The Employee

Summary

Park Predators Hosted by Delia D’Ambra | Release Date: November 19, 2024

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Introduction

In this gripping episode of Park Predators, investigative journalist and park enthusiast Delia D’Ambra delves into the chilling murder case of Kerry Nelson at Blue Mounds State Park in Minnesota. Set against the backdrop of one of Minnesota’s most picturesque natural landscapes, this story uncovers how the serene beauty of the park concealed a tragic and violent crime.

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The Crime at Blue Mounds State Park

At [02:12], Delia introduces listeners to the peaceful Blue Mounds State Park, highlighting its scenic features such as a 100-foot-high cliff, prairie grasslands, and diverse wildlife. However, on the afternoon of Sunday, May 20, 2001, this tranquility was shattered.

Delia recounts the discovery of the murder:

“Around 2:45 in the afternoon of Sunday, May 20, 2001, a woman named Rebecca White, who was a new employee training at Blue Mound State Park, walked into the park's office expecting to see her coworker, 20-year-old Kerry Nelson... but instead found her bloodied and dead on the floor.” [02:45]

The office was in disarray, indicating a violent struggle. Key evidence included a torn wristwatch, a pack of Darrell brand cigarettes, and an incomplete handwritten note addressed to Kerry’s boyfriend.

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Initial Investigation

Upon discovering the body, Rebecca and her father immediately called 911:

Rebecca’s father: “I’ve got a dead parks worker on the floor of the office.” [01:40]

Investigators from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and Rock County Sheriff’s Office arrived swiftly, uncovering signs of a struggle and a possible robbery motive. Approximately $2,000 was missing from both the cash register and a small safe, suggesting the perpetrator(s) may have intended to steal money but were interrupted by Kerry.

Key findings included:

• [02:12] The office showed signs of forced entry, with a fax machine in disarray and loose papers scattered.
• [05:00] Blood spatter patterns indicated Kerry was likely struck while trying to protect the cash register, leading to her death by blunt force trauma.

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Suspects and Leads

The investigation faced significant challenges due to the lack of surveillance footage and the broad area of the park. However, a crucial lead emerged when a camper reported seeing a large white vehicle speeding through the park around the time of the murder:

Camper: “I saw a large white boat-like car speeding really fast... between 2:15 pm and 2:30 pm.” [15:33]

This vehicle matched the description of Stephen Barber’s long white Cadillac sedan. Stephen, a maintenance worker at the park with a troubled history involving cocaine use and alleged stalking behavior towards Kerry, became a prime suspect.

However, further investigation revealed inconsistencies:

• [17:03] Stephen’s alibi for the time of the murder was weak.
• Searches of his vehicle and home yielded no physical evidence linking him to the crime.

Despite suspicions, without concrete evidence, Stephen was released from consideration.

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Breakthrough: Identification of Randy Swaney

Years passed without significant progress, until new DNA technologies in 2007 provided a breakthrough. Delia details how re-examining the torn wristwatch led to the discovery of two distinct DNA profiles:

Delia: “From those skin cells, two distinct DNA profiles were obtained. One belonged to a male, and the other belonged to a female who was not Kerry Nelson.” [45:44]

One profile matched Randy Swaney, a 35-year-old father of three from South Dakota, who was incarcerated for grand theft. His proximity to the park and the type of vehicle he owned matched the earlier eyewitness description. Additional evidence included:

• [33:44] Randy owned a cream-colored 1984 Oldsmobile, identical to the vehicle seen speeding past the park.
• [35:30] Photographs showed Randy wearing the same wristwatch and smoking Darrell brand cigarettes found at the crime scene.

Despite initial doubts, DNA testing confirmed his involvement:

Delia: “DNA techs were able to use new technology to isolate individual skin cells in the band's fabric. One of the profiles was Randy Swaney.” [32:05]

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Trial and Conviction

In [45:02], Delia narrates Randy’s extradition and subsequent arraignment. The prosecution presented a robust case:

• [45:26] Photos of Kerry’s autopsy were shown to the jury to illustrate the brutality of the attack.
• [46:00] Witnesses testified about Randy’s car and financial issues, linking him to the motive of robbery.
• [46:30] Randy’s own family members testified about his gambling problems and financial desperation.

