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MPR News Staff

Officials ID remains found at Gooseberry Falls; murder suspected

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Cassandra Rhines
Officials are looking for information in the case of a recently discovered homicide victim. Cassandra Rhines' remains were found in Gooseberry Falls State Park in Minnesota.
Courtesy Minnesota BCA

Remains found last year in Gooseberry Falls State Park are those of Cassandra Rhines, who disappeared in June 1985. Officials Wednesday called it a murder and sought the public's help.

"The clearer picture we have of the time when she disappeared, the better chance we have of finding out who killed her," Drew Evans, assistant superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said in a statement.

Investigators believe she was killed near the time she disappeared. She was 19 at the time she went missing.

According to the BCA, Rhines lived in an apartment complex at 2700 Grand Ave. S. near Whittier Park in Minneapolis. "Investigators want to hear from people who knew her or who lived in the vicinity of the building at the time and who may have information that would be helpful to the investigation," the agency said.

Rhines may have been involved in prostitution and may have worked as an exotic dancer, the BCA added. Investigators also believe she may have been living with a man and are seeking the public's help to identify him.

Last May, an off-duty Lake County Sheriff's Office employee discovered the skeletal remains of a woman in a rarely-traveled part of Gooseberry.

"Based on examinations of the remains by the St. Louis County Medical Examiner's Office and a forensic anthropologist, investigators determined that the individual had been the victim of homicide," the BCA said.

Anyone with information about Rhines should contact the Lake County Sheriff's Office at (218) 834-8385 or the BCA at (651) 793-7000 or (877) 996-6222.