A 52-Year Shadow in the Suburbs: Anoka County Authorities Renew Push to Solve the 1973 Murder of Judy J. Bever

BLAINE, Minn. — Fifty-two years ago this week, the body of 24-year-old Judy J. Bever was discovered in a swampy, wooded section of Blaine — a grim end to a five-week search and the beginning of one of Anoka County’s longest-standing murder mysteries. Today, the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office is renewing its plea for information as a newly strengthened cold-case unit re-examines the circumstances of her killing with modern forensic tools.

The Night She Vanished

Bever, a young wife and employee at a local company, was reported missing by her husband on Oct. 11, 1973 — one day after she failed to return home. According to the original investigative reports, he had dropped her off at work the morning of Oct. 10. That evening, she attended a mixed doubles bowling league sponsored by her employer.

A fellow employee later told investigators that he drove her home after the league wrapped up late in the evening, dropping her off roughly a half-block from her residence. That was the last confirmed sighting of her alive.

Her disappearance initially drew limited clues and no confirmed suspects. For 46 days, the case remained a missing-person mystery.

A Body Found in the Marsh

On Nov. 25, 1973, hunters discovered Bever’s body in a secluded, swampy area near 99th Avenue and Xylite Street in Blaine. Both the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office and contemporaneous reporting from the Minneapolis Star documented that she was found face up, fully clothed, and had been shot twice in the chest. Authorities noted no evidence of robbery or sexual assault.

The remote location of her body — only a few miles from her home — has long puzzled investigators and suggests she was killed elsewhere and later left in the marsh. The sparse physical evidence and lack of witnesses made the case difficult to advance at the time.

A Modern Investigation Rekindled

The murder, recorded as Case Number 73-003400, is now one of the priority inquiries of the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Homicide Unit, which was reorganized last year after the office secured a federal grant to bolster its investigative capacity.

The unit, led by Detective Ryan Franklin, is systematically re-evaluating dozens of unsolved homicides using today’s forensic and technological standards — advances that were unimaginable in 1973. Investigators are identifying all remaining evidence from the Bever case to determine which items should be tested for the first time, re-tested, or subjected to more advanced DNA and trace-analysis techniques.

Detectives say time itself can become an investigative asset. Relationships shift, people move, life circumstances change, and individuals who stayed silent decades ago may now be willing to talk.

A Family Waiting for Answers

For the sheriff’s office, finding answers is as much about accountability as it is about restoring dignity to victims whose stories have faded from public view.

“The ultimate goal is to hold offenders accountable and bring closure to victims’ families,” the office said in a recent statement marking the anniversary of Bever’s death.

Authorities emphasize that even the smallest piece of information — a detail recalled from the 1970s, a statement once overheard, or a long-held suspicion — could help unlock the case.

A Call for Public Assistance

The Anoka County Sheriff’s Office is urging anyone with knowledge about the disappearance or murder of Judy J. Bever to come forward. Tips may be submitted confidentially.

Email: ACSOColdCases@anokacountymn.gov
More information: Anoka County Cold Case Homicide Unit website

As the case enters its fifty-third year, authorities hope that renewed attention — and the quiet persistence of modern forensic science — may yet bring long-awaited answers.

MinneapoliMedia