Elisa Sue Martinez was 17 and a junior in high school when she disappeared from Graceville, Minnesota, after leaving home on the evening of February 16, 1990. She planned a late Valentine’s dinner with a friend and to visit her boyfriend that night but never returned. The next morning her car was found abandoned in a ditch near Beardsley and footprints in the snow led from the vehicle to an abandoned farm site.

Searchers located Elisa’s body inside a granary on the property. She had suffered severe head trauma from a wooden board, had been manually strangled, and evidence indicated she was sexually assaulted. Investigators arrested Kenneth Pilcher after a witness reported his suspicious behavior; he confessed to the crime and was charged. The case record states the attack was a random act of violence, with Pilcher having been drinking and arguing with his girlfriend earlier that evening.

Does anyone have memories of Elisa, the abandoned farm, or the Beardsley area that could add context to what happened that night?