DNA helps ID woman’s body found nearly 50 years ago

Published 8:59 pm Wednesday, February 13, 2019

ST. PAUL — Investigators said they now know the name of a young woman found dead in an abandoned home in north-central Minnesota nearly a half-century ago.

Using a DNA match to family members, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension identified the woman as 18-year-old Gloria Frieda Rieken of Minneapolis.

Rieken was a freshman at the University of Minnesota when she disappeared in November 1970.

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On Nov. 10, 1970, a neighbor discovered a woman’s remains inside a burned home in Mille Lacs County. While the fire did not cause the woman’s death, authorities could not determine what did.

Several members of Rieken’s family came forward in 2013 to provide DNA samples. The DNA samples were matched this month.

Authorities hope to determine why Rieken came to Mille Lacs County and how she died.