True Crime with Kimbyr - Part 1: College Killing - What Happened In Apt. 9?! | Mindy Morgenstern DEEP DIVE

Episode Date: June 28, 2026

Mindy Morgenstern was days away from the future she dreamed of — graduating college and beginning a career helping others. But one spring afternoon, her life was tragically cut short inside her own apartment. In this chilling episode of True Crime with Kimbyr, Kimbyrleigha explores the unanswered questions surrounding Mindy’s final moments, the investigation, and the mystery behind the door of Apartment 9. A heart breaking case of ambition, loss, and the search for justice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

College senior Mindy Morgan Stern was taking one last class at her university before graduating and following her dreams of working in athletics. She just moved into a new apartment off campus. She was dating a new guy and was looking forward to a modeling shoot the day her friends discovered the most terrifying and unexpected scene behind the door of apartment number nine. Hi everyone, welcome back to my channel. My name is Kimberlya. If you've never been here before, nice to finally meet you. I know I say this in a lot of my videos, but this is a crazy case. It's an unbelievable story. It's one that sticks with you and scares you. So I can only imagine what it felt like for the people involved. Today I want to introduce you to the Morgan Stern family. It started with Larry Morgan Stern, who married Eunice Bauer. After their wedding, the newlyweds began taking over

Larry's family farm in the exact farmhouse where his mother was born out in rural New Salem, North Dakota. They were lifelong residents. And I think this is my very first time doing a case from North Dakota. And as I said, New Salem, to be exact, not to be confused with Salem, Massachusetts. This is North Dakota. And New Salem is a quiet, friendly city with a strong sense of community. And the economy of New Salem is based on agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism, thanks to the proximity of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Never been there yet. But it's just like any other little tiny town in the middle of nowhere, a farming community

we've done a couple cases that have farming communities in them. And the Morgan Stearns raised cattle, chickens, and they took in every stray dog that crossed their path. They loved animals. And they took pride in their farmland. But after some time enjoying the married life, the couple decided they wanted to start a family. Larry was 25 and Eunice was only 22 at the time. And by November of 1975, they were welcoming their first child into the world, and they named her Rebecca Morgan Stern.

They loved Rebecca so very much. But not too long after she was born, the couple felt as though there was something missing from their life. They knew they wanted another child. And in their heart, they felt like they should adopt a child and give them the love that they deserve. This time they adopted a little boy named Michael, who was very close in age to their biological daughter, Rebecca, at the time. I think he was about a year older than her. So he fit right in to the Morgan Stern household. And Michael was treated no differently than Rebecca.

Biological or not, these were Larry and Eunice's children. Their world revolved around making sure that they knew they were loved and giving them everything they needed to thrive. However, once Rebecca and Michael were no longer babies, Larry and Eunice missed having little ones around. Rebecca was about 10 years old at the time, and the Morgan Stearns felt as though they still had so much. love to give to a child in need. So again, they turned to adoption. They had had such an amazing

experience the first time around. They were so excited to bring another child into their life. And actually, they wanted two more children. So they could not wait to welcome them into their home and shower them with love and affection. They were notified of a little girl that was coming up for adoption. Her name was April. And she was living out in Columbia. So they flew out to meet this beautiful toddler. And they knew right away they wanted to bring her. her home to the United States. She was perfect and she fit right in and they felt like their family really was complete. But again, they had it on their heart to open up their home to another child if another child in need matched with the couple. And it wasn't long before the adoption agency

reached out to inform them that little April had a biological sister that was up for adoption and she was just an infant when Eunice met her in Columbia for the very first time. It was love at first sight. Really. Her name was Mindy. She was born April 29th, 1984. Both Eunice and Larry were captivated by Mindy's beautiful, big, dark brown eyes. This picture right here of her as a baby, this got to me. I was in tears, looking at that cute little face and knowing what I already know was going to happen to this family in the future. I couldn't hold it in. Eunice noticed Mindy's eyes first. They were the biggest, darkest, most beautiful eyes that she had ever seen. And once she held her in her arms, she knew she never wanted to let her go. When they brought

Mindy home from Columbia, the Morgansterns were officially a family of six, and they were loving every minute of it. You can tell how loved Mindy was from her childhood photos, how happy she was with her family. Just look at that big smile. She loved her daddy. And Larry said that even as a baby, Mindy was quite a character. He remembered when they brought her home, it changed their lives. forever. She was loud and happy and fun. She'd be laughing all the time, running around like crazy, and she loved being outdoors where she could get all of that energy out. While growing up in rural North Dakota, April and Mindy stood out from their peers. They had that glowing caramel skin, and it set them apart from all the other kids in their class. So there's a good and the bad to this.

Standing out could be great, but at that age, children began teasing April and Mindy and giving them a hard time for the way they looked, for their differences. But their big sister Rebecca, she dealt with it right away. Rebecca told the youngsters to back off. Those were her little sisters. And Rebecca fiercely protected April Mindy. She wanted her classmates to understand. They were just like everyone else.

And she was determined to ensure that her sisters were not treated any differently because of the way that they looked. But soon, even the meanest kids began to have a soft spot for little Mindy, her bright, bubbly personality, her contagious enthusiasm, sense of humor, and her willingness to help others won them over time and time again. Working on the farm was a favorite pastime of Mindy's growing up. The Morgan Stearns taught their children to care for their land and instilled a strong work ethic in them.

Mindy's favorite activities included helping with harvest, tending to the gardens, and caring for the animals. These experiences gave her great appreciation for the environment and how to value working hard. So from a young age, Larry actually taught Mindy how to drive a traffic, and soon she was out there in the field, lifting veils of hay and helping with all the chores. And he took great pride in watching his daughter progress. He was so proud when Mindy was old enough and capable enough to tend to the farm on her own.

Aside from milking cows, raising chickens, she would adopt stray cats and dogs and take care of them. She absolutely loved animals. And she was very active growing up. She loved to play sports. She was on the basketball team. She ran track. And she was a cheerleader when she was in high school. She was known for her competitive spirit and ability to rally her teammates to victory.

And in addition to being a very skilled athlete, Mindy played clarinet in the marching band. She was into everything. And no matter how grown up she was, Mindy remained the baby of the family. And she was the center of attention. Rebecca, being about 10 years older than Mindy, she had been dating a guy named Jason, and the pair got married when Mindy was only 12 years old. And they would all gather around for family dinners, which were. a big deal in this household and Jason was always amused by the fact that Mindy was the one sitting at

the head of the table wasn't her parents it was her she would keep the conversation going and she would make everyone laugh because making people happy was Mindy's gift. She had a knack for bringing joy to everyone around her and when she was around everything was more fun. When she was growing up Mindy's mom referred to her as a tomboy because she was tough and athletic which came from working on the farm but as she got older Eunice saw her change so much. Eunice said that she just got so beautiful in her mother's eyes and she turned heads everywhere she went.

