Minnesota man Jon Miller, 84, charged with killing hitchhiking woman in Wisconsin in 1974
OWATONNA, Minn. — An 84-year-old southern Minnesota man has been charged with murder in a 50-year-old cold case once thought to be the work of a notorious serial killer and former Green Bay Packer.
On Feb. 15, 1974, Mary K. Schlais was found dead in an intersection in the Township of Spring Brook, Dunn County, according to the sheriff's office there. Police said it was a homicide.
Schlais was from Minneapolis and police believe she was hitchhiking to Chicago for an art show.
Decades went by as investigators tracked leads, conducted interviews and examined evidence. The Dunn County Sheriff's Office said it used genetic evidence to find and arrest Jon Miller from Owatonna.
Authorities charged Miller with first-degree murder on Thursday, according to court records. He is in custody, awaiting extradition to Wisconsin.
Previous suspect was serial killer, former Green Bay Packer
In 2009, Schlais' body was exhumed and DNA testing allowed investigators to identify a suspect two years later: Randall Woodfield, a one-time Green Bay Packers draft pick who would later become known as the I-5 killer.
Authorities linked Woodfield to dozens of killings along Interstate 5 from Washington to California in the 1980s. He is in prison in connection to one murder, but has never confessed to any of the killings.
Woodfield was traveling from Portland to Green Bay at the time of Schlais' killing, authorities determined, and he matched a witness's suspect description. Woodfield was never further connected to or charged with Schlais' slaying.
