A major breakthrough was announced today in an Isanti County cold case.
The Isanti County Sheriff's Office says human remains discovered in 2003 have been identified as Donald Rindall. Chief Deputy Lisa Lovering says the DNA match brings answers to decades of questions.
Using an extensive DNA matching process, investigators were able to determine the remains found in 2003 as those of Rindall. Lovering says they used DNA samples from Randall's siblings and that his family was in disbelief when the DNA match was made.
“You know, it was a random phone call that someone was calling about their brother that they hadn't seen in 51 years,” Lovering explained. “So there was a lot of shock and disbelief at first. And I think once I got the DNA match, it set in a little more. But there's still a lot of unanswered questions for them.”
Rindall is believed to be a victim of homicide and was buried sometime between 1970 and 1971. Investigators say the FBI was looking for him at the time due to drug involvement. Lovering says there are a lot of unknowns about what actually happened to Rindall.
“There's a lot of speculation and rumor that went around his disappearance that the family had heard, but nothing was ever substantiated,” says Lovering. “They were told he went to out California. We don't know if he even went to California. We have no idea if that's where he went or not. So from here, we're hoping that maybe someone will call us with some information, give us some tips that we can go on.”
In August of 2003, unidentifiable skeletal remains were located in the area of Highway 47 and County Road five in Bradford Township, near Cambridge, MN. The remains were discovered during an excavation project by a landowner at the time.
The remains were examined says Lovering and it was believed the body was that of a Caucasian male, 20 to 28 years of age, and had been buried from three to 28 years. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension obtained a DNA profile, as well as the dental records, which were entered into missing person databases. A facial reconstruction was also done over several years.
“Our investigators submitted DNA samples of several people who believed that this was possibly their family member, but we were never able to identify the remains,” said Lovering.
Lovering says there likely are people alive today who know what happened to Rindall in 1970. Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the Isanti County Sheriff’s Office or Crime Stoppers Minnesota.
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