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MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - It has been five months since beloved north Minneapolis artist and community watchdog Susan Spiller was violently killed in her home, and Minneapolis City Council President Barb Johnson will be the first to tell you the community has been on-edge ever since.
Johnson, also a north Minneapolis resident, knew Spiller through her work with the Lin-Bohanan Neighborhood Association.
“It just makes people nervous about going about their daily activities when there is this unsolved mystery of this high profile person in their community,” she said.
It was mid-July when 68-year-old Spiller was killed in a home invasion. To this day, police haven't identified any possible suspects in the murder told Fox 9 that they are moving forward with "some solid pieces of evidence, but are still asking for the public's help in solving the crime.”
Fellow artist and friend Connie Beckers taught classes with Spiller.
“Somebody knows something, someone is living with it in their heart knowing they took her life or they told somebody they did it,” she said. “We’re assuming it was a random. Somebody kicked in her back door. Well that could have happened to anybody.”
Beckers believes the clock’s ticking when it comes to solving the crime.
“The longer it goes, the less it seems there is motivation to solve it. I don't know, what can they work with now?" she questioned.
Beckers is disheartened with the lack of information from police, and she isn't the only one. Duane Atter calls the investigation of his friend's murder “frustrating.”
“I can't believe the person was a forensic genius and didn't leave any clues,” he said.
Atter owns the Warren Artist Habitat where Spiller taught classes and sold her glass work.
“She was like the nicest person ever, and we just can’t figure it out. And we just can’t believe that no one else has been able to figure it out yet,” he said.
While spiller's family and friends prepare to sell off her popular glass art collection this week at an estate sale, her friends make another cry for tips.
"Really think about activities that have happened in their community, any strange going ons, strange cars, and really search back in their memories and see if there was something they missed when they talked to police the first time or the second time,” Johnson said.