Randy’s defense claimed:

"The DNA testing methods and results in the case could be trusted due to possible contamination or human error." [45:26]

He admitted to past crimes but denied involvement in Kerry’s murder. However, the overwhelming evidence led to his conviction:

Delia: “On August 15, 2008, after only six hours of deliberation, they convicted him on all counts.” [45:26]

Randy was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. His final remarks to Kerry’s family reflected lingering doubts:

Randy: “The jury had gotten it wrong and there was still a murderer out there.” [45:26]

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Aftermath and Impact

The aftermath of Kerry’s murder brought significant changes to park security protocols across Minnesota:

Delia: “Minnesota State Park System put more security measures in place at Blue Mound State Park and other government-owned recreation spaces to protect their employees.” [45:26]

Additionally, Kerry’s family and the community sought closure through memorials and online tributes:

Delia: “Shortly before Randy's arrest, a memorial Facebook page was created for her and it still exists today.” [45:26]

The case served as a poignant reminder of the vulnerabilities within public spaces and the importance of diligent investigative work in bringing justice to victims.

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Conclusion

Delia D’Ambra’s thorough exploration of Kerry Nelson’s tragic murder highlights the intersection of picturesque natural settings and the hidden darkness that can reside within them. Through relentless investigation and advancements in forensic technology, Park Predators ultimately uncovers the truth behind a senseless act of violence, emphasizing the need for enhanced security measures in our beloved natural preserves.

Listeners are encouraged to reflect on the profound loss Kerry endured and the lasting impact her story has on both her family and the broader community.

For those moved by Kerry’s story, Delia invites you to visit the memorial Facebook page linked in the show notes to honor her memory and connect with others who remember her.

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Notable Quotes:

• Rebecca’s Father at [01:40]:

  “I’ve got a dead parks worker on the floor of the office.”

• Kerry’s Father, Stan, at the press conference:

  “My beautiful little girl will never come running into my arms again saying, I love you, Daddy. Whoever did this must be caught so that they can never do it again.”

• Randy Swaney at [45:26]:

  “The jury had gotten it wrong and there was still a murderer out there.”

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Park Predators presents a haunting narrative of loss, justice, and the relentless pursuit of truth within the serene yet sometimes unforgiving natural world.

Transcript

[Narrator]

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[Delia Diambra]

