Anne Louise Barber Dunlap was born on 12 June 1964 to Donn and Louise Barber. Anne was 31 when she went missing. She was married and a successful marketing manager at Pillsbury. She was last seen alive on 30 December 1995. She had lunch with friends and returned home to her parent’s house where her and her husband Brad Dunlap were living while their home was being built in Medina, MN. She left about 2:30 pm to go shopping at the Mall of America for a pair of shoes. Anne was never seen alive again.
Anne was last seen driving her maroon 1987 Toyota Celica, two-door coupe, Minnesota license: 055 FDB. Her car was found in the parking lot on 1 January 1996 of K-mart at 10 West Lake Street in Minneapolis, unlocked with the keys inside. Anne’s body was found in the trunk of her car at the police forensic garage. She had stab wounds to her head and neck. It’s said that she was stabbed in the trunk of her car and it said it was a personal killing.Ā Anne had no defensive wounds.Ā Although Anne’s purse and credit cards were missing, police say there is no evidence of the cards being used since her death. Her wedding and engagement rings also were missing, and police continue to search for them by contacting jewelry dealers and pawnshops.
Police focused on Brad Dunlap as a key suspect. One reason: a $1 million life insurance policy his wife purchased just months before she was murdered.Ā Also group insurance from Pillsbury for $745,000. Ā Anne’s parents have stuck up for Brad and believe he is innocent. BTW Brad is remarried and has 2 kids and is living in Scottsdale AZ. His website is below!
Brad told police he last saw Anne at 2:30 when she left her parents’ home in south Minneapolis to go shopping, most likely at the Mall of America. Based on her stomach contents, the medical examiner ruled Anne died about an hour later at 3:30. Brad made his first 911 call at 9 p.m.
From Sgt. David Voss sworn affidavit:
The forensic evidence indicates that the murder of Anne Dunlap occurred at approximately 2:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. on December 30, 1995. Dr. Daniel Davis, Assistant Medical Examiner for Hennepin County, conducted an autopsy of Anne Dunlap and concludes that she died between 2:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. on December 30, 1995. The forensic evidence also indicates that the murder of Anne Dunlap occurred in the garage of her parents’ home. This is the home where Anne and Bradley Dunlap were living and where Bradley Dunlap acknowledged that he was on December 30, 1995 from 2:30 pm to 3:00 pm. Forensic evidence indicates that the murder of Anne Dunlap occurred in the garage of her parents’ home because Anne Dunlap’s blood is found in three locations in the garage. Furthermore, there were positive presumptive indicators of blood found in the washtub and lint trap located in the laundry room of Anne Dunlap’s parents’ home. This forensic evidence suggests a clean-up by the murderer.
Brad Dunlap hired Bill O’keefe a private investigator, this is on page 21
This was said to be from a press conference the PI had.
Despite the contention of Minneapolis police that they have no evidence that Anne Barber Dunlap was at the Mall of America the day she disappeared, “several” people say they remember seeing her there, said Bill O’Keefe, a private investigator.
“There is a witness who discussed the fact that Anne was building a house,” O’Keefe told reporters at a news conference Thursday in front of Anne Dunlap’s parents’ house in south Minneapolis. He said one witness could identify the shoes Dunlap was wearing when she disappeared.
“In our minds, it’s very significant {to the investigation},” O’Keefe said. He said police are aware of the witnesses. The body of Anne Dunlap, 31, was found in the trunk of her car Jan. 1. Her husband, Brad Dunlap, reported her missing after she didn’t return from a trip to the Mall of America on Dec. 30.
O’Keefe said he wasn’t contradicting the police, but rather news reports, with his position that Dunlap did go to the mall and not return. Shortly after Dunlap’s body was found, Bloomington Police Chief Bob Lutz said police had not found any evidence of her being at the mall. Lutz couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday night.
Studies have shown that eyewitnesses have often been mistaken in their identifications. The Minneapolis Police Department continues to be tight-lipped about its investigation.
Here is the medical examiners’ report:
The final diagnoses are contained on pages 1 and 2 of the autopsy report. The information which I
considered in forming the final diagnoses is set forth in pages 3 through 10 of the autopsy report.
In addition to the final diagnoses set forth in the autopsy report. I hold these opinions within a
degree of medical certainty:
1) Anne Dunlap exsanguinated in the trunk of her car.
2) The 5-cm injury to the right occiput is consistent with a blunt force blow to her head. She
was probably hit over the right occiput with something broad and flat.
3) I found no evidence of “defensive” wounds to her body. There are no wounds to her
forearms or hands. Either due to positioning or incapacitation. she was apparently unable
to respond to her attacker at the time that the stab wounds were inflicted. No evidence of
restraint was present. There was no evidence that she was in an ordeal or a struggle with
her attacker. There was no forensic evidence of Anne Dunlap being held a prisoner. Her
clothes appeared to be clean except for the blood from her wounds.
