MN MN - Mary, 15, & Susan Reker, 12, St Cloud, 2 Sept 1974

shergal

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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.
 
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
 
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.
 
Marilynilpa said:
...
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.
 
Richard said:
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.
 
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
 
I was just looking at this case again... here are some new links and new info:


Michael Bartowsheski... I didn't realize they had such a strong case against him in the Reker girls murder. I'd like to know who Mr. X is and if he's related to any other crimes in town. It amazes me at the beginning of the article how much this sounds like some other Stearns County cases, (Jacob Wetterling, Josh Guimond) with the shoddy police work. "allegations that one of the investigators actually left the department, taking evidence with him." (I vaguely remember reading about this, I'll have to check, but I think it was a former LE who was later busted for sexually abusing both boys and girls.)

http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=111096

There seem to be an awful lot of perps just "let go" in Stearns County just because they had other charges elsewhere.

And in this article... it was Fr. Richard Eckroth that took Mary and Suzanne to that cabin - just reading about all he did to these young kids sickens me, and he is wandering around free yet at St. Johns.
http://open.salon.com/blog/laura_wi...ders_of_mary_and_susanne_reker_minnesota_1974

The Pine Curtain site says that Fr. Eckroth was looked at again, but denied it and passed a polygraph the Reker parents insisted he take.
http://www.behindthepinecurtain.com/wordpress/details-still-eerie-28-years-after-girls-were-slain/

This page has photos of the girls' funeral, burial and the quarry.
http://wjon.com/reker-sisters-went-missing-on-this-date-in-central-minnesota-history/
 
http://www.sctimes.com/story/news/local/2014/09/01/years-sisters-killed-questions-remain/14917247/

Marty Reker was 10 when two of his sisters left their St. Cloud home on Labor Day 1974 to go back-to-school shopping...

Tuesday marks 40 years since the girls disappeared, 40 years of frustration, questions, and no definitive answers... There remains a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for the killings...

After reviewing a presentation by the Stearns County Sheriff's Office and Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the Vidocq Society "supported and confirmed that the person(s) of interest identified by local investigators... were in fact the trail to follow," Sanner said. Sanner and the Rekers won't say who the suspect or suspects are. The fact that Vidocq supported what local investigators are thinking has given Marty Reker an answer, even if there never is a conviction.
 
New article on the Reker girls murder in today's St. Cloud Times. It's been 40 years! There is an unnamed POI (or POIs) and a $50,000. reward.

"The case was presented nine years ago to the Vidocq Society, a nonprofit organization based in Philadelphia whose members are experts in various fields of criminal investigation. The organization hears presentations from agencies investigating cold cases and provides confidential opinions.

After reviewing a presentation by the Stearns County Sheriff's Office and Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the Vidocq Society "supported and confirmed that the person(s) of interest identified by local investigators ... were in fact the trail to follow," Sanner said.

Sanner and the Rekers won't say who the suspect or suspects are. The fact that Vidocq supported what local investigators are thinking has given Marty Reker an answer, even if there never is a conviction."

http://www.sctimes.com/story/news/local/2014/09/01/years-sisters-killed-questions-remain/14917247/

Anyone with information about the Reker case is asked to call the Stearns County Sheriff's Office at 320-251-4240 or the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Cold Case Unit at 651-793-7000 or 877-996-6222. The program Spotlight on Crime is offering a $50,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the suspect(s). More information about that program and the Reker case can be found here: https://dps.mn.gov/entity/soc/Documents/poster-spotlight-on-crime-mary-and-susan-reker-acc.pdf
 
News in the Lyon's sister's case - Lloyd Lee Welch Admits Leaving Mall With Missing Md. Sisters in 1975.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/affidavit-man-admits-leaving-mall-missing-md-sisters-29127073

I was checking the timeline for Welch's whereabouts as he moved from state to state, (he was a carnival worker) in case he was a possibility for the Reker sisters.

Timeline here:
http://www.fbi.gov/baltimore/press-...napping-of-lyon-sisters-others-victims-sought

He was in Austin, TX in Jan. 1974, no other states listed for 1974. He was closer to MN, in Sioux City, Iowa, in 1987 and 1988. The FBI is still asking anyone who saw him anywhere else to contact them.