Enthusiasts, I'm your host Delia Diambra and the case I'm going to tell you about today takes place in Blue Mounds State park in Minnesota. Blue Mounds is a recreation area located in the southwest part of the state and has a little bit of everything to offer. According to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources website, there's a 100 foot high cliff in the park, beautiful prairie grasslands and a diverse array of wildlife including birds, coyotes, elk and one of my favorite creatures, the bison. You can hike and camp in the park as well, with the proper permit. Back in the mid to late 1800s, explorers and settlers who traveled to the western United States noticed when they passed through this landscape that there was a really big cliff in the area that looked bluish in the right light. So they referred to it as the Blue Mound. Well, turns out that cliff wasn't actually blue. It was just made of a type of rock now known as su quartzite, which can appear blue. And just like how the park got its nickname, the clues in this crime were more than met the eye. It's just that investigators back in May of 2001 didn't know that. Or rather, they didn't have the tools to know that. But with time and patience came new opportunities. Opportunities that would help catch a killer. This is park predators. Around 2:45 in the afternoon of Sunday, May 20, 2001, a woman named Rebecca White, who was a new employee training at Blue Mound State park in Minnesota, walked into the park's office expecting to see her co worker, 20 year old Kerry Nelson, sitting behind the customer service counter. Normally, Carrie would greet her with a friendly smile, but oddly, Kerry wasn't around and no one else was moseying around inside the building either. I imagine that sight struck Rebecca as odd, which is why she walked into the building a little further to see if maybe Carrie was somewhere in the back. But as she glanced over the edge of the front counter through the sliding glass window Carrie normally sat behind, she saw something horrible. Her colleague was lying on the floor, bloodied and appeared to be dead. The office was also in complete disarray. Right away, Rebecca ran out of the building and in the direction of the park's nearby campground. She happened to be staying there with her family while training for her new job. She grabbed her father and told him what she'd found, and together they ran back toward the office. When they got inside, her dad picked up the phone and immediately dialed 911, according to a partial transcript of that call, which aired in a Forensic Files episode on this case titled Watchful Eye. When the dispatcher answered, Rebecca's dad told them, I've got a dead parks worker on the floor. To which the dispatcher, who sounded sort of stunned and confused, said, what? But Rebecca's father just frantically repeated, quote, I've got a dead parks worker on the floor of the office, end quote. It didn't take long before investigators with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and Rock County Sheriff's office arrived and they discovered the gruesome scene. Rebecca and her dad had reported Inside the small office behind the counter, investigators found Carrie lying on the floor, dead. All signs pointed to some kind of serious struggle having happened in the tight space. For example, according to that Forensic Files episode I mentioned, deputies found a fax machine in disarray with the phone dangling by the cord onto the floor. The office chair Carrie would have normally sat in was also turned around, and a piece of it was broken and lying on the ground. There were also a bunch of loose papers and some small pieces of rock scattered on the floor around and beneath her body. Right next to one of her hands, investigators found a wristwatch with a tan colored band that appeared to have been torn from the actual watch face, as well as a pack of Darrell brand cigarettes. Also nearby, on the desk, detectives discovered a pad of paper with what looked like an incomplete handwritten note on it, I imagine. The investigators asked Kerry's coworkers to verify if the note was in her handwriting, but however they found out, they were able to determine that it was indeed Kerry who had penned it. The message was addressed to her boyfriend, a man sources reported as being named either Kevin or Mike. Other articles I found even identified him as being her fiance. But whichever is accurate, at the top of her unfinished message to him, Carrie had jotted down the time she'd started writing, which was 2pm so to investigators, this was a clear sign that more than likely shortly after starting to write, someone had interrupted her. Detectives surmised that interruption was likely the killer or killers entering the office. Now, none of the source material I could find reports what exactly Carrie was in the process of writing to her partner, but her uncle told Forensic Files that she did have plans to meet up with her friends that evening after she got off work for the day, which would have been like an hour after her murder. So around 3:30pm or 4:00pm I don't know for sure, but maybe the note was a message she planned to give to her boyfriend eventually or something. Anyway, the next thing detectives turned to for help were surveillance cameras. They asked park officials if there were any inside the office or mounted on the outside of the building, but unfortunately, there weren't. Even though that was disappointing, detectives had to press on. They kept combing through the crime scene and discovered that the cash register, which usually had money in it to check out gift shop customers, was completely empty. Investigators also observed that a small safe near the back of the office was also cleaned out right away. This pointed to a possible robbery motive. And that theory was confirmed when park officials did a quick count, and they realized that a total of around $2,000 was missing from both the cash register and the safe. Two gray money bags with the words Midwest bank stamped on them were also unaccounted for. When investigators took a step back and oriented themselves as if they were the killer or killers coming into the building, they stood at the customer service window and realized that the small safe in the back was within eyesight of their vantage point, meaning whoever had attacked Kerry may have seen it and tried to force her