Rachel Anthony (5 of Spades, Minnesota)

In 2001, 50-year-old Rachel was going about her nightly routine, closing the small-town

liquor store, when she suddenly vanished without a trace, leaving behind no clues.

A gruesome discovery six weeks later would answer some of the questions left behind,

but not the most pressing.

Who did this to Rachel, and why?

I'm Ashley Flowers, and this is The Death.

The Arctic-Minnesota winter was particularly unforgiving in the wee hours of the morning

on February 28, 2001.

The temperature in Pine River was hovering at a crisp minus 10 as snow dusted the top

of black ice coating the rural roadways.

But the harsh conditions were nothing out of the ordinary for Officer Sean Bennett,

and it did little to deter him as he patrolled the sleepy streets.

What was out of the ordinary, though, was what caught Bennett's eye along the downtown

road just before 1 a.m.

Right in front of Ultimate Liquors sat a red Ford Escort idling in the cold, which that

in and of itself was noteworthy because Pine River at the time had less than a thousand

residents and all the businesses downtown, except maybe a gas station, were long closed.

So it was odd.

But for Officer Bennett, the needle moved past odd and was teetering on alarming because

that was the exact car he'd seen idling in front of the liquor store when he was making

his rounds about three hours ago, and it literally hadn't moved an inch.

Here's investigator Ryan Fisher with the Cass County Sheriff's Office describing

what Bennett found that night as he began looking around.

The front door's still locked.

He goes around the back, realizes that the back door was left unjar.

At that time, he calls for backup.

One of our Cass County deputies arrives on scene.

They go in.

Even though Minnesota law requires liquor stores to close by 10 p.m., which would have

been hours ago at this point, the store lights and radio were still on.

Walking through the store, nothing looked amiss.

There was no sign of a struggle, and everything appeared to be in order.

But they noticed that on the front counter sat a set of house keys, a purse, a pack of

cigarettes, and a woman's coat.

In that moment, they knew they were dealing with something sinister.

Again, it's below zero outside.

No one in their right mind and of their own accord is going to leave anywhere without

their coat.

They called for investigators.

And the investigators started from there.

The front door was locked.

The focus was really on that back alley area.

And that was one of the first things that officers were looking for, was just that,

you know, tiger tracks, because obviously we know that on a snowy night, you know, those

things can disappear quite quickly.

The chief of police at the time told the Brainerd Dispatch, quote,

You could literally get on your hands and knees and look across that ice,

and you couldn't see anything.

It was just glare ice.

But investigators didn't feel too down on their luck yet, because they noticed that

the store was equipped with surveillance cameras.

All they had to do was get a hold of the store owner, Kim Turhar, and gain access to the

footage.

But when they got in touch, she let them know that the surveillance cameras didn't work.

Now, why they were out of service, I don't know.

But they're like a half an hour in, and they're already facing a second huge blow to the

investigation right out of the gate.

Kim did tell the police that the scheduled closer was 50-year-old Rachel Anthony, who'd

worked there for over a year and had proven herself a reliable employee.

She wouldn't just up and leave like that without properly closing the store.

And again, especially not without her coat.

It was straight up freezing, even for the most seasoned Minnesotan.

After they got off the phone, Kim rushed to the scene to check the store and register,

and she confirmed that nothing had been stolen.

She also noted Rachel's closing routine, which officers determined must have been interrupted.

You see, on cold nights, when the clock struck 10, Rachel would go out to the front door

to start her car so it would be warm by the time she left.

Then she'd come back inside through the front door, lock it, take the garbage through

the back door, lock the back door behind her, finish closing, then leave for the final time

out the front.

Since the front door was found locked and the back door ajar, the thought was that Rachel

was interrupted while taking out the trash.

As police continued scouring the store looking for any semblance of a clue, Kim phoned Rachel's

oldest daughter, Jessica, and her husband, Rodney.

Rachel lived with them about 10 miles away in Pequot Lake, so if there was any chance

she was okay and this was just a misunderstanding, maybe she was with them.

We weren't able to get an interview with Jessica for this episode, but she told Unsolved

Mysteries that once she learned her mom's cigarettes were left behind, she knew something

was terribly wrong.

She said, quote, mom was a smoker and she would never go anywhere without her cigarettes.

Now, Jessica never suspected anything was wrong until she got that call from police,

because even though her mom was usually due back at 1020 after her shift, she had an idea

of where she might be.

