Police identify suspect in 1984 Minn. homicide case using DNA from cup
07/27/2023 3:49 pm PDT
MINNEAPOLIS (TCD) -- Police have arrested a 66-year-old former security counselor in connection with the 1984 stabbing death of a 33-year-old man.
According to a news release from the Minneapolis Police Department, in the early hours of July 17, 1984, officers learned an unidentified intruder got into a fight with Robert Miller and killed him in his apartment. When officers arrived, they encountered two women running out of the building, including one who had sustained a cut on her face, the Duluth News Tribune reports. The other woman escaped unharmed.
The women reportedly told police the intruder broke into the apartment and attacked them with a knife.
According to a complaint obtained by the Duluth News Tribune, officials found the victim surrounded by blood with fatal stab wounds to his face, head, chest, back, and shoulders.
Police reportedly noticed the kitchen door was open with a trail of blood, and investigators determined the suspect had cut himself with the knife on his way out. The Duluth News Tribune reports that investigators collected blood from various parts of the apartment, including the floor, back exit hallway, and the back door handle.
Despite their efforts, police said they were unable to identify and locate a suspect at the time, and the case went cold.
Minneapolis Police worked with the FBI’s Cold Case Task Force and the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) Forensics Lab to identify a possible suspect. According to the Duluth News Tribune, the BCA created a DNA profile using the blood at the scene in 2018.
Investigators, with the help of a genealogist, identified Matthew Brown as a possible suspect, and in March 2023, they took a DNA sample from a disposable cup Brown had used and found it matched DNA from the crime scene.
Police said homicide investigators and FBI agents interviewed Brown last month while he was living in Illinois. Officials arrested him, and he was extradited to Minnesota and booked into the Hennepin County Jail on charges of second-degree murder and first-degree burglary.
From May 2006 until July 2018, Brown reportedly worked for the Minnesota Sex Offender Program as a security counselor.
In a statement, police said, "Even though this week marks 39 years since the crime occurred, perseverance and collaboration brought a resolution to this unsolved crime. This allows MPD’s homicide investigators to move on to the next one."
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