to open it for them. Additional clues that pointed to a possible robbery gone wrong scenario were small round drops of blood dotted on the carpet beneath the cash register. This clue aligned with investigators growing suspicions that perhaps someone had reached through the front desk window and hit Carrie in the face or head. And while they'd been forcing her to open the register, she bled from her injuries, leaving those uniquely round drops of blood straight down on the floor. Now, if you know anything about how blood spatters, it's pretty normal for blood to drop straight down and leave round droplets on a surface if the person bleeding is stationary, meaning they're not being actively struck or in motion, where blood would fly off in a more scattered pattern. The episode of forensic files on this case reported that investigators were able to take samples of the blood, and they confirmed it belonged to Kerry. While members of law enforcement were working, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources closed the park to the public. According to several news reports, they kept it closed for the next few days. A state park worker being murdered while on duty was a first for the park system in Minnesota. In fact, according to Robert Franklin's reporting for the Star Tribune, there had never been a murder of a state park employee in Minnesota's 110 years of having a park system. So as you can imagine, news of the crime sent the state's top officials into a sort of shock and damage control mode. In that same article for the Star Tribune, the director of the Department of Natural Resources, Parks and Recreation division emphasized that his people were reassessing safety protocols for park employees in light of Carey's case. He told the newspaper, quote, we want to remind our employees and visitors that this is an isolated, senseless incident and that employee and visitor safety continues to be of critical importance to us. Now, personally, I think the director had no choice but to come out with this statement because he and the rest of the park system's commissioners realized what a bad look it was that they had employees, especially a young woman like Kerry, working in government owned buildings that weren't even outfitted with security systems, you know, like Surveillance cameras. I mean, I know this is 2001 we're talking about, but to me, they could have at least had some kind of safety measure in place at Blue Mounds to deter criminals. The fact that they didn't was something officials had to publicly admit and reevaluate only after the worst happened. By the end of the day on Sunday, investigators at the crime scene had a lot of clues and physical evidence to work with, but they were still a long way away from making an arrest. Detectives remained tight lipped about what they'd found, as well as what leads they were following. By the next morning, the authorities had removed Carrie's body from the crime scene and transported her about three and a half hours away to the city of St. Paul, Minnesota, for an autopsy. According to multiple news reports and Forensic Files, Dr. Susan Rowe, the medical examiner who conducted the autopsy, found several small hemorrhages in Carrie's eyes, which indicated that whoever had killed her likely squeezed something around her neck during the attack. All of the other major injuries to Carrie's body were to her head and neck and appeared to have been caused by a blunt object. Dr. Rowe ruled the official cause of death as blunt force trauma and manner of death as homicide. There were no signs of sexual assault. Next, detectives set their sights on figuring out who was already in the State park on May 20 or who might have entered right around the time of the crime. Whittling down that information, though, was going to be tricky. You see, back in 2001, there was only one way in or out of the recreational area, A single road. And that road passed right by the office where Cary worked. Every visitor who entered the park was supposed to stop and see the attendant and get a permit or entry sticker if they were planning to stick around for a while. However, park officials admitted that that policy wasn't always enforced, which meant there could have been a number of individuals in the campground that investigators wouldn't necessarily find a paper trail for in the park's official records. To make matters worse, Blue Mound State park was comprised of several hundred acres, which meant the killer or killers could have been hiding anywhere in that landscape. There was just no way of knowing. And law enforcement didn't have the time or resources to search every square foot of the park. According to the forensic files episode on this case, there were about 100 visitors known to be registered guests on the day of the crime. Detectives needed to speak with each of those folks one on one, to determine if they were involved or if they'd seen anything unusual. On May 20, thankfully, law enforcement caught a lucky break. They interviewed one camper who told detectives that he'd seen a large white boat like car speeding really fast on the park's main road. He said it had torn past his campsite sometime between 2:15pm and 2:30pm on the day of the murder. Unfortunately, he hadn't seen the car's license plate or who was driving it, but he was certain about the time it passed by him and the general features. This tip was helpful to investigators because it allowed them to start building a timeline. After speaking with that camper, another witness came forward and reported that they'd visited the park's Office shortly before 2pm and purchased an entry permit from Carrie. At that time, she'd been alive and well and nothing seemed off. According to the Forensic Files episode on this case, investigators got ahold of that witness's permit and the timestamp for it indicated that Cary had rung it up at 1:53pm so detectives realized based on that information that the window of time Cary had likely been killed was pretty small. Less than an hour, give or take, between 1:53pm and when her co worker found her at 2:45pm this realization also made that sighting of the speeding boat like white car a lot more interesting to investigators. Because you see, there was one person at Blue Mound State park who drove a vehicle just like that. And as it turns out, he was someone Carrie had previously told her friends she was afraid of.

