Did you know North Dakota has at least a dozen cold cases with one of them that dated back to 1945.
According to the attorney general’s website, there are actually 13, with one of them, the Anita Knutson case in Minot, recently in the news with a trial in Grand Forks. Nichole Rice who was on trial, was found not guilty.
But there are 12 others that remain open, but with few, if any leads who may be responsible. One of them that is shrouded in mystery since it happened in 1991 is the homicide of Joseph Anderson, 69, a prominent businessman from Jamestown.
On Sept. 12, 1991, Anderson had attended a Ducks Unlimited banquet. It was the last time anyone would see him alive.
Four days later, police were notified of a suspicious car in the Gladstone Inn parking lot. The car appeared to have blood stains and a foul odor and may have been there since Sept. 14, according to hotel employees.
The car was Anderson’s 1979 Buick Riviera and his body was discovered in the trunk. He was only in his underwear and was wrapped in a green sheet that was later found to be from his home. His home was investigated, but didn’t appear to be disturbed. It remains unknown to this day what the actual cause of death actually was.
But an autopsy revealed that due to his stomach contents, he died within hours of eating at the banquet.
Anderson was a self-made man and was successful in business. He invented and had a patent for a hay grinder. He began manufacturing it in Minot in 1966 and moved the Haybuster Manufacturing plant to Jamestown three years later.
At the time of his death, he was looking at opportunities outside North Dakota and the plant employed 100 people. Although the timing remains unclear, the plant was later sold to the Vermeer agriculture equipment line.
As you might imagine, all sorts of rumors circulated around this case for several years following the homicide. The police have said very little about this case and the attorney general’s website only shows a summary of what happened.
Several news reports have been published since the murder, but have been basically anniversary items that were regurgitated from original press releases.
The only other thing we can say positively about this case is that Anderson’s brother has offered a $10,000 reward for information in the case.
And, if anyone knows information about the Anderson case not already published, they are asked to contact the Jametown Police Department at (701) 252-2414.
Following are the other cold cases across North Dakota, according to the attorney general’s website:
Larry Phebus, March 27, 1963, near Alexander; Lora Jean Dugan, April 30, 1972, near Medora, Daniel Erick Johnson, June 27, 1974, near the Minot Air Force Base, William Wolf Jr., Aug. 20, 1978, near Kragnes, Minn., Barbara Louise Cotton, April 11, 1981 in Williston; Clifton Wendell Marsh, Oct. 1, 1981, near Devils Lake; Kristin Joy Diede and Robert Michael Anderson, Aug. 26, 1993, last seen in Wishek; Ronald Johnson, Nov. 6, 1994, near Dunseith; Sandra M. Jacobson, Nov. 16, 1996, in Bismarck; Russell Turcotte, Nov. 5, 2002, also near Devils Lake.
Local law enforcement agencies continue to investigate cases long after the case appears to have gone “cold,” using every resource available. If an agency has exhausted its resources, it may consider submitting a case for review by the state’ cold case unit. The unit considers a submitted case against a list of criteria, including whether there is new evidence to justify filing charges, or new information is now available.
It’s not just a formality. Sometimes cold cases are solved. One of them happened in Jamestown, Sept. 19, 1945 involving Margaret Roeszler, who was shot and killed in her workplace.
That case was solved four years later involving a confession. We’ll have more on that case next week.