It wasn't just her mama that thought she was beautiful. When she became a teenager, she actually started dabbling in modeling on the weekends. She wasn't quite aware of her beautiful looks though. And that's what was very impressive about her. Mindy's personality matched her stunning looks. Her inner beauty only highlighted what was on the outside. But no matter how beautiful or busy, Mindy's. became there was one thing in her life that was always her top priority, her faith. She grew up attending

Zion Lutheran Church and Mindy lived her life based on the teachings of Jesus Christ and put God first in all of her decisions. She was motivated to be a good example to others. Her faith was her source of strength during difficult times and she was surrounded by God's message, especially because Rebecca's husband, Jason, became a pastor and soon they had kids of their own and Mindy loved to babysit and play with her nieces and nephews. She was so close to her family. So it was a hard decision for her on where she should go to college. She knew that she wanted to become either a basketball coach or a physical therapist, and she was also interested in doing missionary work. Basketball, though, was her passion. Her inspiration was Michael Jordan. She loved the way he played,

she loved his attitude, and she thought he was pretty good looking. Mindy and April would play basketball in the front of their farmhouse all the time, sometimes into a late. late into the night, even after midnight. Mindy would always try to imitate Michael Jordan's moves. So with all that being said, all of her passions, everything she wanted to do, she was looking for somewhere close by, but that also had all the things she was looking for in a college. The closest college that was in the top three in the state and had a physical education major was almost 200 miles away in Valley City. It was Valley City State University.

But Mindy felt that this is where she needed to be. She was accepted and she enrolled right after graduating from New Salem High School in 2002. Mindy was truly looking forward to all the new experiences and the opportunity to develop her identity away from all the familiar places and the people that she had known her whole life. However, she was also nervous about leaving her family and her friends and adjusting to an entirely new environment.

Valley City is a small college town in North Dakota. There's only about 6,000 residents, 2,000 of which attend the college. at the heart of the city and they come there for that purpose alone. It's known to be a safe place to live. The community is well known for being very friendly and welcoming. By that fall, Mindy was 18 and getting ready for life on campus. She took her old green baby blanket with her because she felt safe with it and it reminded her of home. On the day her mom dropped her off at the dorms. She was struggling. Mindy didn't want to stay. She wanted to go home and Eunice underscerned

understood that this was a big change for Mindy. She was leaving home for the very first time. It felt scary and overwhelming, but Eunice did her best to reassure Mindy, it would be okay. After her mom left her at the dorms, she saw Mindy chasing after her car, flagging her down. So Eunice pulled over and she's like, what's wrong? And Mindy told her mom, she just cannot do this. Eunice said, relax. Take a deep breath. Inhale, exhale. And Mindy finally calmed down. she said, all right, mama, and she returned to her room. Hearing that breaks my heart. Because as a parent, I don't ever want to let my daughter go.

But at the same time, we know that they have to become independent. And they have to have these experiences in life. And this was a great learning experience. Besides, Mindy had a piece of home at Valley City. Her childhood best friend, Ashley Wallace, had decided to go to the same college. They were going there together. And I could tell they were best friends, by the way they both did their eye. It's one of the first things I actually noticed about Mindy.

As I was looking through all of the pictures of her from college, I noticed that she wore a shiny white shadow as a base with a high, dark sort of cut crease in the middle. It was very unique. I couldn't help but notice it and I wondered what it would look like on my eyes. Definitely not a makeup artist, but I did really want to try it. I think it probably made her stand out even more back then. It was very bold, a signature look for her, something that I don't think you could miss or forget. And it obviously inspired her friends to do the same.

Ashley joining her at Valley City State University made Mindy's transition a little easier. Ashley being there was a reminder of home. It provided Mindy with comfort and familiarity in this new environment. Ashley was definitely essential in helping Mindy adjust to college life. She gave her that emotional support as she navigated this new world. But it didn't take long for Mindy to become very popular on campus and beyond. She was a big fish in this small pond she called Home Now. Within the first week of school, her friend said she already knew everyone on campus.

That was her gift. But she did have a couple very good friends that she spent more time with than others. And that was her two new best friends, Tony Baumann and Danielle Hallstrom. Another thing I say in a lot of these cases when I'm describing the person that I'm introducing you to, I'll tell you what her friends thought of her. And sometimes in memes and other things I saw on. line and elsewhere, even reading the comments section sometimes, I notice people think these things can sound cliche. We've heard them all before. She had a strikingly beautiful smile that just

lit up a room. Another viewer is definitely clicking off, and I get that. The same lines are reused again and again. Like she's a loyal friend. She had a contagious smile and laugh. It goes on and on. But the thing is, we're hearing from the people who loved them. The person who knew these people who cared about them, the individuals that were the closest to them. We don't know them. We're just hearing about them for the very first time. And of course, there's a saying not to speak ill of the dead. So would we really bring up bad qualities about someone who had to suffer a horrifying murder? I think the answer is no. But in this case, I'm going to tell you what Mindy's friends thought of her. They thought the world of her. If you take a moment and think about your own life and one of

your best friends, what would you say if you lost them? You can imagine why certain attributes and characteristics and phrases are used to describe someone gone too soon, that they cared about so much. And Mindy's friend said that she was a great listener, she was always there for friends, she cared about them and what was going on in their lives. She gave them the best advice whenever they needed her. They knew that they could always turn to Mindy when they needed a shoulder to cry on and ear to listen or just. someone to genuinely have a good time with. Mindy was a girl's girl. She had a lot of really good girlfriends. One thing that drew people to Mindy was her non-judgmental personality. It was easy to open

up to her because she was compassionate and understanding. Mindy was the one that you would call in the middle of the night and she truly would jump out of bed and stop whatever she was doing, even stop sleeping to help you out. Tony and Mindy worked together at Tony's family's restaurant, Robes, and Mindy was a waitress, which suited her personality very well. Even though she had a good time with Tony and Danielle, she was more of a homebody compared to her friends. She was the more serious one, the more grounded one of the group. Every Sunday she would get up for church, she would wake her friends up and ask them to go with her because she sang in the choir. She volunteered with kids. Every chance she got, she was at church or studying. Her faith was about to become even more important to her.

During her freshman year, Mindy was interested in trying out for college sports, but she began having some unusual symptoms and she needed to get a routine physical, and during this time, she got some very shocking news, life-changing news. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. That's a chronic disease of the central nervous system. It's also a very unpredictable disease that affects people differently. Symptoms of MS include numbness, tingling, extreme fatigue, and difficulty with coordination and balance. That's really sad, especially for someone like Mindy that's so active. In its most severe form, MS can even cause paralysis and loss of vision.

And there's currently no cure for it. But treatments are available to help reduce some of the symptoms and slow the progression of the disease. And like I said, for someone like Mindy who had dreams of working in the sports industry, this was really devastating news. But Mindy found strength in her faith, and she was determined not. to let her diagnosis define her. But it did change her life. One, it made her faith stronger and two, it gave her a new purpose. She wanted to participate in clinical trials for new treatments to help people in the future. So she applied to become part of a trial to find a cure. Meanwhile, she was

committed to inspiring others to live a healthy life and doing speeches around campus and at the local high school about the value of physical fitness. There was something else helping Mindy Kope, her boyfriend, Kyle Kuznia. They met during homecoming weekend and Kyle was very popular at Valley City. He was actually crowned homecoming king. He was a junior at the time. Kyle was athletic, well grounded in his faith, and hardworking. Mindy really liked him and they clicked right away. The night they met, they just started chatting and hanging out, they had some pizza together and they talked for the next couple hours and the relationship just grew from there. Over the next couple years, Mindy's family got to know Kyle very well, and they liked him a lot,

especially because of how much Mindy loved him. She thought that he was perfect for her. Mindy told her mom, she was going to marry Kyle one day. She really wanted a future with him. She already had her wedding dress kind of picked out what she wanted to wear. She was planning their wedding before he even proposed. She even had their wedding song picked out. But that never happened because Kyle broke her heart.