4) I found no injury to her vagina or breasts. There was no evidence of a sexual assault. It
was subsequently determined that semen was found in her vagina, but there was no
evidence of forced penetration at the time of autopsy.
5) It is extremely likely that she died during the afternoon of Saturday, December 30, 1995.
It is extremely unlikely that she was killed on Sunday, December 31, 1995. The fragments
of food I found in her stomach at the time of autopsy are consistent with the food items
she was reported to have eaten at the brunch over the noon hour on December 30, 1995. In
addition to food fragments in the stomach, there was a homogeneous green paste in the first part
of the small intestine indicating that she was in the active process of digestion. It is reasonable for someone in good health who has eaten an average-sized meal and with an average rate of motility
that most of the food would have left the stomach within a few hours.
Just some of my notes:
ā Anne’s parents were NOT home at the time Anne went missing. This is according to the timeline Donn and Louise were at their cabin in Annandale, about an hour from Minneapolis.
ā Why did he wait until 8pm to call Donn and Louise in Annandale if she missed a 6pm dinner date with her husband?
ā It was stated she never made it to the MofA, but a pi hired by Dunlap makes different claims. Ā One person saw her there but did they really? Ā The witness could identify the shoes she was wearing, what is significant about the shoes she was wearing? Ā She was wearing black shoes!
ā Weird how everyone in the family cut their hands in the same week that Anne went missing! Ā And just happened to touch the garage door. And why was there blood residue in the washing machine and also in the lint filter of the drier? Iām guessing those cut hands bled out excessively.
ā What kind of purse did she carry? Ā Color? Ā What about her $10k wedding rings? Ā Iāve seen no pictures of it. Ā Both are missing! Ā Was it insured? Ā For how much?Ā Easy to toss it all away.
ā The parents want to solve this murder, but they haven’t allowed the police or FBI do their job.Ā Sounds like they have defended Dunlap as much as possible, and I don’t believe he is innocent [after days of reading files THIS IS MY OPINION!Ā That doesn’t mean it’s fact!]. Ā If you have ever watched any real murder cases on tv, you know that just because the in-laws and friends say the husband would never do it doesn’t mean he didn’t.Ā Many are found guilty.
ā¦ The affidavit by Sgt. David Voss describes the police theory about the murder
ā¦ Hennepin County Medical Examinerās letter summarizing the autopsy findings
ā¦ FBIās analysis of the case
ā¦ A crime scene analysis provided by a retired FBI expert for Chubb insurance
ā¦ A report by Brad Dunlapās experts disputing the Medical Examinerās time of death
ā¦ A report by a Dunlap expert about the blood evidence found in the garage.
Dunlap’s interview with Kare11:
Anne Barber Dunlap’s brother Paul website: Help Find Anne’s Killer(s)!!
Here is a link to a bunch of articles written by the Star Trib written about Anne Barber Dunlap Murder [remember these are articles written by the star tribune. Investigators have stated that they were tired of the unnamed sources. Officials stated much of the information in those reports has been wrong. page 19]
Kare11 Article: KARE 11 Investigates: New details revealed in Dunlap murder mystery
Dunlap vs. Chubb Ins. case file: Dunlap v. Chubb Life Ins. Co. of America
Brad Dunlap in 2018.
Dunlaps website: The Best IRS
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I was remotely connected to this at the time, I worked for Anne’s former employer and a number of employees were still friends and helped with the “find Anne” effort prior to the discovery of her car.
I’ve never felt that anyone but Brad was a reasonable suspect. She was killed as a byproduct of some long-simmering private disagreement, with Brad planning to take the money and start over elsewhere (as he actually ended up doing). Her car was dumped with the keys in it and in a bad neighborhood in order to misdirect the police, if not get indirectly frame someone, probably a black person, found driving her stolen car.
What’s always bugged me is the unwavering support from Anne’s parents for Brad. If your daughter gets murdered, at some point you must naturally have to wonder if her husband killed her, particularly when there’s such emphasis on him as a suspect by the police. But they never stopped supporting him. I always wondered if Brad purposely acted out some deception while he lived with them.
Anne was, perhaps rightly lauded, as something of a saint, with her many friendships, amazing career, but I also wonder — was there a dark side to her? Something hidden from everyone else but obvious to Brad and unlikely to be believed by anyone else? Did moving in with her parents while their house was built result in their relationship regressing and becoming chaste, perhaps fueling Brad’s resentments? Did Anne refuse or decide to delay having children due to her career? It’s sort of hard to come up with a motive for *why* Anne was killed, even by her husband, who probably could have kicked back and benefitted from someone likely to put them into a lofty economic status at a young age.
Hi Sean,
Thanks for commenting! I donāt believe Brad is innocent. This right here, the parents had excuse after excuse for blood in the garage:
Sgt. David Voss sworn affidavit:
Forensic evidence indicates that the murder of Anne Dunlap occurred in the garage of her parentsā home because Anne Dunlapās blood is found in three locations in the garage. Furthermore, there were positive presumptive indicators of blood found in the washtub and lint trap located in the laundry room of Anne Dunlapās parentsā home. This forensic evidence suggests a clean-up by the murderer.
