30 Years later...Still searching for Reker Girls Killer

[shergal]

This article in the St. Cloud Times (Central Minnesota) today tells about how the parents of the two Reker girls who were killed 30 years ago are still searching for their daughter's murderer and how they have new hope the case will be solved.

http://miva.sctimes.com/miva/cgi-bin/miva?CMN/Local/read.mv+20040902042521+2+12

(If that link doesn't work - go here:
http://miva.sctimes.com/miva/cgi-bin/miva?Sctimes/index.mv
and scroll down to the 2nd story.)

[shergal]

an old newspaper story on the Father Eckroth posters were refering to as a possible suspect in these murders.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/1697/2823237.html

St. John's has conveniently kept Eckroth stowed away for years in the Bahamas. They also have several other priests and monks in "isolation" (read: free to wander the grounds) out at St. John's University. St. John's is where Josh Guimond disappeared and only a few miles from where Jacob Wetterling disappeared. One of the priests in isolation out there (Fr. Brennan) who has admitted past abuse, used to be the parish priest in Jacob's town of St. Joseph, MN.

[Richard]

Up to $50,000 is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of person(s) responsible for the murder of Mary and Susan Reker.

Click on the below link to see photos of Mary and Susan Reker.

Sisters, Mary (15) and Susan (12) Reker, left their St. Cloud home at 11:30 a.m. on September 2, 1974 (Labor Day) to walk to a local store. They were last seen at the store at 1:30 p.m. and never returned home. Their bodies were found 26 days later in a quarry three miles outside of St. Cloud.

Susan was found on top of the quarry stabbed 13 times. Mary was found unclothed 40 feet below the surface of the water, and had been stabbed six times. The quarry was a place known for kids to play or swim. Police have reason to believe the killer or killers may be from the local area.
Please bring closure to the family and friends of Mary and Susan, and bring their killer(s) to justice. Anyone with information about this case is requested to contact:

Stearns County Sheriff's office at (320)251-4240 or the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Cold Case Homicide Unit at 1-888-234-3692


Source:
The Unsolved Case of Mary and Susan Reker - Spotlight on Crime Case Detail

LINK:
http://www.spotlightoncrime.org/case_reker_marysusan.cfm

[Marilynilpa]

I don't believe I have heard of this case before. What a tragedy for that family.

Does anyone know if there were any similar disappearances and/or murders in that area around that time? I don't believe a "first timer" would risk kidnapping two girls and killing them - that's generally something a killer works up to.

If the police have reason to believe the killer(s) lived in the area, I wonder what information or evidence they have that causes them to have this opinion? Perhaps they suspect family/friends of these murders, but don't have the evidence to go forward with an arrest.

If I'm able to find out anything further, I'll be sure to post it here.

[Richard]

...
Does anyone know if there were any similar disappearances and/or murders in that area around that time? I don't believe a "first timer" would risk kidnapping two girls and killing them - that's generally something a killer works up to. ...A double abduction is rather rare, but there are a number of similar cases on these boards - and some of them occurred in the early and mid 1970's, although not in Minnesota.

The Leslie Sisters disappeared together from Arizona in 1974. Then there was a triple disappearance from a shopping center in December 1974 in Fort Worth, Texas.

The Lyon Sisters, Sheila and Katherine, disappeared in March 1975 from a Wheaton, MD shopping center. In April 1975, two young boys from a New Jersey school for challenged youth disappeared.

Two 14 year old girls from Roanoke, VA disappeared at the same time, also two girls from Oklahoma, and two girls from Key West, Florida.

It is strongly believed that these children were all abducted, rather than just run-aways.

These are just a few which come to mind. If you check out the featured case of the Lyon Sisters, you will find some references to other similar multiple abductions. Also, I believe that most of the above have threads in these Cold Cases.

[Marilynilpa]

These are just a few which come to mind. If you check out the featured case of the Lyon Sisters, you will find some references to other similar multiple abductions. Also, I believe that most of the above have threads in these Cold Cases.You are right, there are several threads in Cold Cases about multiple abductions. The three missing Texas girls really strike home with me, since I lived in Dallas at the time and was in high school. I can remember how scared we were to go to the mall or the movies - we'd always believed there was "safety in numbers", but when three girls disappear together, it really shakes you up.

As for the Reker girls, I am struck by the fact that they were both stabbed multiple times. Multiple stab wounds are often indicative of a personal relationship between the killer and the victim. Not only is that a very up close and personal way to kill someone, it takes a lot of rage to stab someone multiple times. Of course, I'm not telling you anything you don't know, since a lot of what I've learned I've gathered from your posts!!

It is sad when you think of how many families have dealt with this type of tragedy for so many years - 30 years for the Reker family.

[mysteriew]

Family took the case to the Vidocq society in 2005.
http://www.startribune.com/dynamic/mobile_story.php?story=5789755

[Cambria]

Cold cases, wounded hearts

After 23 years of working in the news biz, there are plenty of things you get a bit hardened to. Families and loved ones left behind by violent crime are not among them.

On Monday morning, photojournalist Bob Crippa and I went to a press conference with a bit of intrigue; The Departments of Public Safety and Corrections were unveiling a set of 'Cold Case Cards', the standard four suits featuring 52 unsolved cases from the past 50 years. These cases were culled from Sheriffs and Police Chiefs across Minnesota, homicides, missing persons, and unidentified remains that stood out in their minds as cases worth solving. The theory is, you hand the cards out to inmates across the state, appeal to their conscience, and hopefully jailhouse 'insider information' will surface and solve a crime or two. At the presser, along with department heads and law enforcement types, was a small army of people representing two families, connected to two people featured in the 'cold case cards'.

Rita Reker and her husband lost two daughters to a violent murder in 1974. Their daughters Mary and Susan were found in a St. Cloud gravel pit; at ages 12 and 15, they had been stabbed to death. Their smiling faces look out from the two of hearts.

More at link.

http://www.kare11.com/blog/thiede_article.aspx?storyid=528179