They dated for two and a half years, but remember, Kyle was already a junior when they met, and after he graduated, it was harder for them to see one another. Mindy was busy, she had classes, and Kyle was taking the next steps in his career. Then he ended up moving over an hour away. Long distance was too hard, and Kyle broke it off. It was hard on Mindy because she believed that everything happened for a reason, and she tried her best to move on. But it wasn't long before she caught. the eye of a local farmer boy Jordan Aranum. The pair seemed to have a lot in common.

It's always nice to have someone there when you're feeling down and alone and heartbroken. He had very similar upbringings on the farm and faith and they actually met a church in October of 2004. He was clean-cut, hardworking, soft-spoken, but he was definitely the opposite of Mindy when it came to being outgoing. But that helped ground her at times. He liked to take her to visit his family and all of her friends knew that he was a really wonderful guy to Mindy. Mindy. However, a few of them said that he was a lot more serious about Mindy than Mindy was about him because she wasn't over Kyle. Not at all. She was hoping that somehow, some way her and Kyle would find their way back to one another. But at this point, she was open to a new relationship

with Jordan. So they started seeing more and more of one another until they became official. They were still together in the fall of 2005 when Mindy entered her final year of college. She had just a handful of classes left, but she was about to get some bittersweet news. She was a candidate for a new clinical trial of an experimental chemotherapy medication for MS, but in order to receive the infusions, she would need to limit her contact with as many people as possible, which is very hard to do with someone as social as Mindy was, but she knew that it was for the greater good. She hoped that by getting these experimental infusions of the medication, she can ultimately help future patients who are suffering with this condition.

Doctors thought the living in the dorms on campus would expose Mindy to illnesses. So she decided to get her own apartment close to school and she found one that she really liked. It was only five minutes away at 5158th Street, apartment 9. This is where she called home. Her friends were surprised that someone that was such a social butterfly like Mindy was going to be able to live by herself. But they understood her reasons. She had to do this. She had to for her health.

And Mindy felt really safe in this new apartment building. She had scoped out many different places to live. And this particular building actually had a few police officers and whatnot that were living in the building as well as around in the neighborhood surrounding her apartment. She would always see these officers around and it made her feel safe. It was a great location. It was close to school, to work, to church, everything. And she took pride and decorating it with pictures of all the people she was.

she loved. She had picture frames on almost every wall of her one bedroom, one bathroom, apartment. By the spring of 2006, Mindy was now 22 years old and was undergoing the medical infusions for the clinical trials. And she had one class left before graduating in December. So that brings us to the evening of September 13, 2006. Mindy's two best friends, Tony and Danielle, wanted to go out for some drinks that night. But there was a problem. Tony's boyfriend James, he didn't really like Tony going out with certain friends like Danielle. There wasn't anything wrong with Danielle. It's just that Tony would get into a little too much trouble when the two hung out together.

I think we've all had that one friend that we have just like a little too much fun with. It's usually harmless, but could rub someone the wrong way. Mindy, on the other hand, she was level-headed, responsible, the good girl in the friend group. She didn't party a lot or partake in, you know, party favors, if you know what I mean, like some of the other college kids did. So if James thought that Tony was with Mindy, he wouldn't keep bothering her all night. So she lied. She said she was going over to Mindy's that night to hang out. But Tony's boyfriend, he had heard that line a few too many times.

He really wasn't buying it. He was like, you know what? Let me talk to Mindy. So now they know they're going to get caught in their lie. If they don't quickly drive over to Mindy's real fast, best because they knew she would cover for them. So that's what they did. The reason why Tony knew Mindy would cover for her is because she really didn't like James. She thought Tony was too good for him and she would give her honest advice that they should probably break up. He did not treat her right.

So Tony and Danielle are trying to come up with this plan as they're driving to Mindy's apartment. They were thinking, okay, maybe we could get Mindy to agree to come out to the bar and just kind of hang out with us and be there whenever Tony's boyfriend would call back. And then Mindy could kind of chime in and say, like, I'm right here. Or maybe it would just be enough for her to stay home, but jump on the phone real fast with James. So that Mindy could jump on and say, like, yeah, I'm going to hang out with Tony. And that would be that. So Tony kept calling Mindy to tell her the plan and to tell her they were on their way.

But the thing is that typically always their friend was not answering her phone. And that was strange. Because there was urgency. Danielle and Tony wanted to go have a fun night. And it just seemed like everything was standing in their way. And now their alibi, Mindy wasn't answering, so they're frustrated. Both girls are calling her back to back. But neither one could reach her.

They were leaving messages. Tony got the voicemail and she said, hey, me and Danny are looking for you. We can't get a hold of you. But she didn't call back. Still nothing. They arrived at Mindy's a little before 9 p.m. And Tony spotted Mindy's car parked on the street.

so they figured she must be home. They parked, Danielle stayed in the car, and Tony ran up to Mindy's apartment door. First she had to go through the main door of the building, then up the stairs to the second floor to apartment nine where Mindy lived. Tony knocked a few times. No answer. She even called Mindy's phone to see if she could hear it ringing and sigh,

but she didn't hear anything. They were good friends. Tony knew that she was welcome anytime, so as she knocked again, this time she turned the doorknob, it was unlocked, which was very unusual. She made her way inside into the front hallway and she flipped on the light. Then she took about two or three steps inside and she saw something at her feet. Now in our minds, they try to make sense of everything we see. Our eyes take in stimuli, images, people, and our mind translates what we're seeing. When something doesn't add up,

it may take a second for someone to realize what it is they're looking at. It would be unusual to see your friend lying on the ground. So at first, Tony wasn't sure what she was looking at. There was something on the floor, but then she realizes it's Mindy. What is she doing there? So many thoughts were going through her mind. She was trying to make sense of this.

Was she sleeping? Was she playing a prank? Did she fall because of her disease because of MS? Mindy was just lying there, face up across the hallway diagonally. But when Tony looked at Mindy's eyes, That's when her brain registered that this is something way worse. She saw something around her neck.

She knew that her friend was in trouble and she needed help. It just hit her and Tony ran out of Mindy's apartment screaming. She was just distraught. She was terrified. She was being really loud. And of course, with all this yelling, she was getting the attention of other people in the building. She ran all the way out to the car just screaming, telling Danielle, we have to get help. There's something around her neck.

So with all this commotion, other people in the building started to wonder what was going on. And a guy appeared in the hallway. He stuck his head out at one of the apartments trying to figure out what in the world was happening. And by that time, Danielle had made her way up to Mindy's. She met the guy outside Mindy's door and said, please, can you go check on our friend and we think something happened to her? So they enter. Danielle went first. She did exactly what Tony had. She wanted to see for herself, and she did. She took a few steps in.

and that's all she needed. She saw what Tony saw. And it was obvious to her, just how bad this situation was. As soon as she realized what she was looking at, she ran back out of that apartment as fast as fast as she could. She ran so fast. She hit the wall in the hallway. The guy that was standing there went inside to check to see if Mindy was still alive. He bent down and he tried to see if he could feel a pulse. He looked out into the hall and he said, I'm sorry, your friend is gone. The thing is, checking Mindy's pulse really wasn't necessary. Any ordinary person, even without any medical experience, would have been able to tell that Mindy was no longer alive by the extent of her injuries. But surprisingly,

sometimes people who stumble upon a deceased person, even someone that has sustained very serious injuries, they may not even notice the blood at first, or just how bad the wounds are. I know this sounds unreal. How could Tony not have seen what was so obvious? But it's true. Our minds are are so powerful, so much so that there was a case that I recently became aware of when the Idaho murders happened. This is a short caveat, but it's relevant and it's interesting. A woman came out recently to defend the surviving roommates that supposedly either didn't hear the Idaho killings being carried out, specifically Dylan Mortensen. I think that's her name. It was a roommate that saw the shadowy figure in the house but didn't call the police. Well, there was a similar case that

happened three decades ago out in Buffalo, New York. Alana Zabble was living in a three-story home with her sorority sisters at the University of Buffalo. One night in September, they were very excited. They were starting the new year out. They went to a party that night at a fraternity nearby, and one of the girls from their group went home early before the others. So when Alana came back, she was a little later, and she couldn't get into the house because the door was locked. So she just decides to climb through a window. She lives there, no big deal. She did kind of notice there was a weird smell in the house. She had been drinking and it was late and she just wanted to get to bed.

