Cassandra Rhines was 19 when she went missing. She was last heard from in June 1985, when she called a friend to confirm that she would be attending her goddaughter's birthday party.
No one still has been convicted in the 1979 death of Denise Daly in Minnesota or the 1983 arson homicide of her sister, Mary Daly, and infant nephew, Christopher Daly, in Wisconsin.
A family of five was shot to death by Neil M. Pladson in 1970. Pladson was imprisoned, then released to a halfway house in 1987. A year later, he was found strangled to death in his apartment.
Two juveniles were charged with arson related to the fire, which caused $75 million in damage, or $232 million in 2022 dollars. However, charges were later dropped. Why?
Built in 1911 to house North Dakotans sick with tuberculosis, the sanatorium near Dunseith, North Dakota, closed in 1989. Left to the elements, the decaying buildings are a popular spot for urban explorers and paranormal investigators.
"The part that is not resolved is not going to be resolved ever," the victim's daughter said after the sentencing. "He's obviously not going to admit to this at all, whatsoever."
In the latest update from the Dakota Spotlight podcast's Season 5: A Better Search for Barbara Cotton, host James Wolner interviews a someone who may have seen the 15-year-old girl, gone missing from Williston, North Dakota, in 1981.
A seemingly happy family ended in tragedy after the father bludgeoned his wife to death, suffocated his 9-year- and 22-month-old children, lit his house on fire and then hanged himself 38 years ago.
On May 17, 1981, Karla Jo Nieland was found dead inside a vehicle belonging to her boyfriend, John Keep. Authorities arrested Keep and charged him with second- and third-degree murder — one year later, a jury found him not guilty. The case remains open.
The Mathis case, the trial and the questions that remain to this day are the subject of a new book, "South Dakota's Mathis Murders: Horror in the Heartland" by long-time South Dakota journalist Noel Hamiel. The book is available to purchase on Monday.
