Matthew Russell Brown, 66, of Ingleside, Lake County, Illinois, United States has been identified as the suspect in a cold case murder. He had no criminal history except for a pair of traffic tickets in Minnesota, USA.
Brown worked as a security counselor at a sex offender program in Moose Lake, Carlton County, Minnesota. He is divorced and he has two children.
Recently, Brown moved to Illinois. He previously lived in Barnum, Carlton County, Minnesota.
Shortly after 2:00 a.m. on July 19, 1984, Brown allegedly broke into Robert A. Miller‘s apartment in Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota. Brown allegedly stabbed Miller in the face, head, chest, back and shoulders numerous times.
While inside the apartment, Brown allegedly stabbed a woman, then 33, on the left side of her face. Also inside the apartment was another woman, then 32, who was not injured but was very distraught.
The attacker fled the scene before the arrival of the responding police officers, who found Miller dead near a bedroom doorway. A trail of blood that did not belong to the victim was found at the crime scene.
No suspect was found and the case went cold. In 2015, Minneapolis Police Department investigators on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Cold Case Task Force started working with the BCA Forensics Lab to identify the deoxyribonucleic acid found at the crime scene.
In 2018, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension developed a DNA profile from blood collected at the crime scene but the owner of the blood was not in the database. Using the DNA profile, a genealogist determined that the blood belonged to Brown.
In March 2023, investigators obtained a plastic cup Brown had used. The DNA on the cup matched the blood of Miller’s killer left at the crime scene.
In June 2023, FBI agents and Minneapolis Police Department homicide investigators from Minneapolis interviewed Brown in Illinois. After the interview, he was arrested and jailed in Illinois.
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office charged Brown with murder, burglary and assault. He has been extradited back to Minnesota and will appear in court on July 24, 2023.
CONAN Daily 