She did think she heard some heavy breathing coming from her roommate's bedroom, but she just figured it was her boyfriend having sex with her. So she ignored it. There was not one inclination for her to believe that her roommate was being murdered. Not only that. The next morning, she discovers her roommate lying lifeless in her room. And the thing is, she didn't see any blood. In her own word, she said, quote,

I just saw liquid. My friend was taking her pulse, and I thought that my roommate choked on her own vomit. Right away, I said, oh, it's vomit. But then, when the paramedics arrived, they stepped into the room, and I heard the word blood. And in a millisecond, when I looked in the room, the entire room was red. End quote. We have a defense mechanism that guards us from going into shock. It's to protect us so that we can run or fight to survive. If we see too much, we go in shock, faint or freeze so our minds create their own false reality. Helena defended Dylan in the Idaho case because we don't always recognize the signs. I don't know. Has anything like that ever happened to you? Maybe not as extreme, but are mine blocking something out? Let me know. But back to Mindy and what was

happening that September night in her apartment, the night her friend's lives and her life was changed forever. It's a moment that's etched into their minds, a traumatic moment that would never die along with Mindy. What happened to her? Who would want her Mindy? The girls frantically call 911. They're hardly able to relay what is going on. So dispatch sends out Valley City Police Sergeant Dave Swenson to 515 8th Street, apartment 9. They called him because he only lived a block away. So they figured he could run over, see what was going on, make sense of it, and then report back with details. Tony and Danielle were outside when he arrived. They were shocked. that's an understatement. They were hysterical. However, they were able to point Sergeant

Swenson to Mindy's apartment. He'd actually been out to this particular apartment building before. He goes on calls all the time. This is a small town. He goes for noise, the servants, loud parties, music, bothering neighbors, and also just spending time in the neighborhood. He recognized Mindy. He'd seen her before on other occasions, but not like this. She volunteered around town, and he was familiar with her. But what he saw that night was literally what horror movies are made of. The smell was what he noticed first. Pine saw, a cleaning solution.

It has a very distinctive smell that's very bold and long-lasting. And as the name suggests, it smells like pine, but sort of mixed with ammonia or disinfectant. It's kind of like a freshly mopped floor smell. As Swenson made his way down the entry hallway into the apartment, there was a mat on the left with several pairs of shoes on it. And just past that, he saw Mindy lying across the floor. He saw her legs first and part of her midriff. She was fully clothed wearing dark pants and a long sleeved white top that had slid up exposing her stomach. As he got closer, he saw she was lying on her back face up with her arms to her sides and her head was in a very unnatural position.

He could tell something was wrapped around her neck. Getting even closer, he was. He was, he realized it was a belt around her neck and there was blood on it and on her face and it was pulling underneath her head. On the right, there were two knives, both bloody, and one was still in her throat with the handle broken and the other was lying right next to her head. This was bad. By this time, another officer was unseen, Valley City PD officer Andrew Sather. Dispatch had sent him out there for a call regarding a strangling, probably because totally. Tony had said, I saw something around Mindy's neck. The officer met Sergeant Swenson inside.

He saw Mindy's body. He checked for a pulse. And of course, made a record that she was deceased. He too made a comment about the smell of Pine Soll and he noticed an empty bottle. It was kind of tucked between Mindy's right arm and the side of her body, kind of like in her armpit with a cap nearby. When they removed the bottle, her keys were lying underneath. and there was an inside out coral and white striped shirt on top of her right arm and her open wallet was right next to it. Her unzipped purse was still connected to her right arm. Both straps wrapped

securely around her forearm. It didn't look like anything was taken from her wallet. All of her cards were still snug inside the slots with her cell phone nearby as well. That coral shirt seemed out of place and she was fully dressed. So they scanned the room and the officer started noticing that there was clothing scattered around the apartment. Otherwise, it was very tidy. And as they followed this trail of clothing, they found a laundry basket right inside the door to Mindy's bedroom, along with another pile of clothing. Her flip-flops were off her feet lying close by on top of a few more items of clothing. A preliminary observation of what had happened seemed to lead the officers to think. Someone ambushed Mindy as she was bringing her laundry basket

full of clothing upstairs from the communal laundry room on site. in the building of her apartment. The motive, they weren't sure, but it could have been sexual in nature because it appeared from where the laundry basket landed that the person who did this was trying to get her into her bedroom, which is why there was clothing scattered

from the hall to that room, but it looks like she put up a fight. And she might have been attacked when she was trying to escape out the front door. Everything seemed to have happened in a very small portion of this already small apartment between the front door, the small hallway, and her bedroom. The kitchen was located mere steps away from her head.

It wouldn't have been difficult for someone to have grabbed those knives in an attempt to subdue her or make sure she was dead. But why would someone do this to Mindy and who would do this to her? It was very disturbing for Swenson to see Mindy in this condition. She was so vibrant and all of that, all of the bright and bumble. personality was gone. She was just a shell of who she once was. He was determined to find out who did this to her. She was so loved in this community. Sergeant Swenson knew the Valley City PD would not be able to handle this case on their own. So he immediately called his supervisor

who called the Bureau of Criminal Investigation and they sent out Special Agent Mark Saler to the scene. He arrived not too long thereafter and he looked over everything that Sergeant Swenson and Sather had seen. determined that the person who did this had poured pine saw all over Mindy's head and body. He wasn't sure if this was just to desecrate the body or an attempt to remove evidence. What he did know was that he was going to need some of his own guys from the BCI to come and assist. So he called BCI partners Agent Arnie Rummel, a crime scene investigation specialist, and agent Calvin Dupree, who was more of an interrogator in your face kind of guy that's great at gathering information, speaking to witnesses, so on and so forth.

Once the BCI agents arrived, they took a video as well as a number of pictures of this crime scene, while Sargent Swenson went out and talked to neighbors and started to gather information outside. Within just 30 minutes, a number of people had come out of their apartments, and they were standing in front of the building wondering what was going on. They saw officers putting up crime scene tape, and they were asking if anyone saw anything out of the ordinary, and a lot of the residents were shaken up by what was going on. this apartment building became a crime scene. Out of nowhere, this is a tiny community that's definitely not used to anything like this.

