BERESFORD, S.D. — Twenty-one years after Kelly Jean Robinson’s death, the homicide investigation received an infusion of new hope when the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension ordered her body be exhumed.

The goal, in 2005, was to recover potential DNA evidence through advanced practices not previously available.

Answers about her 1984 death seemed within reach for Robinson’s family members.

Her body, taken from its resting place in a cemetery in Beresford, 35 miles south of Sioux Falls, was sent to Minnesota’s Bureau Criminal Apprehension lab for analysis.

The years since Robinson’s murder had been filled with steady advancements in forensic science. After more than two decades, there were new opportunities to uncover a second person’s DNA.

That flame of hope kept alive by Robin

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