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[Delia Diambra]

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According to forensic files, prior to her murder, Carrie had mentioned to one of her friends that she didn't, unlike one of her co workers, a guy named Stephen Barber. Stephen was a 26 year old who worked as a maintenance man for Blue Mound State park and he had kind of a bad reputation amongst the staff for one thing. It was apparently common knowledge that he used cocaine and would sometimes deal it while on the job. Carrie had found out about this and according to what she told her friends, she considered turning Stephen into the police. She'd also mentioned that she thought Steven was unhealthily obsessed with her to the point of stalking. She outright said she was afraid of him. Now, detectives working her murder investigation definitely side eyed Stephen in light of this information. They wondered if maybe getting money for drugs could have been a motivation for him to learn more. They brought him in for questioning. The first bad look for him was the fact that he didn't have a solid alibi for the timeframe. Authorities believed Cary was killed. Stephen's story was that he'd gone to his daughter's birthday party at 3:00 on Sunday, May 20th. But other than that, there was no one who could vouch for his whereabouts prior to 3pm the second bad look was that he drove a long white Cadillac sedan that looked a lot like the vehicle the witness at a campsite had seen speeding on the park's main road shortly after the murder. When investigators pressed even harder, he adamantly denied being involved in the murder. He also said that the broken wristwatch and pack of Darrell brand cigarettes found at the crime scene weren't his. When authorities searched his car and home, they didn't find any physical evidence that connected him to the murder. No bloody clothes, nothing. So for the time being, they had to let him go. While Stephen was in the hot seat getting grilled by investigators, Cary's family was trying to wrap their minds around what had happened. In a televised press conference after the crime, Cary's father Stan said, quote, my beautiful little girl will never come running into my arms again saying, I love you, Daddy. Whoever did this must be caught so that they can never do it again. End quote. According to Robert Franklin's piece I mentioned earlier, Carrie was someone everyone at the park liked working with. May 2001 was her second summer as a seasonal employee, and she was described as being a hard worker. She'd grown up in the nearby town of La Verne, Minnesota, and was close with her father and mother, Nan, as well as her sister Kathleen, who some sources reported also went by Katie. She graduated from La Verne high school in 1999 and started taking classes at Dakota State University in Madison, South Dakota. An article by the Associated Press via the Star Tribune reported that her partner at the time lived in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, which is about 45 minutes southwest of Blue Mound State Park. None of the source material talks about whether or not law enforcement looked into him as a person of interest, but if they did, I assume they didn't find anything suspicious because I couldn't find any news coverage that stated detectives ever publicly voiced they thought he was involved anyway. On Friday, May 25, five days after the murder, Carrie's family held her funeral at Grace Lutheran Church in La Verne. By order of Minnesota's governor at the time, all government buildings flew their flags at half staff in her honor. Carrie's coworkers erected a memorial for her at the park office and continued to wear orange ribbons on their uniforms, which was her favorite color. Meanwhile, law enforcement officials continued to investigate every possible lead, including learning as much as possible about that suspicious speeding white car the camper had seen leaving the park between 2:15pm and 2:30pm on the day of the crime on Saturday, May 26. They appealed to the public for anyone with information about that type of vehicle to come forward. Detectives desperately wanted to know if anyone else other than that one camper had spotted it in the park on Sunday. But based on the source material I read, no one reached out about it. Despite there being a $15,000 reward up for grabs. An article by the associated press stated that Investigators fielded around 500 tips by early September, but none of them led detectives to a viable suspect. However, around this same time, Authorities caught another lucky break. Detectives searching along the main roadway in the park located a large, flat rock in a stream that they believed could have been used to kill Carrie. The reason they thought it was the possible murder weapon Was because it had a decorative etching of a buffalo and the state park's name on it. And it genuinely looked out of place, Almost like it didn't belong out in the wild. It essentially looked like a keepsake or something that belonged in a gift shop, not a stream. It was found about a mile and a half away from the office, and when deputies closely examined it, they realized it was chipped in a few places. The missing bits closely resembled the shards of rock that had been found on the carpet around Cary's body at the crime scene. The stone's potential involvement was confirmed when authorities verified with park staff that it usually sat on the front counter of the office. But ever since Carrie's murder, it had been missing. Dr. Susan Rowe, the pathologist who'd performed Carrie's autopsy, Took a closer look at the rock and compared some of its features to pictures of the wound patterns on Cary's head and face. And wouldn't you know it, Several areas on the flat rock matched perfectly. This discovery was huge. Investigators now had the murder weapon that had been used in the crime. The only downside was that it had been sitting at the bottom of a stream for a week, which meant the likelihood of getting forensic evidence from it, like fingerprints or DNA, was slim to none. The specific spot where it had been found, though, revealed one really important detail to investigators about the killer or killers. Like I said earlier, it was about a mile and a half from the crime scene on the only road in or out of the park, which meant, at least to detectives, that the offender had dumped it there, Possibly while fleeing the park. The episode of forensic files on this case said that in order for the rock to have landed where it was found, Whoever threw it would have had to toss it from the driver's side window of their vehicle while driving into oncoming traffic. A pretty noticeable and risky thing to do. It also wasn't lost on detectives that the rock's final resting place just so happened to be in the same direction that the camper had seen the white boat, like car speeding to on the day of the murder. But in order for the authorities to narrow down the identity of their suspect, they needed more. They kept all of the information about the rock, where it had been discovered, the fact that it was the murder weapon, et cetera, to themselves. They didn't give away any details about it to the media. They