One resident, Christina Judd, she was seven months pregnant. She was clutching her one-year-old daughter, Tiana, visibly upset over this entire situation. Chrissy and her husband Mo Gibbs, they lived a floor below Mindy and they saw the flashing lights outside, and they went out to see what was going on. Mo was actually a correctional officer for Valley City. He knew the officers, and he was informed. by his colleagues that a murder had occurred in their building. This sent shockwaves through the entire building

and this community. Chrissy was scared. She said, I can't sleep here. I don't feel safe here. I gotta go. So of course, right after Sargent Swenson asked them a few questions, they left this apartment building. They went to Chrissy's parents' house,

which was close by, and she said she spent the night there. She couldn't sleep all night. She just remembers her husband holding her all night long. because she was terrified. She couldn't believe that this could happen in their apartment building. She was tossing and turning all night. She was actually glad that her and her husband

were in the middle of moving from this apartment building to her parents' house because she said she couldn't live there after this. I think I would feel the same way, especially if I thought where I lived was safe. I would wonder how in the world did this happen? I don't think I could sleep. I don't think I could eat.

I would be so scared. I don't know if anything like this has ever happened to you, but I like hearing those things in the comments. I haven't had anything like this happen, but even things like a break-in or other crimes that have happened in my area that I've lived in before, I've been scared to go back to my apartment at that time.

And now this apartment was a full-blown crime scene. When Chrissy and Moe were asked if they noticed anything out of the ordinary that day, Sergeant Swenson was hoping that they had. He knew Moe. They played together on a softball team and he worked at the jail, so he would be an excellent witness

because he was used to working in the law enforcement environment. And this was a close-knit community. Chrissy's dad, George Judd, worked as an athletic trainer for Valley City State University. Mindy was probably one of his students. Chrissy and Moe said that Chrissy was at work that day. They had lunch together with Chrissy and their little daughter, Tiana. And Mo did mention he smelled a very strong, distinct odor like a cleansing disinfectant of some kind in the afternoon. But other than that, he didn't hear or see anything.

Chrissy's dad George had come over while Moe was watching Tiana and Chrissy was at work. He needed to get some information about Moe's wedding ring and to borrow Chrissy's car to drive to Fargo and pick up her mom from the airport. Later when Chrissy got off work, they had a regular night. Then they saw the flashing lights. Swenson asked for Chrissy's father's information so they could follow up with him to see if he saw anything unusual when he came by that day. Then Swenson moves on to the next person in the crowd that he'd like to talk to and he sees him standing with a woman. It's the guy who went into Mindy's apartment with Danielle and took her pulse. The man tells Spencer his name is Robert Linz.

He's not a resident, but the woman he was with, Shelley Rose, is. She lives in one of the bottom apartments in the building. She's the mother of Robert's daughter, Megan, who was just a child at the time, and he was there visiting that day. He said he heard someone screaming, so he looked out the door and heard it was coming from upstairs, so he went up there to see what was going on. He too mentioned that he smelled pine sall and that he saw the empty bottle underneath Mindy's arm and had remembered that overwhelming scent earlier in the afternoon. He said he'd only been inside Mindy's apartment a very short time before Swenson showed up,

just enough time for him to touch her arm and discover that she did not have a pulse. But he does tell Swenson, oh, I didn't touch her with my fingers. I used the back of my hand so that I wouldn't leave any fingerprints behind. He said he really didn't have to because anyone could see that she was dead. Okay, so not many people would be concerned with leaving fingerprints behind in time like this, so that definitely stood out. It's a very intense moment. If you're truly trying to help someone, you don't usually have time to think about anything else,

but Robert had. So it's something that Swenson took note of. Then he asked Shelley if she had heard or seen anything or smelled anything unusual that day. Shelly said it was a normal day. Her adult daughter, Nicole, came by twice, once in the morning. morning after her shift, which was over at 7.30 in the morning, and then later in the day around lunchtime, a little after one, she did say she smelled pine salt around that time. She remembers that she went out to smoke a cigarette with Nicole, and as they walked out of the building,

they could smell pine saw in the hallway. Swenson asked for her daughter's name. She said it was Nicole Thorson, and she provided him with her contact information so that he could reach out to her as well. Shelly said Robert came over after he got off work around 5.30 or so. Shelly said, and later when they heard the screams, he went upstairs alone without her to see what was going on. But she kind of started coming up the stairs as well with her young daughter. However, she told Swenson she stopped as she got near the hallway to Mindy's apartment because she could feel that something was wrong. She just did not want her daughter to see anything.

But what she said next was even scarier. She said that a week earlier someone tried to push in her door, but that she never reported it to police, but now knowing what happened, it was terrifying to her. And she wondered if it was connected. While Spunson is talking to residents, officers have informed the new Salem Police Department about Mindy's death. A deputy that knew the family really well for the last couple decades said that he would deliver the devastating news to her family. It was around 11 p.m. by the time he showed up at Rebecca and Jason's door that night. Rebecca could tell just by the look on his face that this was not going to be good news, but she never expected it to be as bad as it was.

When the couple came to the door, the officer just said, I'm sorry to inform me, Rebecca, but Mindy's dead. Rebecca fell to the floor after hearing the news, and the deputy didn't have much else to tell them, except that Mindy died under suspicious circumstances. It just seemed unreal. Not Mindy. Why Mindy? Who would want to hurt someone like her? That's all. all Rebecca could think about. Someone so loving and kind, it just didn't make sense. The couple had the deputy go with them over to the family farm so that they could give her parents the news.

Rebecca rang the doorbell, and she heard her father say, who's there? He could see that Rebecca was visibly upset. She said, it's me, dad. I've got some bad news. She looked at her mom, and she said, Mindy's dead. Eunice described getting the news like being stabbed right. in the heart. She didn't want this to be real. She just kept wanting to believe that this did not happen.

She loved Mindy so very much. She didn't understand how anything bad could have happened to someone like her. She ran into Mindy's bedroom screaming. She picked up a sweater that her daughter had left there, and she just wanted to take in Mindy's scent. She just held Mindy's sweater there and broke down in tears. We're just streaming down her face, and all these thoughts were coming back to her, all the memories that she shared with her daughter who was now gone. At this point, they don't know that she's been murdered. Remember, the New Salem deputy had said that he had limited information about what was going on. They just said that she died under suspicious circumstances, and her family wondered, what did that mean? They wanted to know what happened. They needed answers. But right now, they had to reach out to all of Mindy's friends

and let them know the terrible news. And one of those friends was Mindy's childhood best friend, the one that went to VCSU with her, Ashley Wallace. Ashley got the call that night. It was really late and she just kept repeating the same thing. No, no, no. They grew up together. They went to college together. They were birds of a feather.

She drove right over to Mindy's apartment. And what she saw would stick with her for the rest of her life. She always had this moment etched into her mind. When she pulled up, she could see one of Mindy's windows. It was open and the wind was blowing the curtains and the light was on. It was like it was like Mindy was there but she knew she was gone. She just wanted to go up there and help her. She kept thinking, is someone up there with her?

Is someone helping her? She knew it was too late for that but she just kept thinking about her friend lying there by herself. No way for her to touch her to hold her to be there for her. It was too much for her to take in. She felt helpless in that moment and by that time in the middle of the middle of her, of the night, many people had gathered over the last few hours. Friends from work, from school, they wanted answers. The team of investigators were there all night long into the early morning hours of the next morning, just scouring Mindy's entire apartment for clues. I have pictures of this

crime scene. Of course, I'm going to censor Mindy, but there are a lot of things I examined as though I were there looking at the same evidence. I like that. I love looking at what investigators saw. So I'm going to put some of those photos up on the screen. I will describe them for those who are just listening. First, let's start outside this building. There's a main door to the building. It's not secured with a lock of any kind. And it's shared by all of the tenants and the guests and everyone coming in and out.

