Washington County authorities have identified the victim more than 30 years after her death.
It begins in June of 1993.
"There was actually a head found in northern Scandia, in Bone Lake, and then the following day a foot was found on the Mississippi River in St. Paul," Washington County Detective Clayton Evans explains about the grisly cold case. "They were not able to 100% confirm that the foot and head were related."
Evans says they searched and sought out the public's help in trying to identify the person, but back then DNA was not available.
Then in 2007, the Minnesota BCA confirmed that both the head and the foot belong to the same person. In 2024, Evans says they started working with a nonprofit called the DNA Doe Project.
"We attempted to get DNA from the foot, which became the sequencing failed and it was unsuccessful," Evans explains. "Then in 2024 we began again to get sequencing DNA from the head, which became successful."
And it was confirmed then it was the body of Denise Hartley, who was 27-years-old when she disappeared.
"The family had, you know, zero heads up or zero knowledge of anything going on until we got a name," says Evans. "And then we really wanted to do it in-person."
Evans was there when they told her daughter Natalie.
"But we wanted to, we're basically doing a next of kin death notification because they knew she was missing," Evans explained. "They may have assumed that she was dead, but they didn't 100% know that."
He says Natalie responded, as you might expect.
"Your mom has been missing for 30 years, and it's just shock and awe that she's finally been confirmed, not only deceased, but we have some of her remains. And now that her death investigation is really going to open up now that we know who she is."
They believe that Hartley was murdered and the work begins again to try to find the killer.
"Now that we know who she is, we know who she hung out with, we know who she was involved with at the time, so, it is absolutely an open investigation that we're working now," Evans adds.
Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Washington County Sheriff’s Office at 651-430-7850.
Hartley with her mother prior to her disappearance in 1993.
(Washington County Sheriff's Department)