knew it was an important piece of the puzzle. But again, without being able to extract any kind of forensic evidence from it, they were kind of back to square one. The only way they felt they were going to be able to identify the perpetrator of the crime was to take a closer look at the wristwatch and pack of Darrell brand cigarettes that had been found at the murder scene. Unfortunately, forensic techs had been unable to find any fingerprints on the cigarette pack or the watch. But speaking of fingerprints, despite none being on those pieces of evidence, there were a ton everywhere else at the scene. Because the park office was a customer service check in desk as well as a souvenir shop, there had been a lot of visitors and employees in and out of it all the time. So things like the countertop, the phone, the desk and doors, they'd all been touched by a lot of people. The sheriff's office made a strategic decision to use a unique method of fingerprint lifting on these surfaces. Basically, a fingerprint examiner heated up super glue, and as the fumes from that glue built up, they attached to enzymes in existing fingerprints on surfaces around the crime scene. Once that process was complete, the examiner discovered there were a total of 135 latent prints on the cash register, computer, countertop, computer keyboard, and other places. Now, 135 is a lot of prints to go through. So the first people that law enforcement compared them to were the park employees, which included Stephen Barber. 97 of the prints came back to people who worked in Blue Mounds, but Stephen was excluded. The remaining 38 prints were labeled as unidentified. Next, detectives submitted all of those unknown prints into Minnesota's database of known criminal offenders. But unfortunately, they got no hits. That result was puzzling because law enforcement felt in their gut that whoever had done this to Carrie more than likely had committed another violent crime at some point in their life. The whole thing just felt like too vicious of an attack for a first time offender. It appeared authorities were essentially back to the drawing board when it came to forensic evidence. However, by that point, they determined that Carrie didn't smoke at all. So the Darrell brand cigarettes weren't hers. And no one else who worked at Blue Mound State park said they smoked those types of cigarettes. Which only confirmed investigators initial suspicion that the pack most likely belonged to whoever had attacked Carrie. It was a piece of evidence the killer or Killers had never intended to leave behind. But in the heat of the moment, they'd taken off without realizing, the pack ended up on the office floor. Investigators had also determined that the wristwatch with the torn strap didn't belong to Carrie. None of her co workers had ever seen her wear it before. And when detectives asked Steven Barber about it, he claimed it wasn't his. So law enforcement speculated that it might have been torn off the assailant during the murder, which is why it was in such bad shape. Even though DNA analysis was in its infancy, in 2001, investigators decided to swab the wristwatch to see if they could obtain a suspect profile from it. But the results weren't exactly what they were hoping for. According to the Forensic Files episode called Watchful Eye, when results from the DNA testing came back, they revealed a mixture of three different profiles on the watch band. One of the profiles was Carrie's. Authorities assumed the most likely reason her DNA was on it was because she'd touched it while struggling against her attacker. Investigators then compared Stephen Barber's DNA to the two remaining profiles and discovered that he wasn't a match to either of them. So at that point, authorities pretty much ruled him out as a suspect. Next, they ran those two unknown profiles against convicted criminals in Minnesota's database. But once again, they struck out. There were no known offenders in the state whose DNA matched to those mystery DNA profiles. The only tangible leads detectives got from the DNA testing were 19 potential matches to known offenders. But if you know anything about DNA sequencing, you know that a potential match is far from a sure thing or being 100% accurate. So investigators had to track down all 19 of those potential matches, and one by one, they were able to clear those people. After that, things in the case quieted down. The one year anniversary rolled around, and investigators were still no closer to making an arrest. The only promising lead that had materialized came from a prison inmate who claimed a former cellmate of his had confessed to murdering Carrie. But turns out that inmate and his cellmate were both lying and had come up with the ruse to just try and obtain the reward money in Cary's case, which by that point, had climbed to $50,000. Just for good measure, though, the sheriff's office got a DNA sample from the former cellmate whose friend said he'd confessed. They compared it to the evidence in the case, and the results proved he wasn't involved. And his fingerprints were also not a match to any found at the crime scene. So, once again, the case went cold. The Associated Press reported that in November 2002, a year and a half after the crime, Blue Mound State park planted a wildflower garden in Cary's honor. They called it the Nelson Memorial Garden, and it showcased an array of different flowers along with several stone walkways. Five long years passed after that, with no real progress in the case. Detectives chased down more than 600 leads, but none got them any closer to identifying a suspect. So with nothing left to lose, they decided to reassess the physical evidence in the case to see if new forms of DNA testing could be done to hopefully obtain better results. And, I mean, I like their thinking here. It was 2006 by that point, and DNA technology had come a long way since May 2001. So the likelihood that they might get more precise results was good. Investigators had the wristwatch torn strap retested, and during that process, DNA techs were able to use new technology to isolate individual skin cells in the band's fabric. From those skin cells, two distinct DNA profiles were obtained. One belonged to a male, and the other belonged to a female who was not Carey Nelson. With those results in hand, detectives plugged them into the Minnesota state database of known offenders. But again, there were no matches. Meaning that whoever this unknown man and woman were, they'd never committed a crime in the state of Minnesota and been convicted. This forced investigators to start thinking outside the box. Around the same time that the DNA testing was being done, they reexamined the cigarette pack. And one detective noticed something about it that had been missed before. There was a tax stamp on the bottom of it that showed it was originally sold in South Dakota, not Minnesota. So this made investigators wonder, maybe their killer wasn't from Minnesota. What if they'd just been traveling through the state when they killed Kerry? Turns out the answer to both those questions was yes. And the breakthrough detectives had been desperately needing for so long was finally about to come.

