Susanne Reker

On Labor Day 1974, twelve-year-old Susanne Reker and her older sister were looking forward to the start of a new school year. Susanne, known as "Susie" to her family, was learning to play the violin and dreamed of becoming a doctor. Her 15-year-old sister, Mary, who was about to start her sophomore year at an out-of-town high school, hoped to one day be a teacher. The girls were two of six children in the Reker family, living in a home on 18th Avenue North in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Remembered by their mother, Rita, as loving and full of promise, their lives were a cherished part of a close-knit family and community.

The morning of September 2, 1974, was filled with last-minute errands. Around 10 or 11 a.m., Mary and Susie left their house on foot for the mile-long walk to the Zayre Discount Store on West Division Street to buy a winter coat and some school supplies. Their father, Fred, was painting the house as they left and waved goodbye. It was the last time their parents would see them alive. When the girls didn't return for the family's 5 p.m. dinner, worry set in. Their parents began calling friends, and by 7 p.m., they reported Mary and Susanne missing to the St. Cloud police. Initially, police suggested the girls might have run away, a notion their parents immediately dismissed.

For 26 agonizing days, the family and community searched. The nightmare became a horrific reality on September 28, 1974. Two local boys discovered Susanne's body concealed under brush in a boggy area at the edge of a quarry miles outside of St. Cloud. She had been stabbed at least 13 times. Soon after, authorities found Mary's body floating in the quarry water below. She had also suffered multiple stab wounds, and her clothing had been cut and removed. The discovery launched a homicide investigation that has haunted central Minnesota for decades.

The Stearns County Sheriff's Office has pursued the case for over 50 years, but no arrests have ever been made. Over the decades, one name consistently emerged as a person of interest: Herbert Notch. In 1976, two years after the Reker murders, Notch, then 17, kidnapped a 14-year-old girl from a St. Cloud convenience store at gunpoint. He took her to a secluded gravel pit, cut through her sweater and bra with a knife, sexually assaulted her, and stabbed her before leaving her for dead under a pile of brush. The victim survived by playing dead and seeking help. The similarities to the Reker case—the remote location, the cutting of the clothing, and the body being hidden under brush—were striking. Notch was convicted of kidnapping and robbery and sentenced to 40 years, but other charges were dropped.

Though questioned about the Reker sisters, Notch never confessed. He died of liver cancer in 2015. Before his death, the girls' mother, Rita Reker, visited him in the hospital. "I asked him if he had anything to tell me, and he said no," she later recalled, "but in my heart, the case was solved." Investigators hoped that modern science could provide a definitive answer. By 2024, only a single strand of hair recovered from the crime scene remained as physical evidence. It was sent for advanced DNA analysis, a process that took nearly two years.

In July 2026, the Stearns County Sheriff's Office received the devastating results. The analysis failed to produce a DNA profile, and the hair sample was completely consumed in the testing process. It was the last piece of physical evidence in the case. Despite this setback, investigators insist the case is not closed. As of September 2026, more than 52 years after the murders, the case officially remains unsolved. The Reker family continues to celebrate the girls' birthdays and keep their memories alive, holding onto hope for justice.

A $50,000 reward is offered for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the murders of Mary and Susanne Reker. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Stearns County Sheriff's Office at 320-251-4240.