As you step inside, there's a stairway that goes up and down, one to the basement style apartments below and one up to the other levels. Mindy lived on the second floor in Apartment 9. In this picture, you can see right inside the front door. You'd come in facing the opposite way. So let me show you that now. Here's the view from the door coming into Mindy's apartment. You see a picture frame on the right hallway wall, a TV up ahead,

and on an entertainment center. And this opening is where her bedroom is. But let's go back to the first photo. There's gray carpet. You see the mat with the shoes on it. This is a very short hallway. It's just a few feet until you would get to the door to Mindy's bedroom, which is on the right.

The door was open and you can see inside there's her bed. There was also several handwritten notes taped to different walls. we will get to those in just a moment. If you continue straight, you're in her small living room. There's a TV, an entertainment center, and you can see she love pictures. She had a lot of pictures of her friends, her family members, all over the place. There's also an air conditioning above this area, and a DVD player is below. She even had a little air freshener.

And to the left is a sitting area with a couch. There's more pictures of her and her friends, a remote for the TV, a phone tucked away on the side table. And to the left of that, that's the open kitchen right off the living room area. There's a small table here with a bunch of pictures. They were laid out as though she or someone was going through them. There's also a portable CD player, a CD maybe some contact solution. I always try to figure out what everything is. I even go on Reddit sometimes and post pictures of crime scenes asking the public what they see,

especially when I'm stumped on something. And that did happen in this case, and I'll get to it. but there's a card, some film negatives you get when you develop pictures, and everyday stuff. Going back to that picture zoomed out, there's a picture of the linoleum flooring and the kitchen counter. Looking closely, I did notice some prescription bottles, a pair of blue kitchen cleaning gloves, some bread, just normal stuff. Here's a better view of the kitchen counter and the sink area, including the knife block, where Mindy stored all of her sharper knives. Again, pretty standard kitchen. On the opposite side, there's a green refrigerator.

Those are vintage now for sure. Haven't seen one of those in a long time in person, but here's the top of it. More pictures, a calendar on the wall, another air freshener. As you can see, Mindy was very tidy, very organized. And that's why when I show you the clothing strewn around the room, you'll be able to tell it's out of place. Now that you kind of get a feel for the apartment layout,

I want to show you where Mindy was. She was lying across the hall, where the hall opens to the living room, and where you would move towards her bedroom. door. Her feet were facing her door with her head toward the kitchen area. Part of her hair was half on the carpet and half on the kitchen linoleum. You'd see her legs first as you came inside. You can see the coral shirt, her black pants, and the bottom you can see her white flip flops on top of a pile of clothing. And that bag there, that's a crime scene text bag. It didn't

belong to many so you can ignore it. Here's the coral shirt up close. It's on top of her white purse and you can see her open wallet here. Now in this picture I'll show you the whole thing but first I'm going to zoom in. You can see there's an outline of a bottle it's between her arm and her side. I know it's blurred. That's the way I got these photos, but I'm outlining where the bottle is. And here I'll put one on top. That is how they found the one next to her with the cap nearby right here. A close up of her wallet and I'm showing how there's nothing seemingly removed. Here you can see her unzipped purse with the straps still around her arm as well as the string of her lanyard still around her arm which held her keys you can see the keys underneath and this

photo of her purse made me sad i used to have one like that back then it just really shows you that we are all so much alike the little cute corduory bag okay now i'm blurring out the top of her head you can see it's half on the living room floor and half on the linoleum of the kitchen floor and above it there are a few items of clothing. Back towards her feet again and toward the hall near her bedroom, you can see more items of clothing going into that hallway. They continued through the doorway to her room, and this is from the inside of her room looking back out.

You can see tiny piles. Now coming into her bedroom, this is what you see. A bigger pile of loose clothing, as well as a laundry basket and clothes kind of hanging out of it. Close up, you see a picture frame, not attached to the wall, just leaning against it, with more pictures of her friends, her family. I even recognize her ex-boyfriend Kyle, as well as her hair dryer and a fan on the floor. Here's her bedroom dresser. It looks like most of ours did when we

were growing up. There's a boom box that really brings back a lot of memory stereo for the younger people watching. A linch rollers on there. There's a Victoria's Secret lotion bottles, little jewelry boxes, CDs, more pictures. And then there's this. This is what I couldn't quite figure out what it was. What do you think it is? I finally guessed it was a hair, dryer diffuser cover because I have curly hair and so did Mindy. So it appeared to me to be similar to a hot sock or a collapsible diffuser, you tell me. But now let's get serious for a moment. I don't know if you noticed the handwritten notes that are all over the walls. I told you I'd mention those. Well, before I do, there's something I want to point out. I did see a comment here on my channel.

I don't know if it was the only one, but I saw one comment that was accusing me of always speaking about a certain type of religious person in my videos and maybe singling out Christian stories and I just want to tell you that I can 100% say without a shadow of a doubt, that is not true. I do not pick anyone based upon their belief system whatsoever. As a matter of fact, it's why I tell you about someone's belief system. It's because I truly believe if a victim believed in something, I'm not going to leave that out of my story. I learned back when I did my only survivor story on this channel with Christine Kent. I spoke to her on the phone. And she was almost in tears telling me about how big true crime shows took out everything about her faith. I can't do that. Even if it's

something I don't agree with or that I don't follow, this is just my personal stance. I'm telling someone else's story. I'm going to be as factual as I can. So if they believed in God, I'm going to tell you they believed in God. If they didn't, you're probably not going to hear about it. or maybe their religion was never mentioned in the research because someone else left that out. Reporters, family, I don't know. But I will always tell you exactly what I find when I do my research, which is why I'm going to have some things at the end of this video that I wouldn't necessarily dive into, but I can't leave out because it's part of the story. And you'll hear that later on. But I did just want to mention this and point that out.

But clearly as you can see, all of these notes, all over Mindy's apartment, they bear witness to the fact that she was a believer in Jesus Christ and that that was her Lord and Savior and her personal belief system. These are things that the officers took into account because they're building victimology. They want to know who their victim is. What did she do for a living? Who was she hanging out with? What was her belief system? Because those things are going to be put up against facts, different details of the case that they find. And if this is normally not a person that let's say would, I don't know, do drugs, that's going to be an example of what the investigators might look at when something comes in

that's counterintuitive or contrary to what they see on paper. Like in this case, it would be contradictory evidence. It doesn't mean that they're not going to take both of those pieces of evidence into account. But if it doesn't really add up with who they know the person is, they'll just question it. It's very important when you're trying to understand who would want to hear. someone it matters a person's lifestyle is very important when trying to piece together what happened to them in their final moments so I just wanted to do that

small kind of long now caveat to tell you no I never choose a case based upon someone's belief system what usually intrigues me is the person who they were what their character was like and then of course ultimately what happened to them there's so many reasons I choose cases and a lot of them are suggestions from you in this case when they were investigating they saw that there weren't just one or two, there were a number of notes written by Mindy put up on her walls, on her doors, on her mirrors, all around her apartment. To remind her of what she believed in. For those of you that like to listen and not watch, I wanted to tell you what a few of these notes said. One of them that looks to be on her door of her bedroom or a cabinet said, Jesus lives in my heart.

I, Mindy, am a child of God. I belong to the Lord. Today, tomorrow, and forever, Jesus Christ loves me, died for me, and forgives me. Mindy for all of my faults. He heals brokenness. Another one said, I am secure. Thank you for Jesus covering me and touching my heart. Thanks for all your love. The one on her bedroom mirror said, Mindy, you are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ and forgiven by him. Praise be to God. There were notes everywhere, like I said. One was about praying for others. One was about the Lord helping her to make positive changes as a Christian for her Lord and for herself. When I read these, I get a feel for who Mindy was. But most of all, it shows me how desperate she was, clinging to her faith to be healed. Remember, she was living in this apartment to go through chemotherapy infusions

for that clinical trial. That's some scary stuff. You don't know what could happen to you. You could die. There are no guarantees. It's all experimental. And all this makes me sad to think what happened to her. It didn't look like anyone ransacked Mindy's apartment, tried to steal anything. However, I mentioned there were pictures missing from some of the picture frames. Several, actually, and investigators thought that was odd. Look at this frame in the living room right here. It's right near Mindy's body. There were at least four photos of her removed from it. Then look at this. At the wall unit, more pictures are missing from this frame as well. This stood out to them. In many cases, perpetrators will keep something that belongs to their victims. Pictures could

certainly be one of those items. A person could have been obsessed with Mindy. The crime, did seem personal. There was a belt wrapped around her neck. This person had to be close up and personal with her. They stabbed her. That's an intimate crime. The crime scene investigators took pictures of two knives and pulled one knife from her neck. Here you can see the blade is completely broken off and hanging from the handle. Both knives match the ones in Mindy's kitchen, which was just steps away from where she was now lying. It was overkill in the investigator's minds, like someone was very angry or enraged even. There were no signs of force entry either, so perhaps Mindy knew this person or comfortable enough to let them into her apartment. Then,

Agent Rummel notices something very significant. Something underneath the fingernails of Mindy's left hand. It was a reddish color tissue, perhaps skin. Did she scratch her assailant? There was also some hairs in between Mindy's clenched fingers. They bagged her hand. They bagged her hands and her feet to preserve evidence. And if you've heard this but never seen it, this is what it can look like. Bags are tied with tape on the wrists and ankles to make sure that nothing falls out during transportation back to the medical examiner's office. They also did carpet clippings of suspected blood stains from the carpet and here's a spot they took one from. This is what it looks like. There were also drops swabbed on Mindy's shirt as well. Finally,

after hours of work, Mindy was sent to the medical examiner. for an autopsy and investigators could work on locating more people to interview. They wanted to build a timeline of Mindy's last movements, who she was and what she was doing before she was killed. They had no idea when this murder happened or her cause of death. They were no closer to figuring that out yet. So now they turned to Mindy herself for clues, the victimology, understanding who she was, her routines, the people she knew hung out with where she spent her time, and anyone that could have had it out for her. They start with speaking with her mother and father.

Eunice said that she talked to Mindy about everything. They could not think of one person who could do something like this to their beloved daughter. Eunice said that she spoke to Mindy on the phone the night before and they had a wonderful conversation. And Eunice was supposed to come out and hang out with Mindy that day, the day that she died. But at the last minute, she decided not to. Eunice said that Mindy had let her know on that call that it was okay. She didn't have to come out. She knew her mom was tired and had a lot going on. But now Eunice felt

guilty that she wasn't there to protect her when she needed her the most and she could never go back and change that. Her parents remembered the last time they saw her. It wasn't too long ago. She came to visit the family and help on the farm. She was loading bails of hay with her father. And usually when she said goodbye, she would drive out of the driveway and down the road and just kind of wave goodbye. But for some reason, when she started down the driveway, she'd She stopped, she backed up her car, she jumped out, she ran to the house and gave her dad a big hug and said, I love you, dad, and he said I love you too. And that was something that she never did before. So her dad said it was like, it was like something knew that something was going to happen, but nobody knew what.

How sad, but at least he had those moments with her and got to say goodbye. Eunice explained that Mindy was supposed to be going to a modeling shoot the day that she died. She said she didn't know much about it, but that Mindy had called her sister April asking for advice last Tuesday on what to wear. April said that Mindy found this job through the internet and that she had checked it out through the Better Business Bureau. But April remembered telling Mindy you should be careful. This also explained the missing pictures from all those frames. That was Mindy. She pulled them out for examples of different looks and whatnot, so the investigators could rule out the perpetrator stealing those pictures.

They do mention Tony's boyfriend James Robinson. The same one the girls were trying to lie to the night that Mindy was killed. Mindy's parents said that he was not the nicest guy. And she really didn't like him because he would take things out on Tony. And at times things were really scary between them so much so. And she was so worried about Tony that she went to her mom and talked about the fact that James was on drugs. And that she really wanted Tony to stop seeing him. And James knew that she wasn't a fan.

So maybe he had something against her and he caught on that she was going to cover for Tony that night and they were lying to him. Would he go so far to check that night and see if Mindy was or wasn't with the girls and maybe it got out of hand? If he was on drugs, it wouldn't be out of the question that he could have gone into a rage because the crime scene seemed personal in nature. You have to be up close to strangle someone or use knives. And the knives were from her apartment, so the killer could have acted in the moment, like it was unplanned. So investigators want to put James Robinson on their list of people to speak to. Investigators already spoke to April, Mindy's sister, and reached out to Mindy's brother,

Michael. He had just returned from duty in Iraq. He was distraught over his sister's death, thinking he survived the war, and she couldn't even get out of Valley City alive. He didn't have any new information to provide. He did say his sister was the type of person who would jump in. into a pool and not even check if there was water inside. That's how excited she was about life. And he just couldn't believe she was gone. Meanwhile, they're interviewing everyone in the

building as well as neighbors in the nearby apartments and homes and Mindy's close friends. That morning, Mindy had made plans to meet with a friend Jennifer Peters and her daughter. Jennifer was planning to go to lunch with her husband and her three kids before meeting up with Mindy sometime around one o'clock. So when she finished her meal, she called called Mindy. It was around 1246. The call went straight to voicemail, and Mindy never returned that call or any others. One of Mindy's friends, Lacey Undham, she had known her since preschool. She saw her at the university library at 1130 a.m. And said that Mindy left sometime around 12.20 p.m. So investigators checked the school, and Mindy logged off the library computer at 1223 p.m. It only takes five minutes to get back to her apartment from the school.

So investigators estimated she would have probably gotten back by 12.30 p.m. They already got statements from Tony and Danielle. I've explained everything already, everything that they told the investigators, you have as facts in the story. Except that they had been trying to call her all day and they hadn't gotten an answer, which was very out of the ordinary for her. And she missed a dinner that night with some of their friends. From the information that they gathered, it seemed as though Mindy had not been heard from

after she was seen at the library. Investigators checked Mindy's phone, her cell phone, her home phone, and they noticed her first missed call was at 1247. So they estimate the attack happened sometime around that time. Something was happening

that made her unable to answer, even though she had made plans that day. They get in touch with that resident Shelley Rose's daughter Nicole. She had come to the building around that time. So they ask if she remembered seeing anything or hearing anything. She said she came a little

before 1 p.m. and saw an unfamiliar man wearing a flannel walking behind her coming into the door at the same time. A few minutes later, she and her mom went outside to smoke a cigarette and that's when she could smell the pine salt in the hallway. Then they get in touch with George Judd. He's the father of the pregnant resident, Christy Gibbs, and he lets them know he was at his daughter's apartment with her husband around 3.30 on the 13th. He was on his way to Fargo to pick up his wife Sue from the airport. He did not notice anything out of the ordinary. He hung out talking to Mo for a few minutes. He was just sitting on the couch with Tiana, his stepdaughter, George's granddaughter.

