Identified! MN - Polk Co., Skeletal Remains on bank of Red River, Jun'17 - Shirley Whetter

kat913 said:

Have they figured out the gender...or not yet?

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Piknik said:

Any updates here?

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Piknik said:

Might need it's own thread. http://www.ksdk.com/news/local/human-remains-found-in-shoe-in-south-county/473520889

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Piknik said:

Might need it's own thread. http://www.ksdk.com/news/local/human-remains-found-in-shoe-in-south-county/473520889

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Damarna said:

This isn't in Minnesota? It was going in Missouri.

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creepedout said:

Oslo/Polk County skeletal remains found along the Red River in June 2017 have been identified as Shirley Ann Whetter of Grand Forks, who went missing from East Grand Forks in April 1984:

http://www.grandforksherald.com/new...woman-missing-1984-identified-body-found-june

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OSLO, Minn. -- Remains found in June near Oslo belong to a Grand Forks woman who was believed to have drowned more than 30 years ago. Now family are grateful to finally know what happened after all these years.


The body found along the Red River by two anglers is Shirley Ann Whetter of Grand Forks, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office announced Friday. She was identified after DNA from family members was compared with the remains.

Old police reports and Herald articles from the time she went missing shed some light on how Whetter disappeared, with law enforcement concluding she took her own life.

Whetter, who was 48 years old at the time, was given a ride on April 15, 1984, to the Eagles Club in the Point neighborhood in East Grand Forks, according to incident reports from the Grand Forks and East Grand Forks police departments. She was last seen at 8 p.m.

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Whetter left a note written on a black slate saying she was unhappy with life and planned to drown in the river, according to police reports. A Valley Memorial nursing supervisor told police Whetter had suffered from depression for quite some time and had medication to help her, the report said.

The Grand Forks Police Department filed a missing person report with the East Grand Forks Police Department, Grand Forks Lt. Brett Johnson said Friday.

Investigators found footprints leading into the Red River, along with a purse, according to the reports. Rescue workers dragged the Red River multiple times in search of Whetter. Cold water and strong currents hampered the search, according to Herald articles.

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No foul play is suspected in the Whetter case.Her son, Ron, told the Herald the family is happy to know what happened to her.

“Our family is extremely thankful that our mother has finally been found,” the Whetter family wrote in a statement that thanked everyone who helped find and identify her. “Our mother’s funeral was held in 1984. Therefore, only the immediate family will be attending a private celebration of her life that is scheduled for the near future.”

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