So far Brad has gotten away with murder, it would be nice if there was some hard evidence against him!
The Dunlap murder has far too many inconsistencies and coincidences that make the obvious undeniable. Intonation is key. The message to the unidentified searcher directing the search to exactly where the murder victim was ultimately found is incredible. The following little piece of information is unconfirmed so I won’t use names. It is known that a high level manager working at Kmart around approximately (unknown) the time of the Dunlap murder, was arrested and/or charged civilly with a financial crime involving the theft and/or embezzlement of significant funds from Kmart. Information Only.
Hi Thomas,
Thatās very interesting! Iāll need to do some research. Many believe that Brad did it and her family shielded him from the police. Iāll have to do some research into what you posted about Kmart employee! Since you know the name, [Iām not asking for it] but was the person an acquaintance of Anne?
I don’t know about relationships. The embezzlement would have required cooperation from others I assume. When Nicollet avenue closed to build Kmart, it caused a lot of trouble, politically. You could speculate in many directions. One thing seems certain in this case – There was a lot of deception involved. Who knows to what degree, or in what direction? The railroad tracks that run east and west behind the old Kmart store could have provided a path for the killer in either direction. Those tracks run all the way to Lake Calhoun to the west, and to the east they may go past the University of Minnesota area where several fast food restaurants are located. Someone could have posed as a jogger and ran all the way to Calhoun, with a multitude of garbage cans and other places to discard things like a purse and a ring along the way, or to the east. It depends on the killer’s comfort level and what his intentions were.
I was just curious about a relationship because if they were friends the Kmart worker would have probably been questioned. It just seems weird that he waited until 8pm to call her parents. Heck my husband would have been calling the police especially if we had a dinner date. Iām am surprised her parents shielded Brad. It doesnāt seem they cared much to find the murderer of their daughter. There is a lot of deception in this case mostly by her parents. Jmo.
Hi Colleen: Did you receive my response? It disappeared from my screen.
Sorry it slide in moderation, itās out.
The parents probably lived through the days of the Minneapolis Police Burglary ring where it seems some police officers were using secret knowledge to burglarize vacant homes in south Minneapolis owned by people who were on vacation. Those memories left a bad impression that exists still today. Such a mistrust may never go away. Apparently the victim’s father asked one of the detectives about police procedure and received an unfriendly response. This has happened in several other cases, where witnesses are alienated by police, never to cooperate again. People may not remember what you say, but they will remember how you made them feel. Right or wrong, the victim’s family felt they were not treated well by at least one detective.
Hi Thomas,
I never heard about the burglary ring. Gosh Minneapolis pd has sure had their problems.
Did you see this:
Fireplace log
The records reveal something else that has never been reported.
In the garage, the police found a bloodstained fireplace log. A lab report says Anneās DNA was on that log, too.
In addition to the stab wounds, the medical examiner found evidence of a āblunt force blow to her head.ā He concluded Anne was apparently hit with āsomething broad and flat.ā
Was Anne knocked out ā then stabbed?
āThis is the first time Iāve ever heard about the fireplace log,ā said Caroline Lowe, a former Twin Cities crime reporter who covered the case extensively in 1996 and still keeps tabs on it today.
āThose seem like critical pieces of their puzzle ā that they think Anne was somehow knocked out, stunned, so whoever killed her could get control of her,ā Lowe said.
Kare11 [https://www.kare11.com/article/news/investigations/kare-11-investigates-new-details-revealed-in-dunlap-murder-mystery/89-70f6dc98-9660-4687-a2b4-0458532bccfc]
This from the same article: āThere is nothing that leads it to him. And we know him too well. He couldnāt grieve like he could, if he did it,ā Donn Barber told KARE 11 in 1996.
Colleen: I hope you and any readers will give sufficient thought to the variables involved with the railroad tracks that ran east/west behind the Kmart store. The possible scenarios are worthy of consideration.
Iām wonder why the steering wheel was never swabbed! DNA today is a great technology.
Grew up in the area. The walk from the Kmart parking lot to Richfield Rd is very doable. One drinking night I walked home to my parents house on E Lk Harriet Pkwy from 26th & 26th. Case is crazy. If husband did it, why stab her ?
Hi Anthony,
Thatās a great question! I think there was a lot of blocking him by her parents.
I am surprised itās not solved yet!
If they claim she was at MOA. Did they find new shoes to prove she was there ? How about a receipt? If she went to buy new shoes like the husband says- shouldnāt there be new shoes in the car ?
Hi Cindy,
Itās been said she never made it to the mall. But when a pi hired by Dunlap miraculously someone saw her. But no one else did. Apparently this witness remembered her black shoes!
Colleen