50 years later, investigators investigate the death of a hitchhiking woman

ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC/Gray News) – An 84-year-old man has been arrested in the 1974 murder of a hitchhiker.

Mary Schlias was hitchhiking from Minneapolis to Chicago when the then 25-year-old was picked up and stabbed to death.

Her body was later found along with a hat in Dunn County, west of Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Now, 50 years later, authorities have arrested her suspected killer, identified as Jon K. Miller.

Miller was arrested Nov. 7 after he reportedly admitted to investigators that he killed Schlias.

Law enforcement said the arrest would not have been possible without the help of an investigative genetic genealogy team from Ramapo College in New Jersey.

The New Jersey team helped identify Miller as a suspect by analyzing hair follicle DNA from evidence left at the crime scene.

David Gurney, the director of the IGG team, said the team compared DNA genetics found at the crime scene with family trees from public databases on the Internet.

“Our work begins once a genetic profile is developed from a biological sample uploaded to two consumer genetic genealogy databases, Family Tree DNA and Gedmatch Pro,” Gurney said.

Gurney Deputy Director Caireen Binder said investigators were then able to work with Miller's family to determine a relative match to the DNA found at the crime scene.

“Thanks to working with some of Jon Miller's cousins, Jon Miller's DNA cousins, we were able to find out who the unknown relative was,” Binder said.

Gurney stated that he and his team merely tipped off law enforcement and were not involved in the arrest.

“First, specialized DNA laboratories must create the genetic profile, and then law enforcement must confirm the trace and decide whether to make an arrest. “It is a tool,” Gurney claimed.

Gurney said his team generated 17 leads for similar cases and handled a total of 75 cases.

“People out there who haven’t taken a DNA test, please consider doing so,” Gurney said. “It could be your profile that helps bring justice to another victim.”

The authorities stated that the investigation was still being completed.

Miller is currently being held at the Steele County Detention Center in Owatonna, awaiting extradition to Wisconsin.

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