“Cases like this stay with you,” Washington County Sheriff’s Detective Clayton Evens said following the massive break in Denise Elaine Sexton Hartley’s case
NEED TO KNOW
- More than 30 years after Denise Elaine Sexton Hartley went missing in Minnesota, her remains have been identified
- “To see this case come full circle more than 30 years later is a reminder that no matter how much time passes, we never stop looking for answers for victims and their families,” said Washington County Sheriff Dan Starry
- The investigation into her death remains active and ongoing.
Human remains discovered in Minnesota over 30 years ago have finally been identified.
On Thursday, June 11, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that human remains recovered in Washington and Ramsey Counties more than three decades ago have been identified as Denise Elaine Sexton Hartley, who was 27 when she disappeared in 1993.
“Cases like this stay with you,” Washington County Sheriff’s Detective Clayton Evens said in a press release. “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 finally did.”
In June 1993, a man spotted a human head in the water of Bone Lake in Scandia, officials said. The next day, a foot was discovered near Pig’s Eye Lake. Despite their best efforts, investigators could not identify the remains and the case went cold…