Armonjean Mason murder 1987

Around 4:44 a.m. on 2 December 1987, a motorist was driving on Lake Drive in Columbus, MN, saw a body on the side of the road and called 911. Police arrived on scene to find a naked woman, dead on the side of the road.

She was identified as Armonjean Watson Mason, who at the time of her death was only 40 years old.  It was determined the woman had been murdered, with the cause of death being strangulation. Authorities said Armonjean was also struck in the head with a blunt object and had puncture wounds on her chest and ligature marks on her wrists and ankles, consistent with having been bound.

Armonjean was a healthcare provider and often worked two jobs to take care of her 2 children.

In 2012 the Minnesota BCA recently reviewed the evidence and conducted some DNA testing on physical evidence that did not exist in 1987.

In 1988, authorities has five potential persons of interest. However, the leads eventually dried up and no charges were ever filed.

If you have any information on this case, please contact me via the comment form below. I would love to put a picture of Armonjean if anyone has one

From North Metro tv

NEW DNA IN DECADES OLD MURDER

COON RAPIDS, Minn. – A family is pleading for answers, and the sheriff is asking if anyone has any information that could help solve a murder. However, this isn’t a typical case. This murder happened nearly 25 years ago, but authorities say that they believe someone may have the answers to help bring this case to a close.

The Anoka County Sheriff’s Office is putting a renewed attention on what has been a cold case. On a winter morning in 1987, Armonjean Mason’s body was found on the side of the road in Columbus. She was strangled, had been bound, and had puncture wounds on her chest. As the years passed, and the case went cold, her family never lost hope of finding her murderer and finding closure.

“The last 25 year have been horrible for my family,” said Diane Anderson as she described what it felt like not to have any answers about her sister’s death.

Exactly what happened to her sister is yet to be known. What they do know is that Armonjean was found strangled and nude on a roadway many miles away from her Minneapolis home.

In 1987, when the case was new, the Sheriff’s Office had no official suspects, but they had five persons of interest who were somehow involved in Armonjean’s life. Each of the people claimed alibis, and denied any involvement in her murder. As the years passed, the a case never developed, and a suspect was never named.

Then as technology changed, and created more options for law enforcement, they were able to do more tests. In 2010, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension tested the evidence in the case, and they were able to extract a Y chromosome DNA sample for under a fingernail. This DNA sample was very small, and not able to point to any one person as the murderer. But, they were able to find all five persons of interest, collect their DNA, and look for comparisons. When they did that, it was clear that the DNA was definitely not a match for four of the five persons of interest.

One person of interest remained. Harry Mason, Armonjean’s estranged husband, had DNA that was “a suitable comparison,” according to Commander Paul Sommer of the Anoka County Sheriff’s Department [now retired].

Mason remains a person of interest, but is not a suspect. Authorities are asking for people who knew him to try remember anything out of the ordinary.  Mason has been convicted of murder and armed robbery in the past, Sommer said. While in prison work camp on the robbery conviction in 1965, he was involved in the stabbing deaths of two other inmates. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, according to past Pioneer Press articles.

The Sheriff’s Office is asking anyone who knows anything about the murder of Armonjean Mason to come forward and share what they know to help bring this case to a close. The sheriff’s office can be reached at 763-323-5000.

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