On the night of April 3, 1976, a farmhouse in Wolf Lake, Minnesota burned down between about 11:30 p.m. and midnight. The fire destroyed the home; firefighters pulled the charred remains of Peggy and Bernard Rusness’s eight-year-old son, Brian, from his bedroom, and the family dogs were also found dead in the wreckage. Peggy Joyce Parmenter, 41, and her common-law husband Bernard Rusness were nowhere to be found after the blaze.

The fire marshal concluded the couple had likely survived the fire. All of the family’s vehicles were still at the property with keys in the ignitions, Bernard’s truck had its hood up from work he’d been doing that afternoon, their bank accounts containing about $1,000 were untouched, and neither had collected final paychecks. Initial reports of other human remains proved incorrect; some bones belonged to the pets and a skull-like object was actually a planter.

Foul play is strongly suspected, but Peggy and Bernard remain missing. If anyone knew the couple, their routines, or saw anything in Wolf Lake on or around April 3, 1976, please come forward with information.