As it turned out, the liquor store was in the process of moving.

was, well, maybe she's helping the owners of the liquor store with the move, or possibly

with friends.

Apprehension were arriving on scene to assist with the investigation.

So this starts quite a massive, large-scale canvas of the city of Pine River.

As the Pine River police chief told the Brainerd Dispatch, quote, we beat on every door for

several blocks around, getting people out of bed, seeing if they'd seen anything at

all.

No one had.

Police continued investigating throughout the night, and according to the Star Tribune,

as the sun rose, they were joined by dozens of officers from the sheriff's office and

local firefighters.

Some scoured the area on foot.

Others traveled by car looking for fresh tracks in the snow.

Authorities even ordered helicopter searches and a bloodhound trail.

you can get.

And I mean, people wanted to walk the road ditches and see if there's any evidence that

they could locate.

I mean, it's brutally cold and we have people out there wanting to help, whatever they

possibly can do.

requesting access to their surveillance footage and their sales receipts from that night,

crossing their fingers that it give them at least a starting point.

You know, knowing who was out and about downtown around the time of Rachel's alleged

abduction.

Believe it or not, police were able to identify all of the vehicles and people that were out

that night, as well as every purchase made at Ultimate Liquors.

Except one.

There was a single purchase that was made at the store at 9.57 p.m., exactly three minutes

before closing.

That person paid in cash, and investigators figured that given the time of the purchase

and the fact that it was paid in cash, this could be their person.

Now, certain suspect or great witness, police didn't know for sure, because they were

proving difficult, if not impossible, to track down.

Soon enough, Rachel's disappearance hit the local news, with law enforcement making it

clear they suspected foul play.

But still, there was no clear motive.

Jessica told the Star Tribune, quote,

She had no enemies that we know of.

She never mentioned anyone bothering her or antagonizing her or whatever.

We just don't understand it at all.

A disappearance like Rachel's was nearly unheard of for Pine River, so naturally,

everyone in the community wanted to help however they could.

Within a few days, more than 200 people had called in with theories or tips, ranging from

possible sightings of Rachel to tips about a quote-unquote weird guy at work, some even

proposing spots that they should search that were good for hiding bodies.

One thing that investigators kept hearing, over and over, was speculation about Rachel's

ex-husband.

And that's natural.

We all know in cases like this, everyone is quick to point the finger at a former or current

significant other.

But right away, that theory wasn't totally adding up for investigators.

Rachel and her ex had divorced almost a decade before, and he lived 100 miles away.

But police weren't going to leave any stone unturned.

They'd been divorced for like 10 years, and there was nothing.

They still had a good relationship, a good working relationship, nothing financial,

anything like that.

He was ruled out relatively quick.

due to alibis and a complete lack of motive.

But the two did note something odd that had been happening to them

that made investigators' ears perk up.

They didn't hear anyone talking.

But it was enough to sound some alarms for investigators.

This could be if anybody's looking to get ransom, anything like that.

Law enforcement's able to put a trap and trace in their phone just in case anybody called.

So it was another disappointing dead end.

As the days dragged on, police continued to receive tips from the public,

particularly from friends and acquaintances wanting to comment on Rachel's character.

there would be nobody out there that would have a motive to harm her.

She was a fine, upstanding woman that didn't have any enemies.

She could handle herself.

You know, she could be assertive if she needed to,

especially working alone in a liquor store at night.

One person would probably have to have a little bit of a backbone to be able to

kick people out of the store or what have you.

But she was just spoken of as being a very nice, caring individual.

She just struck investigators as the type of person that didn't have skeletons.

You know, a lot of times, you know, you do enough digging,

especially with the computers and things like that,

you might start to find some questionable behaviors.

And that just never really came up in this case.

things began to slow down fast.

So Pine River Police managed to scrape together a $10,000 reward for information

leading them to Rachel's abductor.

But even with the promise of a cash reward, they didn't get any closer to finding her.

were left wondering if they would ever learn what happened to their mother.

And Jessica couldn't help but feel a sense of guilt wash over her.

If things would have happened just a bit differently,

she thought maybe she could have prevented everything.

You see, every Tuesday, Jessica spent the evening at the bowling alley

right across the street from Ultimate Liquor.

Usually, bowling wrapped up at around 9.15 or 9.30,

so she'd go over to the liquor store and hang out as Rachel closed up shop.

