DNA evidence resulted in the arrest of a “peeping Tom,” who stabbed an elderly woman to death 38 times in the mid-seventies, cops say.
Cops questioned Algene Leeland Vossen, 79, shortly after the body of 74-year-old Mae Herman was discovered by her sister in rural Minnesota on January 27, 1974.
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Family members alerted police that she wasn’t answering her phone – but when officers arrived, they found Herman dead with multiple stab wounds.
Forty-six years later, Vossen was charged with murder after the elderly woman’s brutal slaying in Wilmer, thanks to advances in DNA testing.
COLD CASE ARREST
Vossen was arrested on Thursday in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where he currently lives.
He was being held in the Minnehaha County Jail there pending extradition to Kandiyohi County, where he has been charged with second-degree murder.
A month after Herman’s murder, detectives interviewed Vossen – but he denied knowing anything about the savage slaying bar what was said in the press, a criminal complaint revealed.
He did admit to peeping in people’s windows twice, including once in the town of Willmar, telling cops he selected homes at random.
REVIEWING EVIDENCE
In June of 2020, Willmar Police had a cold case review team look at unsolved cases, including Herman’s homicide, reported KSTP.
They saw Vossen was listed as an initial suspect initially but the evidence was inconclusive – but in 2020, police determined he was major suspect.
These cold case investigators then unearthed potential evidence on preserved items that could be utilized in DNA analysis.
Vossen’s DNA was sent to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) and a forensic scientist examined it before it was compared to various other suspects.
SEARCH WARRANT
He wasn’t in any database so detectives got a search warrant and went to his home to get a genetic sample this month.
According to the complaint, Vossen reiterated that he didn’t know Herman and that he wasn’t at her house because he was at the American Legion.
He also mentioned that he didn’t care about them taking his sample because he wasn’t involved.
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But the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension’s lab report found that the DNA from July 17 matched blood found on Herman’s sweater, the court filing stated.
Vossen was arrested by the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigations, Sioux Falls Police and Willmar Police.
They credited diligent police work, preserving evidence, and DNA advances.