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In April 2007, nearly six years after Cary was killed, homicide detectives in Minnesota asked their counterparts in South Dakota to run the unknown male and female DNA profiles from the wristwatch through their state's criminal offender database. A few weeks later, the results came in, identifying a 35 year old father of three named Randy Swaney as a high probability match for the male profile extracted from the watch band. At the time, Randy was in jail in South Dakota for an unrelated crime, according to reporting by the Associated Press and the Pioneer Press. He'd been convicted of grand theft in December 2004 and sentenced to serve 30 months in prison, according to another article by the Associated Press published by NPR News. When Minnesota investigators realized in 2007 that Randy was a match to a DNA profile found on physical evidence in Kerry's case, he was scheduled to get out of South Dakota State Penitentiary the next day, which meant Minnesota authorities had to act quickly to file charges against him, just to keep him behind bars until they could do more investigating. And even though they had very little information to go off of, prosecutors from Rock county felt confident moving forward. They charged Randy with four counts of second degree murder. As detectives went through Randy's criminal history and learned more about him, they realized that he had a habit of visiting the places he burglarized before burglarizing them. Essentially, he'd scope out his targets in advance to sort of get a lay of the land. This detail caused Rock county investigators to theorize that perhaps Randy had visited the customer service office at Blue Mound State park on May 20 with the intention of burglarizing it. But once he got inside, he decided to rob it right then and there. They theorized that maybe he hadn't seen Carrie sitting behind the front desk when he'd entered. So he thought the coast was clear to swipe cash from the register, but maybe got interrupted by Carrie, who he then forced to open the safe. And he ended up killing her so that she wouldn't call the police. Carrie's father, Stan, and mother Nan, reacted to news of Randy's arrest. How most parents whose child has been murdered and their case has gone cold for nearly six years would Nan told reporter Richard Merrihew for the Star Tribune, quote, I guess I thought the longer away it got, the harder it would be to solve. It doesn't bring Carrie back, but at least one piece of it is done for Carrie. It is good to have this resolved, end quote. Stan told the press, quote, I know this is a good day, and we'll go on from here. I'm still just kind of numb, and I don't know how I feel about it all, but it's a good day, end quote. I can't get inside Stan's head, but I wonder if one of the reasons he said he wasn't sure how he felt about the arrest was because there was still a pretty big loose end dangling out there. That unknown female DNA profile that analysts had found on the wristwatch's broken strap. Remember, that profile didn't belong to Carrie. And in order for prosecutors to build a rock solid case against Randy with as little reasonable doubt as possible, law enforcement needed to figure out who exactly that belonged to. But detectives were already one step ahead. They had a pretty good hunch who it might be. They paid a visit to where Randy lived in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and spoke with his wife, Dawn. She told investigators that on a few different occasions she'd worn her husband's wristwatch to work. She willingly gave them a sample of her DNA. And when it was compared to the unknown female profile from the watch's band, it was a positive match. When law enforcement questioned her about where she was on the day of Carrie's murder, she provided a solid alibi for the timeframe of the crime. She'd been at work in Sioux Falls and could prove it. So that just left Randy in the crosshairs of investigators. While detectives spoke with dawn, she showed them pictures of him from before the murder. And what's wild is that in a number of those photos, authorities could clearly see him wearing the exact same watch that had been recovered from the crime scene. Another picture of Randy that Don shared with authorities showed him sitting at his kitchen table with a pack of Darrell brand cigarettes laying right next to him. That photo had been taken just one month before the murder. The final nail in the coffin for Randy, though, was that he and dawn owned a cream colored 1984 Oldsmobile car, which was a large white boat like vehicle. Authorities learned from speaking with dawn that Randy would have had unfettered access to their car on the day of the murder while she was at work. Detectives had also compared his fingerprints to the many prints recovered from the crime scene and found that his palm prints matched a few that were found on the countertop of the front desk, as well as on a piece of paper that had been near Carrie's body. The task of taking Randy to trial went to the Minnesota Attorney General's office. In late May 2007, around the time of the six year anniversary of the crime, Randy was transported to a Sioux Falls local jail to await extradition to Minnesota. A few days later, he appeared for the first time at his arraignment in Rock county, and a judge there set his bail at $1 million. Financially, Randy had no way of ponying up that kind of money, which kept him off the streets for the time being. And that's exactly what the prosecution wanted. A few months later, a grand jury in Rock county formally indicted him for Cary's murder. Laurie Eddai reported for the Rock County Star Harold that he maintained he had no involvement in the crime and pleaded not guilty. His defense attorney