https://www.twincities.com/2022/01/12/remains-found-in-2003-belong-to-new-brighton-man-missing-since-1970/Remains found in 2003 belong to New Brighton man missing since 1970 Fifty-one years ago, Donald Rindahl told his family he was leaving New Brighton and moving to California.
They never heard from him again.
Rindahl’s remains were discovered in August 2003 about 3 feet underground by a man doing a landscaping project on his property about six miles east of Isanti, Minn. Officials at the time were able to determine that the remains were that of a white man in his 20s who had been buried there for anywhere from three to 28 years.
But no one knew who he was until just a few weeks ago.
On Wednesday, Isanti County Chief Deputy Lisa Lovering said her agency had partnered with Othram Inc., a Texas-based company that specializes in forensic genealogy, to determine Rindahl’s identity. DNA taken from his remains was used to construct a family tree, which led to the genetic confirmation of his identity, she said.
Based on the family tree, Lovering said she was able to locate two of Rindahl’s siblings. The siblings — a brother and a sister — said Rindahl had been missing since 1970; they also submitted DNA samples that confirmed they had a full biological sibling relationship with the remains found in 2003, Lovering said.
“There is a lot of disbelief, but there is a lot of peace because we know that he’s being brought to his family,” Lovering said. “It’s not complete closure for them because there are still a lot of unanswered questions that we have, but at least they know that they can have him back home, and there’s some comfort with that.”
Sadly, she said, Rindahl’s parents died without knowing what happened to their son.
“They held out hope that maybe he was going to show up one day,” she said. “He never did.”
QUESTIONS UNANSWEREDRindahl was 22 and living with a roommate in New Brighton at the time of his disappearance. His siblings told police that the FBI had been looking for their brother prior to his disappearance “due to some involvement with drugs,” Lovering said. The FBI case records have not been located.
Rindahl is believed to be the victim of a homicide, but his death is currently classified as undetermined, she said.
Missing-persons reports weren’t usually filed on adults in the 1970s and 1980s, Lovering said. “People didn’t report adults as missing persons unless there was something really suspicious going on.”
In Rindahl’s case, it wasn’t out of character for him to leave for stretches of time and not be in touch with family, Lovering said. “It wasn’t like they had cellphones or pagers to stay in contact,” she said. “They didn’t even consider him a missing person for quite a while and then a report was never filed on him.”
There was a lot of speculation and rumors flying around at the time of his disappearance, “but nothing was ever substantiated,” she said. “They were told he went to California. We don’t know if he even went to California.”
Rindahl’s brother told police that he traveled to California himself at one point to try to locate his brother, but was unsuccessful. “I don’t even know how you even start that process,” she said. “Where do you go? (Donald) gave no information as to where he was going.”
When the remains were found in August 2003, investigators with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension obtained DNA evidence, as well as dental records, which were entered into missing-persons databases, Lovering said. A facial reconstruction also was done.
Over the years, investigators submitted DNA samples from people looking for a family member, but there were no matches, she said.
Anyone with information about the death of Donald Rindahl is asked to contact the Isanti County Sheriff’s Office at 763-689-2141 or CrimeStoppers of Minnesota at 1-800-222-8477.