Swedell Disappearance: Washington County Forms Cold-Case Unit

Susan Swedell went missing in her home town of Lake Elmo on Jan. 15, 1988. The 19-year-old had finished her shift at the Oak Park Heights Kmart at 9 p.m. and left in the midst of a blizzard.

On her way home, Swedell's car overheated on Stillwater Boulevard. After leaving her vehicle at a gas station, the clerk said he saw her get into another car with a man, and she hasn't been seen since.

Neither the Swedell family nor local law enforcement have given up the search for Susan. The Washington County Sheriff’s Office announced Monday it has formed a cold case unit to investigate her disappearance. “Someone does know something, and we’re searching for that person and those answers,” Washington County Sheriff Dan Starry told the Pioneer Press. “Certainly a 19-year-old female just does not disappear for 30 years without someone knowing something.”

As recent as January 2017, authorities received a tip about her, Det. Chuck Aldean told KSTP. A $25,000 reward for information leading to her whereabouts — first offered immediately after Swedell's disappearance — is still available. The creators of a new podcast called "Still Missing" are hoping to spread more awareness of the case.

“We don’t know what happened that night,” Kathy Swedell, Susan's mother, told the Pioneer Press. “She was telling us that she was going to come home because it was an all-out Minnesota blizzard. When I looked out our window, I could barely see across the street, and here she was driving home. We didn’t know if she had stopped someplace or tried to walk. It was terrible."

Anyone with information on this case is asked to call the Washington County Sheriff's Office at (651) 430-7850.

Image via MissingKids.org, used with permission.