requested his large bail be lowered to a more reasonable figure, but the judge over the case said no way and kept it at $1 million. For the next few months. The defense filed motions for things like change of venue, citing that people in La Verne couldn't be impartial jurors due to the widespread media attention the case had gotten. However, those efforts failed and eventually Randy's trial got underway. In July 2008 in Rock county, prosecutors showed jury members photos of Kerry's body from during her autopsy so that they could see for themselves the intense brutality of the attack she'd endured. Dr. Susan Rowe testified in more detail about the multiple fractures and blows to the head, which in her opinion, appeared to have come from being beaten at least five times with the decorative rock that had been taken from the park's office and later thrown in the stream. Dr. Rowe also talked about how the killer had tried to strangle Carrie at some point, but had been unsuccessful. Witnesses who were Inside the park on the day of the crime and saw Randy's car speeding through the area. Also tested. Then there was a forensic scientist who took the stand. And they told jurors more about those round blood drops that had been found at the crime scene. You know, the ones that had fallen straight down on the floor right by the cash register. Well, I'm not 100% sure, but I imagine the prosecution called that witness to testify because the state needed to reinforce the scenario that Randy had injured Carrie while attempting to control her so he could rob the office. And then when things went south, he fled in a panic. Of all the witnesses, though, it was Randy's own family members who provided some of the most damaging testimony against him. According to an article by the Globe, his mother in law told the court that he not only smoked Darrell brand cigarettes, but she revealed that he had money problems. She talked about how he and Don would regularly come to her asking for money to pay their rent because he'd gotten too deep into gambling. Randy's mother, Sandra, also told jurors the same thing, that Randy had a history of gambling money away. While waiting to go to trial, Randy had spoken with his wife a few times over the phone. During some of those calls, when she'd asked him what happened to his watch and why he no longer wore it after the crime, he told her he'd lost it at some point prior to May 20, 2001. And the reason it had turned up at the crime scene was because a stranger who he claimed actually committed the crime must have found it and worn it during Carrie's murder. Tapes of their phone conversations were played for jurors, and I can only imagine what kind of impression those recordings left on members of the panel. Probably not super convincing. The defense's response to the state strong case was essentially, randy didn't do it. Someone else did. In closing arguments, Randy's attorney told jurors that the fact that his client once owned the same watch as the one found at the crime scene with his DNA on it was purely coincidence or maybe just bad luck. The lawyer also questioned whether the DNA testing methods and results in the case could be trusted due to possible contamination or human error. In a move not super common for criminal defendants, Randy testified in his own defense, he admitted to being a criminal who'd done bad things like break into cars, damage property, and steal. But he claimed that he didn't know who killed Carrie and denied being in Blue mound State park when she was murdered. According to an article by the Associated Press, he said that the only reason his fingerprints could have gotten on surfaces in the park office was if maybe he and his family had stopped by at some point to check out the area for a future camping trip. He said he couldn't remember specifically going there, but it was possible. Although no one could vouch for him, he claimed he was fishing at a lake in South Dakota when she was killed. The jury didn't buy Randy's story though, and on August 15, 2008, after only six hours of deliberation, they convicted him on all counts. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. At the end of the sentencing hearing, he told Cary's family that the jury had gotten it wrong and there was, quote, still a murderer out there, end quote. Randy filed appeals in 2009 and 2012, but both were denied. According to the Minnesota Department of Corrections website, he's still incarcerated and will likely never be released from prison. The Forensic Files episode on this case stated that in the aftermath of Cary's murder, the Minnesota State Park System put more security measures in place at Blue Mound State park and other government owned recreation spaces to protect their employees while they were on the job. As I wrap up this episode, I think it's important for us to really reflect and remember just how senseless this crime was. Keri Nelson had so many years still ahead of her and likely would have gone on to do great things in her life. The fact that it was all ripped away from her far too soon is a heartbreaking tragedy. Shortly before Randy's arrest, a memorial Facebook page was created for her and it still exists today. People who knew and loved her posted on it every so often. If you've been moved by her story, I encourage you to check that site out and maybe join the page. It's been nearly a decade since someone posted, so I'm not sure who the admin is operating it. But even if you can't post yourself, definitely scroll through the existing feed. It's pretty touching. You can find the link to it on the show notes or in the blog post for this episode.

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So what do you think Chuck? Do you approve?

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