You can listen to episode two of “Aren’t You the Girl?” podcast here:
Posted is the transcript for the episode for those who would like to read Mary’s story instead.
Sources, clips and music used for this episode are listed at the end of this post.
Eighteen months after Joli Truelson’s murder, twenty-five year old Mary Schlais was found dead after hitching a ride in Minneapolis. What stands out to Joli’s uncle Matt – the yellow vehicle Mary’s body was witnessed being dumped from.
In this episode of Aren’t You the Girl? The search into possible connections between Joli and Mary’s murders. And if the yellow vehicle in Mary’s case can link to Timothy Crosby.
It wasn’t until I sat down with Thor Truelson and he showed me an old newspaper article about his uncle’s search for Joli’s killer that I learned about the death of Mary Schlais in 1974.
A picture of Joli swinging on a swing set with a smile across her face and hair flowing in the wind.
A big headline read, “Uncle stalks Joli’s killer.”
I believe I missed noticing Mary’s case due to her body being found just across the Wisconsin border. Technically, Mary is a Wisconsin case.
Matthew Murphy made the connection in 1974 because of the fact a yellow vehicle is involved in Mary’s case and the fact Mary originally left from Minneapolis.
Joli was seen getting into a yellow vehicle and someone witnessed a man throw Mary’s body into a snowbank before driving away in their yellow vehicle.
Neither Joli or Mary had been sexually assaulted.
Both fully dressed in red sweaters though Mary’s purse and coat were missing and have never been located.
Unlike Joli, who didn’t have a chance to defend herself, Mary fought extremely hard. Mary was stabbed 15 times in the neck, back and stomach. And suffered a broken nose and was beaten about her face.
In the early 1970’s, law enforcement pushed the narrative for women to just submit to the attacker. If you fight back – you will get yourself killed.
Further narrative was pushed in the media for women to not hitchhike. That a girl wanting to get to an art show or her grandmother’s house deserved what came to them for getting into the vehicle.
I was shocked at the brutality of this murder. I began to look into Mary’s story. Though I don’t believe there is any connection to Timothy Crosby, I feel Mary’s case deserves to be examined as well.
Timothy was just one of multiple sexual predators who lurked the streets of the Twin Cities in a yellow vehicle in 1974.
Mary was last seen on February 15th, 1974 by her roommate Judith. She said Mary left their Kenwood apartment at 10:30 am and she held a sign bearing the words “Madison” in hopes to hitch a ride to Chicago for an art show.
Hitchhiking was Mary’s most common mode of transportation.
She was wearing a tan, furry three-quarter length coat and carrying a purse.
Three hours later, a driver and his dog were driving back from a store. The dog wanted a longer drive so the owner drove along a dead end road where he came upon two people fighting and continued on along this dead end road.
Upon realizing something was wrong he turned around and came back to observe the scene a few minutes later.
What he found was the body later identified as Mary Schlais laying in the ditch. The late model-gold colored compact car was gone.
She was found wearing a maroon turtleneck sweater and spot dyed blue denim socks.
Her body was found along a spring brook township road in the Elk Creek lake area in Wisconsin. 90 miles from where she was picked up in Minneapolis.
It’s believed she was killed elsewhere or in the vehicle.
Tire impressions were found but weren’t very good due to freshly fallen snow but they took pictures and impressions.
Police found an orange and black stocking hat believed to be the killers. A dozen hair fibers were found in the hat but they were unable to make a connection.
It’s unsure if the hat has any connection to Mary at all at this point today.
The DNA found underneath her fingernails and blood stains on her clothing also came up with nothing.
The suspect was reported to be 6 feet tall and weighed about 180 pounds. Thick mustache and hazel eyes.
A nationwide alert was launched.
Initially police got very little tips.
What is strange about her case is that there is less than a three hour window from when she left her apartment and body being found. Her body was still warm even though it was a snowy, winter day.
Meaning the assailant would have had to almost drive exactly to the dumping spot to cover the 90 mile drive time.
Eight months after Mary was murdered, an anonymous person sent a note to the crime lab. The handwritten note said,
“Did you ever think man who found murdered girl at Elk Lake also put her there.”
He was talked to, interviewed, and even hypnotized. He didn’t have anything to do with Mary and couldn’t remember any other details about the suspect and his vehicle.
From what I understand, he was extremely traumatized from this experience.
By 1976, over 400 leads had been investigated. Involving suspects throughout the United States and even Canada.
