Mar 16, 2009 11:03 pm US/Central
Playing Cards Help Solve Minnesota Cold Case
(WCCO)
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Deana Patnode was last seen on Oct. 26, 1982, at a bar with a friend. Using DNA from a sister, officials were able to link her to the remains found on May 20, 1989, just south of Kellogg.
CBS
Authorities have solved a cold case in conjunction with the Minnesota Cold Case Playing Cards that were released in October 2008.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said they have identified the remains of a missing person that were found in Wabasha County in 1989. The remains were identified as Deana Patnode of Inver Grove Heights who disappeared in 1982. Authorities were able to match DNA of Patnode after locating her sister.
The BCA first received information on the identity of Patnode after a tipster recognized the facial reconstruction photo that was the four of diamonds in the Cold Case Playing Cards.
According to the BCA, the tipster said he thought the image on the playing card looked similar to his neighbor who had disappeared in the 1980s.
After the tipster e-mailed the BCA, agents located Patnode's sister in Spencer, Iowa and collected DNA from her. Through DNA testing they were able to link the DNA from Patnode's sister to the DNA from the unidentified remains.
The BCA, along with the Wabasha County Sheriff's Office, are now treating Patnode's case as a homicide. The exact cause of her death is unknown.
Patnode was last seen leaving a bar with a friend on October 26, 1982. Her remains were found almost seven years later in a wooded median of Hwy. 61 south of Kellogg, Minn.
This is the first tip from the Cold Case Playing Cards that has helped to solve a case.
"Solving cases like this one helps to provide closure and healing for a family of a missing loved one," Department of Public Safety Commissioner Michael Campion said. "While this is the first case the playing cards initiative helped solve, I'm confident it won't be the last."
Patnode's sister said the announcement ends years of wondering.
"We never thought that we'd ever hear anything. This is just phenomenal. We're so thankful that she got to be one of the playing cards because she wouldn't be identified. I know that," said Clohe Husby, Patnode's sister.
The Minnesota Cold Case Playing Cards deck features 52 violent unsolved homicide, missing person and unidentified remains cases that have occurred throughout the state in the past 50 years.
In addition to being posted on the BCA Web site, where the public can submit tips, the decks have been distributed to all 515 police departments and sheriff's offices in Minnesota, as well as 75 jail facilities. More than 10,000 decks have also been supplied to Minnesota state prison inmates.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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