Minnesota : Cassandra Rhines
Photo: Duluth News Tribune
Minneapolis, Minnesota, is a city I have never been to but know several people really enjoy it. It sits along the banks of the Mississippi River, and is a vibrant city known for its cultural diversity and robust arts scene. Finding historical data was one of my hurdles this week as my case happened in 1985.
Photo: Wikipedia
The population was around 370,000 in 1985, and the city faced challenges with crime, with statistics indicating a rise in certain offenses. In 1985, Minneapolis experienced a crime rate higher than the national average, particularly in terms of property crimes and violent crimes such as assault and robbery.
Today, the crime rate is still high. Your chance of becoming a victim of violent crime is 1 in 80. And Neighborhood Scout places Minneapolis at a 1. Meaning 99% of similar demographics are safer. Violent crime is more than 5 times higher in Minneapolis than in the rest of the state.
Not all is bad, Minneapolis has per capita more golfers than any other city, and the Twin City gave us Prince. Just 3 years after Prince was thrust to the top of the charts, a 19 year old girl would disappear. This is why we are navigating advocacy in Minneapolis this week.
Photo: Duluth News Tribune
I know we talk a lot about how difficult it can be to find information for some cases and I always seem to lean into those because they need the most help. If there isn’t much information available, then there wasn’t much media help and this case is no different.
According to Ancestry.com, Cassandra Rhines was born on June 29, 1965. I could not find a single piece of information about Cassandra’s early life. I do know that she was a stunning woman of color, a sister, and a godmother to a friend’s daughter.
When she was just 19 years old, she was living in a multi-unit apartment complex on the corner of 2700 Grand Ave South and w 27th St just across the street from Whittier Park.
In June of 1985, the goddaughter’s mother contacted Cassandra asking if she would be attending her goddaughter’s birthday party the next day. She confirmed that she would be there and then Cassandra was never heard from again.
I am unsure of if or when a missing persons report was filed as I could not find the official report and law enforcement did not get back to me in time. Without this report, and again with very few articles written during her disappearance, I cannot even report on whether searches or any sort of advocacy efforts were made.
In May 2013, 28 years later, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension was interviewed by WCCO News to bring awareness to the hundreds of bones in the Midwest Medical Examiner’s lab that are unidentified.
The anthropologist in charge discussed the technological advancements that have occurred in the modern era and how there is the possibility for identification in many of these cases. In this same article, the anthropologist explained how families can submit DNA through a simple cheek swab sample to be added to the database for comparison.
Cassandra’s family saw this public plea and knowing Cassandra was missing, her sister submitted a DNA sample.
May 6, 2014, an off duty Lake County Sheriff’s Office employee ventured out to Gooseberry Falls State Park to work on training his dog. Gooseberry Falls is over 190 miles from Minneapolis along Lake Superior. It is over 1,700 acres of forest-like terrain bordering the lake.
Photo: Google Maps
In an area that is not regularly visited by park goers, this employee discovered a human skull and a few other scattered bones. Authorities were called in for investigation.
At first examination, it was difficult to determine if the skull was historic or but as they began to look closer they found a tooth with a filling indicating modern technology and dental practices.
This reminded me of the conversations we have had with our friend Laurah Norton. She is the host of The Fall Line Podcast, One Strange Thing and author of Lay Them To Rest. We talked extensively about dental records and those definitely could have helped in identification in this instance.
The forensic anthropologist and St. Louis County Medical Examiner were able to determine that this person was a victim of a homicide due to the trauma noticeable on the head.
Investigations also led detectives to believe that this person was not murdered in this location but the body was disposed of in the park. It also appeared as though the murderer did not bury this body as the debris that was on top of the bones were natural over growth.
In August of 2014, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension was able to match with 100% certainty that the remains found were that of Cassandra Rhines. The BCA had been awarded a grant from the National Institute of Justice to help fund the testing of these unidentified remains. This grant is also why the BCA made the public plea asking people to share their DNA samples. Those samples are added to the FBI DNA Index.
The grant along with the DNA sample provided by Cassandra’s sister as well as an additional family member the year prior made the match possible. Without it Cassandra would still be unidentified.
A press conference was held announcing the identification of Cassandra and a plea to the public came from law enforcement. A few photos were shared including the location of Cassandra’s last known address. Another photo shared was one of Cassandra and a male that they believed Cassandra may have been living with at the time. Detectives asked for help in identifying the man in the photo.
Photo: Lake County Sheriff’s Office
They also were seeking help from anyone that may have lived in the same area as Cassandra. They had little information to piece together who she was or what she was doing leading up to her death.
Shortly after her identification, law enforcement announced that they learned Cassandra may have been working as a dancer and perhaps a sex worker.
In 2015, they also learned the identity of the man in the photo as Donald McSwain. Unfortunately he was deceased and investigators were not able to speak with him but the tips did confirm that Cassandra and Donald had been living together. Tips also revealed a co-worker of Cassandra’s who also was a dancer at the time of Cassandra’s disappearance, but she was also deceased and law enforcement was unable to speak with this individual either.
One of the largest struggles in these cases that have been cold for so long is that the potential witnesses are no longer able to speak with investigators.
As of 2023, Cassandra’s murderer still has not been identified and the case has hit a dead end. The current detective said in an interview with Forum News Service that he looks at the case file daily hoping something will pop up and that he can get one step closer to answering the questions Cassandra’s family is still asking.
Who murdered Cassandra Rhines?
If you have any information about Cassandra, were in the Whittier Park area of Minneapolis in 1985 regardless of how small you may feel the tip is, contact the Lake County Sheriff’s office at 218.834.8385.
Sources:
https://www.newspapers.com/image/250896087/?terms=%22Cassandra%20Rhines%22&match=1
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/05/20/gooseberry-falls-remains
https://www.albertleatribune.com/2015/05/remains-found-in-ne-minn-matched-to-minneapolis-woman/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/human-remains-idd-as-minnesota-woman-who-vanished-in-1985/
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/146745570/cassandra-rhines
https://krocnews.com/remains-found-at-gooseberry-falls-were-from-woman-missing-30-years/
