools.