BCA: Mpls. Woman's Remains Identified After 4 Decades
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension officials will be holding a press conference Wednesday afternoon after decades-old remains were identified as a long-missing Minneapolis woman.
At a news conference Wednesday, the BCA says the human remains belong to Gloria Frieda Rieken, who went missing at 18 years old in 1970.
At the time of her disappearance, Rieken was a freshman student at the University of Minnesota. One morning in early November 1970, she left her apartment on foot for school, but never arrived.
On Nov. 10, 1970, a neighbor discovered human remains of an unidentified woman inside an abandoned and burned home in Mille Lacs County.
The BCA says the deceased was identified through DNA, and now authorities are asking for any information that will help solve her case.
"Learning her identity gave us our first break in this case in nearly a half century," said Mille Lacs County Sheriff Don Lorge. "Now we can try to piece together how she came to be in Mille Lacs County, and hopefully, how she died."
The Minnesota BCA says her identification highlights the value of family members of missing loved ones providing a DNA sample.
Anyone with information in her disappearance is asked to contact the Mille Lacs County Sheriff's Office at 320-983-8250, or the BCA at 651-793-7000, 877-996-6222, or via email at bca.coldcase@state.mn.us. Tips can be anonymous.