Oct 29, 2007 11:01 am US/Central
Charges Delayed In Craigslist Murder Case
BURNSVILLE, Minn. (WCCO) ―
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According to the Savage Police Department, the body of 24-year-old Katherine Ann Olson was found in the trunk of her car in Burnville's Kraemer Nature Preserve around 10 p.m. Friday.
Family Submitted Photo
Savage Police have arrested a 19-year-old Savage resident in the murder of woman whose body was found in a Burnsville park Friday night.
The suspect is being held in Scott County Jail. Charges were expected Monday, but the Scott County Attorney's Office said they filed for an extension until Tuesday.
According to the Savage Police Department, the body of 24-year-old Katherine Ann Olson was found in the trunk of her car in Burnville's Kraemer Nature Preserve around 10 p.m. Friday.
Police are still trying to piece together a bizarre string of events that lead to Olson's murder. The investigation began Friday morning when Olson's purse was found in a garbage container in a Savage park.
Authorities contacted Olson's home where a roommate told them Olson hadn't been seen since Thursday morning.
According to police, upon further investigation of the trash can, police found a blood-soaked towel in a garbage bag.
That triggered a missing persons search, and Friday evening a State Patrol helicopter located Olson's car in Kramer Park Reserve in Burnsville.
"A search of the vehicle resulted in the finding of Ms. Olson's body," said
Savage Police Capt. Dave Muelken .
The police investigation revealed that Olson was in Savage responding to a babysitting job she applied for through the Web site Craigslist.
Police said the 19-year-old suspect was arrested at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport, where he works, shortly after the body was discovered.
"This is a very unusual homicide," said Savage Police Capt. Dave Muelken in a released statement. "I don't have a word to describe the situation; it's very tragic."
Olson's parents described their daughter as extremely bright and very popular. They said she had previously been a nanny for more than a year, a position she found through Craigslist.
"She was so smart, so brilliant, and had so many talents that she couldn't decide what to do," said Nancy Olson, Katherine's mother.
Olson was a high school valedictorian, graduated Summa Cum Laude from St. Olaf, and had traveled to Argentina, Egypt and Turkey. While staying with a host family in Argentina she even joined the circus, and she had recently starred in a musical at her family's church in Minneapolis.
Her family said it wasn't unusual for her to seek nanny jobs on Craigslist, but they have a warning for other Craigslist users.
"Continue doing your business and your transactions and your explorations on Craigslist, but take it with a little caution. People are generally good people except for those few bad apples. We've learned that there are those," said Olson's sister Sarah Richter.
Since the investigation is on-going, police are releasing few details about Olson's murder.
They say the suspect lives with his parents in Savage and worked at the airport.
Savage Police said last time they investigated a homicide was in 2000 when a man killed his wife and them himself. Since then there hasn't been a murder in Savage in nearly 25 years. 
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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