A milkman found her body in rural Wright County. After the main suspect died in jail, the case went cold

WRIGHT COUNTY, Minn. – The milkman was starting his early afternoon route in Wright County when he spotted her.

A young woman’s body was lying in the grass, alongside a rural township road five miles outside of Monticello.

Absent of identification, authorities initially estimated the victim was a young woman, between the ages of 18 and 24. She stood five feet, five inches tall with long brown hair and brown eyes.

An autopsy revealed she was violently beaten and stabbed multiple times in the neck with what the coroner said was likely a small knife. She did not appear to have been sexually assaulted.

It was determined she had been killed on May 21, 1973 — the day before the milkman discovered her.

Within days, authorities identified the woman as 22-year-old Pamela Ann Gehrig of Robbinsd