Suspect in Spring Brook cold case murder left a stocking cap behind
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JON KEITH MILLER
By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — A stocking cap left behind 50 years ago when the body of Mary K. Schlais was dumped into a snowbank in the Town of Spring Brook on February 15, 1974, became the key to finding the man suspected of killing her.
The Dunn County Sheriff’s Department issued a news release on Friday, November 8, that Jon K. Miller, age 84, had been arrested the day before in Owatonna, Minnesota, for the murder of Mary K. Schlais (see related news story about Dunn County Sheriff Kevin Bygd’s news conference).
The criminal complaint was filed in Dunn County on November 7, and an arrest warrant was issued by Dunn County Circuit Court Judge Christina M. Mayer.
Miller is charged with one count of first-degree murder, which carries a penalty, upon conviction, of life in prison.
Miller is being held in Minnesota awaiting extradition back to Wisconsin.
According to the criminal complaint, the body of Mary Schlais was found in a snowbank in a rural area of the Town of Spring Brook with multiple stab wounds on her upper body, including her back.
Schlais’s hands also appeared to have defensive wounds, and the autopsy report indicated that Schlais had bled to death from the multiple stab wounds.
In the roadway near Schlais’s body was an orange and black stocking cap.
Investigators seized the stocking cap as evidence, and hairs were collected from the cap that were later determined not to be Schlais’s hair.
A woman named Judy Daniel reported that Mary Schlais had left home around 10:30 a.m. February 15, 1974, and planned on hitchhiking from Minneapolis to Chicago, the complaint states.
Don Schlais, Mary’s brother, identified the body as being that of Mary Schlais.
News articles published at the time stated that Mary Schlais was an honor student and that she was on her way to Chicago for an art show.
The Dunn County Sheriff’s Department followed up on continuous leads over the next number of years but were unable to identify any suspects.
Profile
Scrapings taken from the black and orange stocking cap years later were used to develop a partial male profile, according to the criminal complaint.
The partial DNA profile from the scrapings was entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), a nationwide database that allows law enforcement officials to compare DNA profiles to identify suspects.
No matches were found in CODIS.
IGG
The Dunn County Sheriff’s
Department then began using “investigative genetic genealogy” (IGG) and worked closely with Cairenn Binder of Ramapo College in New Jersey, according to the criminal complaint.
Binder is the assistant director of the IGG Center and the director of the IGG Certificate Program at Ramapo College.
Binder previously worked as the Director of Education at the DNA Doe Project and has used her background in healthcare education in IGG cases.
Binder earned a Bachelor’s degree in nursing from SUNY Empire State College and a master’s degree in nurse midwifery from Frontier Nursing University, the complaint states.
Binder has been applying IGG to identify unidentified remains at the DNA Doe Project since 2018.
Professor David Gurney also assisted with working on this case.
Professor Gurney has a JD/PhD and is the director of the Ramapo College Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center, is a professor of Law and Society and is a licensed attorney in New Jersey and Arizona. He has worked in the IGG field since 2021.
Casper, Wyoming
Using the partial DNA profile collected from the orange and black stocking cap in the IGG process, an individual was identified who was a possible relative of the unidentified suspect, according to the criminal complaint.
Dunn County Investigator Dan Westlund conducted an in-person interview with the individual, identified as MG, on Thursday, May 10, 2024, at MG’s home in Casper, Wyoming.
MG voluntarily uploaded his genetic information to a website used by Binder and her associates in IGG casework, the complaint states.
Binder determined that MG was not the contributor of the partial DA profile generated from the orange and black hat scrapings.
There was a probability that MG’s first cousin, DB, could be the contributor to the DNA from the stocking cap, Binder told Investigator Westlund.
Michigan
Investigator Westlund interviewed DB at his residence in East Tawas, Michigan, on Thursday, June 13, 2024.
DB consented to his DNA being collected for analysis by the Wisconsin State Crime Lab, according to the criminal complaint.
The results of the DNA analysis indicated that DB was not the contributor to the partial DNA profile developed from evidence left at the crime scene in 1974.
Miller
Binder spoke with Investigator Westlund on Saturday, October 19, 2024, about a possible lead or “person to contact” which she and her team had identified after working farther into the investigation, according to the criminal complaint.
Binder’s recommendation was that the investigator look into Jon Keith Miller, date of birth May 2, 1940, and TE.
Researchers hypothesized that Jon Miller was adopted from the same family as originally determined by Binder and her associates, and that Miller had a daughter identified as TE.
Investigator Westlund contacted Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) agent Bret Peterson, who then assisted with the investigation.
November 4
Investigator Westlund spoke with TE at her residence in Askov, Minnesota, on Monday, November 4, the complaint states.
TE’s mother, RD, was present and was interviewed as well.
TE agreed to upload her genetic profile for Binder to review and to compare to the suspected profile.
When Binder and her team analyzed the genetic profile, they determined that the DNA profile obtained from the orange and black stocking cap belonged to TE’s biological father, according to the criminal complaint.
When Investigator Westlund spoke with Binder and her associates, Binder said that the DNA profile provided by TE shares 3,585 centimorgans of autosomal DNA with TE, which indicates a parent/child match.
The only explanation, Binder said, is that TE is either the child or the parent of the suspect sample.
A centimorgan (cM) is defined as a unit of measure for the distance between chromosome positions and the likelihood that a section of DNA will be passed on to a descendant intact.
Autosomal means related to the 22 numbered pairs of chromosomes in most human cells, except the X and Y chromosomes.
Investigator Westlund confirmed with TE that her biological father is Jon Keith Miller, and RD confirmed that she had been married to Jon Miller from 1973 to 1977, the complaint states.
Suspect interview
Investigator Westlund and Investigator Jason Stalker met with Jon Miller on November 7, 2024, at his residence in Owatonna, according to the criminal complaint.
At first, Miller denied having any knowledge of the murder.
After he was presented with the DNA evidence, Miller said he had picked up Schlais while she was hitchhiking.
At one point he had asked her for sexual contact, and Schlais had denied his request.
When Schlais leaned forward, Miller grabbed a knife he had stowed above the passenger seat visor and stabbed Schlais in the back.
Miller told investigators that Schlais was dead at that point, according to the complaint.
Miller said he exited off the highway and attempted to hide Schlais’s body in a snowbank.
He began to cover Schlais’s body with snow, but then another vehicle drove by, and Miller became scared and left the area.
When investigators showed Miller a photograph of the orange and black stocking cap that had contained his DNA, Miller said it was his hat and he must have lost it during the homicide, the complaint states.
Schlais’s body was located roughly 10 miles off Interstate-94, and according to the information, it is believed that the incident occurred in Dunn County.
Investigators placed Miller under arrest and brought him to the jail in Steele County, Minnesota.
