New DNA evidence in 1985 murder of Minneapolis single mom

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - Minneapolis police investigators have found new DNA evidence in the 1985 cold case murder of Tina Slaughter. A single mother of two young boys, Slaughter was stabbed multiple times by an apparent burglar at her home on the 1700 block of Fremont Avenue N. on July 11, 1985.

Slaughter was able to get out of her apartment and ask a neighbor for help, but later died from her injuries at the hospital. The case has been unsolved for decades, but it caught the eye of Sgt. Chris Karakostas, who works with the FBI on cold cases.

“These are victims,” Karakostas said in video produced by the Minneapolis Police Department. “They’re as important now as the day they were murdered.”

They were able to re-test an item collected from the crime scene, and found unknown DNA.

“It could very well be the person that did this, because whoever that DNA comes back to, they’re going to have to explain why it’s there,” Karakostas said.

Investigators have located a few of the people who were in the apartment that night, but they haven’t been cooperative. Police believe that over the last 31 years, the killer would have talked to someone about that night. Anyone with information is asked to call Sgt. Karakostas at 612-673-3983, or submit a tip anonymously by calling the MPD  Tip Line at 612-692-TIPS (8477) or text MPD and your tip to 847411.

“I think the older we’re getting, it seems worse because we’re not going to be here much long,” Slaughter’s mother, Pat, said. “And I’d like to see someone held responsible for what happened to her.”