Probably not likely for the Reker girls, but it shows how sometimes these cases can be solved or brought back to life 40 years later.
 
Father Richard Eckroth was mentioned above in post #10. He was looked at as a suspect in this case. He just died, here is a portion of his obit and a link to it.

Richard Eckroth OSB
Monk of Saint John's Abbey
Collegeville, Minnesota

Born: 21 June 1926, Professed: 11 July 1946, Ordained: 7 June 1952, Died: 24 May 2015

Father Richard died on May 24, in the retirement center at Saint John's Abbey. ...William Anthony Eckroth was born in Mandan, North Dakota, on June 21, 1926. William was the tenth child of fourteen born to Louis and Hattie (Gruenenfelder) Eckroth.

William graduated in 1944 as valedictorian of Saint John's Preparatory School and immediately enrolled in Saint John's University.

William entered Saint John's Abbey in 1945, receiving the religious name Richard and in 1946 he professed vows as a Benedictine monk. He was ordained a priest on June 7, 1952. Following ordination, Father Richard taught undergraduate philosophy at Saint John's University for almost twenty-five years (1952-76).

Father Richard had a love for constructing and demolishing. He did extensive work in the building of the new monastery residence (Breuer Wing) in 1954. On campus, he removed two barns, silos, sheds, a chicken coop, the old nursery as well as the old weather station. During the construction of Interstate 94, he cut lumber for its right of way.

In 1977 Father Richard was assigned to the abbey mission in the Bahama Islands at St. Augustine's Monastery, After taking charge of six churches on the Family Island of Andros he did extensive repair and maintenance work, putting new roofs on the churches.

Upon returning to Saint John's in 1993, he became the sexton of the Saint John's Abbey Cemetery (1993-99).....

On September 20, 2001, a dead tree fell on Father Richard while he was cutting firewood. He sustained severe injuries to his neck and other parts of his body. Father Richard recovered from his injuries and moved to St. Raphael Hall where, despite diminished capacities, he enjoyed his retirement and participated as he could in the monastic horarium.

More at:
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sctimes/obituary.aspx?n=richard-eckroth&pid=174952484
 
That seems to be the norm in this county. Don't forget the botch job of finding the Cold Spring police officers shooter. That case still isn't closed.
It amazes me at the beginning of the article how much this sounds like some other Stearns County cases, (Jacob Wetterling, Josh Guimond) with the shoddy police work.
 
Father Richard Eckroth was mentioned above in post #10. He was looked at as a suspect in this case. He just died, here is a portion of his obit and a link to it.

In my February 27 postings at the website below, I show that a brother (a minister) of a suspect in the Tana Togstad/Timothy Mumbrue murders wrote an open letter in support of another priest from St. Cloud who was charged in several molestations. A Reker girl's throat was slashed, just like Mumbrue, and the other Reker girl died from a stab wound to the heart, same as Togstad. The brother of the minister was named as the killer of Togstad & Mumbrue by Glendon Carl Gouker, who said he drove the brother of the minister to the farmhouse where Togstad & Mumbrue were murdered. The Togstad/Mumbrue murders also remain unsolved. A third unidentified suspect in those murders remains free though his DNA was found at the scene.

https://www.facebook.com/napolean.smith.315
 
Harvey Carignan is a serial killer in prison in Minnesota today.

On September 8th, 1974, one week after the Reker abductions, he assaulted June Lynch and Lisa King in his car outside of Minneapolis -- a double. Two weeks later, he attacked Sally Versoi and Diane Flynn -- another double. They escaped from his car when he stopped for gas.

He also killed and disposed of his girlfriend's body (Eileen Hunley) in Sherburne County sometime in the two weeks prior to the Reker abductions.

The only thing that doesn't seem to fit is manner of death. He usually bludgeoned his victims but the Reker girls were stabbed.
 
Investigators know who committed the Reker sister murders. The same man, acting with an accomplice, kidnapped a 14 year old girl around St. Cloud, almost exactly 2 years after Mary and Suzanne Reker were killed. The man stabbed the 14 year old girl and left her to die, but she lived. The same man was wanted for sexual assault on a woman in Benton County, in 1992.
 

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