But that particular Tuesday night,

the chill of the February air kept her from paying her mom a visit.

And instead, she just went home,

where she thought she'd see her mom in about an hour.

Now, she feared her mom would never come walking through her door again.

As winter melted into spring, Jessica's fears were proven true.

Six weeks after Rachel's disappearance in April,

four teens who were horseback riding across a tiny,

mile-long rural Minnesota road made a horrifying discovery.

kind of a steep ditch, kind of almost a ravine,

and sees what he thinks at first is a mannequin.

And as they got closer and the object came into focus,

they realized that what they were looking at was the decomposing body of a woman.

and law enforcement responds, identifies human remains.

they were pretty sure that the woman they were looking at was Rachel.

The location was just 10 miles from where she disappeared,

and the woman matched Rachel's general description,

right down to the clothing she was last seen in.

A dark blue shirt over a dark blue turtleneck, blue jeans, and white sneakers.

The following day, their suspicions were confirmed.

Of course, this wasn't how anyone wanted the search for Rachel to end,

but investigators were relieved to finally have some physical, tangible evidence to work with.

We want to be able to recover any forensic evidence that we possibly can.

And again, you know, just being out in the elements like the body was,

a lot of times we miss that opportunity for a lot of that forensic evidence.

However, in this case, we were able to recover

some forensic evidence that was useful in this case.

But in that unsolved mysteries episode that I mentioned earlier,

a former investigator on Rachel's case said, and I quote,

there is DNA on the body.

To be clear, our reporting team asked the sheriff's office directly about DNA,

but they wouldn't confirm or deny anything.

I'd like to assume that they do have DNA,

but how much and whether it was a partial or full profile, we just don't know.

The medical examiner found Rachel's cause of death to be asphyxia,

due to homicidal violence,

which really could mean any number of asphyxial methods like

ligature strangulation or even suffocation.

Perhaps she was too decomposed to determine which of those it was.

I don't really know why it's so general,

but I do know that the state of decomposition

definitely affected other aspects of the autopsy,

like whether or not she'd been sexually assaulted.

you know, and again, with the decomp, it was tough to tell.

She was fully clothed.

There's no evidence to make us believe that she was.

if there was DNA, what on earth could that be?

Maybe skin cells they recovered from fingernail scrapings.

Perhaps saliva or foreign hair found somewhere on her body.

Your guess is as good as mine.

Anyway, with the autopsy under their belts,

the investigation was full steam ahead.

The location where Rachel's body was found confirmed for investigators

that the killer was from the area or at least familiar with it.

Because like I said, this was a tiny mile long road,

kind of in the middle of nowhere.

And they were convinced only locals would know about it.

who they are, why they were suspects.

But he said both the evidence found at the scene

and the specific brand of items purchased by the last customer

were useful when it came to elimination.

Now, at the time this was all unfolding,

they weren't releasing what those brands were.

That was something they wanted to hold back,

to use in scenarios just like this,

as a preliminary way to rule people in or out of suspicion.

just through forensic evidence.

there were a few rabbit holes investigators went down,

like a possible connection to a 1984 unsolved double homicide.

A father and daughter, Clarence and Marjorie Paulson,

went missing from their farmhouse in rural Cass County.

Just like Rachel, they simply vanished without a trace.

Then six years later, in 1990,

the mystery of their disappearance was solved

when their remains were discovered near Pine River.

They'd both been murdered and their official cause of death

was listed as homicidal violence.

Because of the proximity,

many theorized that the Paulson case was connected to Rachel's.

And at first, the idea seemed promising.

Investigators looked into suspects in that case

that could have had a connection with Rachel.

And there were a few.

But a BCA agent told the Brainerd Dispatch they, quote,

weren't able to make a strong connection either way.

By the way, the Paulson case is still unsolved to this day.

They're actually featured on a Minnesota playing card as well.

By the time that lead eventually fizzled,

so did the whole investigation.

And soon enough, the case was as ice cold

as the winter night Rachel was taken.

The next big push in the case didn't come until very recently.

Fast forward to 2022,

and that's when authorities decided to release to the public

for the first time the brand of liquor and cigarettes

Rachel's last customer bought that evening.

Those brands were Mickey's Malt Liquor and Cool Cigarettes.

They hoped that the brands were obscure enough

that someone would recognize them

as the signature brand of a local or something.

And while they've gotten some tips from that push,

there's still quite a ways off from solving it.

