Two babies, both linked through DNA to suspect, were found dead in 1999 and 2003. A newborn boy was found in Lower Boat Harbor in Red Wing, and a newborn girl was found in Lake Pepin.
The Mathis case, the trial and the questions that remain to this day are the subject of a new book, "South Dakota's Mathis Murders: Horror in the Heartland" by long-time South Dakota journalist Noel Hamiel. The book is available to purchase on Monday.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and Cass County Sheriff’s Office said the cigarettes and malt liquor made up the last transaction of the night on Feb. 27, 2001, at Ultimate Liquors on Barclay Avenue in Pine River, Minnesota.
With the case involving complicated and novel DNA issues, it may take a jury up to four weeks to hear the case of Michael Carbo in the rape and beating death of Nancy Daugherty.
Investigators continue to monitor advances in DNA technology — including the expansion of DNA databases — in the hopes of revealed answers. Yet by all accounts, the case has gone cold, leaving Anita Knutson’s family and friends in a perpetual state of disbelief and uncertainty.