With every lead, investigators hit some sort of brick wall which brings them back to square one. Unfortunately this pattern is what haunts her case today.
But investigators desperately try to solve her murder.
In Feb. 2009, Mary’s body was exhumed in an effort to use modern DNA technology to solve her case – 35 years later. Unfortunately, this hasn’t led detectives to her killer.
Upon first learning about Mary and searching for her online, I learned I had a connection to her story.
A friend of mine is author and researcher Chad Lewis. I have many of his books that feature the strange and unknown in Minnesota. I discovered in one of his early books about Wisconsin – he shared Mary’s story.
Wisconsin’s Road Guide to Haunted Locations.
This was my introduction to learning that Mary is more known in the paranormal world than her actual unsolved murder case.
Chad was extremely helpful during my research.
Mary’s restless spirit has been seen hitching a ride on nearby roads and often visits with people near Elk Creek River.
There are multiple stories and podcasts regarding only the paranormal side of Mary’s story online – I’m not going to get into that aspect of her story here.
Anyone who knows me, knows that I love paranormal stories. However, I’m interested in finding the truth in Mary’s death and what may have happened on that lonely, snowy road.
Behind every hometown ghost story, is often a tragic reality that gets lost in the fantasy throughout the years.
I want to know more about Mary and the actual event in hopes of helping solve the case. I know Chad Lewis feels the same way. Our form of paranormal investigating is often to find the source of truth in the story.
Hauntings are only history screaming to be heard.
Here is what I know of Mary’s short life-
She and her two brothers were raised in Champlin and attended Anoka High School. Her brother Don misses his sister a lot, saying he still suffers today with the loss and not knowing who and why.
Mary was an honor graduate at the University of Minnesota with an art degree. And was a recipient of many scholarships. She enjoyed painting and sculpture and hoped to be a professional artist one day.
Mary recently had an exhibit of sculpture, paintings and drawings of women at the Women’s Institute for Social Change at the YCA
She also studied abroad and was fluent in German and Danish and was beginning to study Japanese.
Mary loved to travel extensively, often by hitchhiking.
Though what I found, just like Joli’s story, is that her family and investigator Craig Koser do not believe she was hitchhiking the day of her murder.
In a short Youtube documentary about the case, Koser said Mary was wearing loafer type shoes. Very thin material.
She wasn’t dressed like she would be walking outside, hitching a ride during February in Minnesota winter.
Koser believed that Mary must have known her attacker due to the brutality of her murder. He also believed that the attacker must have known the area where her body was dumped – which was located on a dead end road.
Craig Koser refused to give up her case and dedicated time every month in hopes to solve it and kept a photo of Mary on his desk.
Detective’s back in 1974 ran headlines immediately about a hitchhiker being found stabbed to death.
Would Mary’s story turned out differently if she didn’t have a habit of hitching? Did she fall into the pattern of detectives initially looking elsewhere instead of people close to Mary and the suspect fell through the cracks?
From what I can tell – anyone who has worked the case in Dunn County has an extreme passion to solve it. Mary has a lot of advocates and people still searching for justice today.
The location near the death spot is known nationally as one of the most haunted locations due to Mary’s supposed presence there.
She is known as the Elk Creek ghost who can’t rest peacefully due to the unrest in her case.
Though the town ghost story keeps her case circulating and more popular than other unsolved cases from her time – I find it’s important to remember that Mary was a real person. She has a real family and friends who are still hurting and missing her to this day.
I hope this episode can offer any help in her story.
To be clear, I don’t believe there is a link between Joli Truelson’s case and Mary’s but I found it was crucial to show the environment of cold cases today. Why the cases from this era remain cold, in my opinion.
Joli and Mary are an important part of my journey when it comes to investigating Timothy Crosby. I hope sharing their cases along with the other victims I’ll be featuring in this series, that it can give their families a new chance at reigniting these cases.
Thank you for listening. Stay safe, everyone.
Sources:
- Green Bay Press Gazette, Leader Telegram, The Dunn County News, The Post Crescent Sun, and the Wisconsin State Journal.
- Chad Lewis – both with speaking with me and his book, “The Wisconsin Road Guide to Haunted Locations.”
- “Haunted Chippewa Valley” by Devon Bell
- Mary K. Schlais Story on Youtube.
Audio clips used:
- Rape – A Preventive Inquiry – 1973 film
Music by:
- Ashot Danielyan – Pixabay
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