Deoloris "Dee" Dunn, Minneapolis' first black female police officer, died recently without knowing who shot her 20-year-old daughter in November 1987 and left her body in a frozen Brooklyn Park cornfield.
Now the death in January of the 74-year-old pioneer for women and minorities on the Minneapolis police force has prompted the revival of a long-dormant criminal investigation into the killing.
Brooklyn Park Deputy Police Chief Mark Bruley heard last week about Dunn's memorial service Saturday in St. Paul and gave the inactive investigation into Tahrita McKinnies' killing another look.
"I looked at the case and no one was arrested or charged for the murder," Bruley said. "I am assigning the case to one of my supervisors for a more thorough case review to see if any opportunity exists to conduct any new follow-up."
Bruley added Monday that "we have lots of new DNA options that ... could potentially be used to take another look at this case," whose file totals roughly 1,500 pages.
Several days after McKinnies was shot, Brooklyn Park's then-police chief Don Davis said officers examined the possibility that McKinnies died because gang members thought she was a police informant for illicit drug activities. "We've had all kinds of speculative leads, and all the options are open at this point," Davis said.
Bruley said Monday that a motive remains unclear, "but rape was believed to be involved."
McKinnies was seven months pregnant when she was shot several times in the head. Passersby came upon her partly clothed and barefoot body in the field near 89th and Zane avenues N. with her hands tied behind her back.