And that was it. He didn't smell any pine sall at that time. With this information, investigators believed that Mindy was killed sometime between 1230 and 1 p.m. That's a very small period of time. It also means that Mindy's been dead for nine hours when Tony found her body. By this time, the autopsy results were in, and Dr. George Mizzell, the state forensic examiner, determined that the cause of Mindy's death was insized wounds to her neck and exphyxia. There were no signs of forced intercourse. However, they did

take clippings and scrapings from her fingernails, and it was confirmed that there were human tissue underneath. So this was sent out to a lab, along with swabs from other areas for DNA analysis, and now they wait. Elisa dozen CBI agents were interviewing family, friends, co-workers, coworkers, anyone that knew Mindy. Ashley Wallace said that a few weeks before this, Mindy called her hysterically crying and she said, what is going on? And she kept saying, someone's trying to take me. She kept saying it over and over again. Ashley was like, what are you talking about? Mindy said, she was standing outside her apartment when a man pulled up in a blue car rolled down his window and asked her for directions for a street that was like right around the corner. But then

he got out of his car and ran after her. So she runs back inside her building as fast as she can. She told her mom, too, and they tell her, listen, call the police if you really feel like you are threatened. The word traveled fast, and Rebecca and her husband Jason heard about it as well. Mindy did call the police and she made a report. But her friend said that even though Mindy was very outgoing, and she did have the tendency to trust people,

she would get freaked out over certain interactions, and they'd joke that she was scared of her own shadow. So some people, like Jason, thought she could be overreacting a little bit, but now he's not so sure. The police report stated that according to Mindy, the man was in his 60s. He was described as a heavy white man, five feet, 10 inches tall, driving a blue car that resembled a Ford tourist. So now they'd be on the lookout for a vehicle matching that description. Detectives move on and they do interviews with Mindy's coworkers. She worked at a restaurant in town as a waitress.

and there was this older man that lived across the street in a motor home. It was only a five-minute drive from where she lived. This man would come in. He would ask to sit at Mindy's table. He would annoy her and other women at the restaurant. He acted kind of strange, and Mindy complained to her coworkers that he made her feel uneasy. So they wanted to bring him in for an interview. His name was Ralph Albert Walters.

They added him to their list of another person that they needed to speak with. Meanwhile, all the building residents are ordered to provide, DNA samples to be sent out to the crime lab in case a DNA profile is created from the evidence collected at the scene. So one by one, they were coming down to the station on their own or when called in by an agent. First on their list of people was Robert Lindt. Remember him?

The one that used the back of his hand to take Mindy's pulse. So they bring Robert in for an interview. And they want him to know, you know what? We're just looking at everyone. It's standard procedure. But he cuts in and he's like, well, I understand you're probably looking at me a little harder. He was right.

He went into check with Danielle and he was in the apartment when Swenson got there. True, he was assessing the situation and assisting. Or was he? Could he be setting up a reason why his DNA would be found there? I mean, he came up there pretty quickly without any hesitation, not knowing what was going on. He mentioned that he knows he stands out from everyone else. It's true. Robert was different from the farmer boys in town.

He had a shaved head, a bunch of tattoos, and his style of dress kind of made him look like an outsider. Robert's lifestyle and appearance definitely would make him a target in this small town. He had only moved to Valley City a few months before Mindy's murder. Originally, he was from California. So the investigators asked if he even knew Mindy. He said he knew her in passing. He saw her every day. And he said, as far as he knew, she was just a pretty girl that lived in the apartment building.

And when he passed her, he could feel her spirit. That's what he said. He said he could feel like she was a good person. The night that this happened to her, he said he was watching television. in his apartment when he heard the commotion outside and he went to see what was going on. They want to know why he touched her with the back of his hand, so he was honest. He told them, you know what, I've got a criminal record out in California. I did some things, got me in a little bit of trouble. So they run his name, sure enough, criminal record, just like he said. They want to

know, what did you get caught doing? He's like, I stole a car, I had a gun, I had some pot on me, and I was sentenced to about two and a half years in prison. But he says he's changed now. He moved there to be closer to his daughter. They have this small timeline between 12.30 and 1 p.m. when they think that this murder could have happened. They want to know where he was. He says nothing out of the ordinary happen that day. He had a regular day.

He started work five minutes to seven and didn't get back to the apartment building until 5.30 that evening. But he did have a lunch break at noon. And he said it takes him about 45 minutes. And that's interesting because that's around the time they think Mindy was killed. While he's talking to these two detectives, they notice his hands.

They were focused on the cuts up and down his arms. So they asked him, how'd you get cut up? He's like, oh, that's normal. Kind of business I do. I handle steel. It's just part of my construction job. I build steel buildings all day long. I get cut up.

You're bound to when you do manual labor. But then there's just one finger that detective C that has a bandaid on it. So they ask him, well, how did you get that one? He says that one happened on September 13th. He cut himself pretty bad on a piece of steel. Really? Or was it when he was stabbing an innocent girl in her apartment?

They really couldn't be sure. So they ask him, are you willing to give a DNA sample? A cheek swab? And he's like, sure. They tell them, we're doing it to everyone to roll them out. And he's like, absolutely. Anything you need. Fingerprints, swabs, whatever you want.

They do get a sample of his DNA. And then they let him go. They didn't have anything they could hold them on at this point. And now they had to wait for results. Meanwhile, they do check with his employer, and they actually confirm his alibi. And the fact that he does get cut up doing that job. So it's a mere waiting game once again. Who do you think they're going to bring in next?

Tony's boyfriend James, the one that Mindy didn't like. They ask him the same type of questions they asked Robert. Did you know Mindy? How? James says yes. He knew her from going to hang out with his girlfriend, Tony, at her work at her family's restaurant. Mindy worked there. She would be there. He said Tony and Mindy would get together. They would hang out. They would eat once and a while. And he was around sometimes. So we got to know her too. They asked him about his criminal record. And he knows they can check it. So why are you going to lie? So he doesn't. He said, yep, I got in trouble for illegal drugs. But that is in my past. Isn't it always when they're interviewed? He says, I'm trying to stay on the straight and narrow. I'm not trying to live that lifestyle anymore. But then they notice a pretty gnarly cut on his right hand and ask him what happened. He said, oh, that, yeah, went right through a window and bled like something fierce. Wow, and he's really not living the lifestyle anymore?

Hmm. One of the detectives noticed that it was fresh and he even says it. He's like, it looks pretty fresh. So they want to know where he was on the day of the murder. James says he knows he had about four hours left of his community service from his previous charges. So that's what he was doing. And then he went to a friend's house and then he went home around 5.30 p.m. So they were able to call and verify both of those things.

Just like in Robert's interview, they asked James if he's willing to give a DNA sample, and he agrees. Again, it's a waiting game, and it could take weeks to get the results back. Alibis are not concrete evidence. So they have to officially rule every single person out, regardless of whether someone confirms their whereabouts. Those are humans. They can make mistakes. It's not always accurate.