Remains of 19-year-old Cassandra Rhines found 30 years after she went missing - Remains found at Gooseberry Falls State Park ID'd as Minneapolis woman missing 30 years

Human remains found in Gooseberry Falls State Park last year have been identified as those of a Minneapolis woman missing for nearly three decades.

Law enforcement officials announced Wednesday that advances in DNA technology helped to identify 19-year-old Cassandra Rhines as the victim of an apparent homicide.

Rhines was last seen in Minneapolis in June 1985. Authorities said she had no clear ties to the Northland, and they’re seeking the public’s help in finding her killer.

Lake County Sheriff Carey Johnson said Rhines’ body was discovered in a secluded area of the popular North Shore park northeast of Two Harbors by an off-duty member of his department early last May.

“It’s a remote, heavily wooded area that visitors aren’t traveling to,” Johnson said. “We think it’s an area that was picked because of its remoteness.”

Johnson said an employee was training his dog in the area when he stumbled upon what appeared to be a human skull. Investigators scoured the area, finding bones — human and animal — scattered over a large area.

“We didn’t know exactly what we were looking at,” Johnson said. “We didn’t know if we had found an old burial site that had been dug up or remains from earlier settlers or a logging camp.”

Johnson said a filling was discovered in a tooth — indicating that the remains were more recent. The St. Louis County Medical Examiner’s Office and a forensic anthropologist analyzed the skull, determining that woman suffered from blunt force trauma injuries.

The remains were linked to Rhines through advanced DNA technology that was not available at the time of her disappearance, said Catherine Knutson, the director of forensic science services for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

In 2013, the BCA began asking family members of long-missing Minnesotans to submit DNA samples.

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