But investigator Fisher is hopeful,

and maybe even confident that that day will come soon.

And I have regular phone calls and meetings

with the other investigator that's working this case.

I think we both feel incredibly optimistic

that this case will be solved.

The next steps are just,

we keep putting one foot in front of the other.

We just want to continue to keep Rachel's story in the public.

She's always on our minds as time dictates

and other case files or case loads dictate.

We put as much time into her case as we possibly can.

You definitely feel connected to these cases,

especially this one.

but he remembers her disappearance well.

And I know for a fact it took a toll on him.

The investigator that initially had this case,

I essentially replaced him as he retired.

And I know to this day, this case really bothers him.

I still remember going into his office

and this case was sitting on his desk at all times.

It didn't matter, you know, six years later,

you know, 10 years later, 12 years, whatever.

It was always on his desk.

It was always on his mind.

I know it affected or it had a tremendous impact

on everybody that was close to this case.

And that's just within our sheriff's office.

I know the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension folks,

you know, it was the same.

Everybody was incredibly invested in this case.

and pages of reports in Rachel's case file,

he can't help but wonder how different things would be

if she went missing today.

is just the lack of what I would consider

technological evidence, you know,

and if Rachel Anthony were to go missing today,

I have utmost confidence that we would be able

to get far more surveillance video,

far more technological data,

such as, you know, geofence location warrants,

any cell phone.

I think we would have had way more location data

that we could have utilized.

Being in a small town,

the investigators really had to rely on

boots on the ground type investigation,

the neighborhood canvases, things like that,

which are all phenomenal ways to get information.

But I think, again, if Rachel Anthony went missing today,

we would have had way more information

right at the outset that we could have utilized.

More often than not in a case like this,

you have kind of a clear motive

and there just never was anything with Rachel.

I mean, going back,

I think the investigators did a phenomenal job

just kind of digging into her personal life

and just trying to find some meaning behind it.

And there wasn't.

I mean, she just literally vanished that night.

I think that's by far the biggest hurdle.

It's tragic, sad.

Fisher agrees with what investigators back in 2001 thought.

It had to have been a local.

And one of his main reasons for believing that

is because of the surveillance cameras at the liquor store.

that would make me tend to believe

that it was possibly somebody from the area,

somebody that would have had

maybe firsthand knowledge of some of these things.

I feel like it was a crime of opportunity.

A crime of opportunity committed by somebody

within that general vicinity

would have had firsthand knowledge,

whether casing the place

and realizing that maybe those cameras weren't working.

Maybe they heard something.

And again, given where her body was located,

there's no real way to account for

why they would have taken that road

other than somebody taking the back roads

to get somewhere where they wanted to be.

So that's my theory is

it had to be a crime of opportunity

committed by a local.

Jessica, Tricia, and Robert

have made sure to keep their mother's

beautiful memory alive.

They remember her fondly as a talented powerhouse

of a woman who brightened the world in many ways.

But her favorite way was with poetry.

And a hell of a poet she was.

One of her poems was about life on a farm

through the eyes of her cat, Beast.

She even won a national award in the 80s for it.

And according to the St. Cloud Times,

she went on to write a children's book

inspired by the poem.

Here's an excerpt from the book.

One day while chasing a mouse snack,

Beast came upon Mr. Pig

lolling by his shack.

They eyed each other

and struck quite a pose

as they stretched through the fence

to touch nose to nose.

Robert shares his mother's knack for writing,

which is how he expressed his pain

after her passing.

He wrote, quote,

Terrible, terrible pain.

Terrible, terrible grief.

I cannot let go of it.

I can't make it diminish.

Every passing year that the anniversary

comes and goes,

that hole is open wide

and salt is poured in.

All the rage I cannot express.

All the hate I cannot let go.

When does it end?

When will there be peace?

When will the culprit be revealed

and justice served?

If there's anything,

no matter how insignificant

you seem to think it is,

by all means call.

about the murder of Rachel Anthony

in February of 2001,

or if you were that last customer

in Ultimate Liquors at 957,

please come forward.

You can reach

the Cass County Sheriff's Office

at 218-547-1424

or Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

You could be eligible

for a $50,000 reward.

The Deck is an Audiochuck production

with theme music by Ryan Lewis.

To learn more about The Deck

and our advocacy work,

visit thedeckpodcast.com.

So what do you think, Chuck?

Do you approve?