1993 Minnesota lake victim identified, investigation into her death remains active

Human remains found in separate Minnesota lakes more than 30 years ago have finally been identified, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.

The breakthrough brings long-awaited answers to the family of Denise Elaine Sexton Hartley who was 27 years old when she disappeared from St. Paul in 1993.

Investigators made a gruesome discovery on June 12, 1993 when a severed human head was found near the shoreline of Bone Lake in Scandia. A day later, a human foot was recovered from Pig’s Eye Lake in St. Paul.

Detectives from multiple jurisdictions worked to identify the victim but they could not. New DNA technology changed that.

“Cases like this stay with you,” said Washington County Sheriff’s Detective Clayton Evens. “Even after decades, there’s always hope that one day the science will catch up to the questions that couldn’t be answered at the time, and it finall...