Just after 2 am on 19 July 1984, Robert A. Miller was murdered inside his south Minneapolis apartment at 3209 Girard Ave South. The case has been cold ever since.

Robert Millers family members thought the case would never be solved!

STATEMENT OF PROBABLE CAUSE

Complainant has investigated the facts and circumstances of this offense and believes the following establishes probable cause:

On July 19, 1984, at approximately 2:30 a.m., Minneapolis police officers responded to multiple 911 calls made from an apartment building located at 3209 Girard Avenue South in Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota. When officers arrived, two adult females rushed out of the apartment building. The first, Victim 2 (3/3/1951), had a bleeding cut to the left side of her face. The other woman, Witness 1 (5/13/1952), was uninjured but extremely distraught. They reported that an unknown male had broken into their apartment and attacked them with a knife.

Officers entered the apartment and observed the body of a deceased adult male, Victim 1 (8/10/1951) on the floor in a pool of blood near a bedroom doorway. Victim 1 had clearly been stabbed multiple times. An autopsy later revealed that Victim 1 died from numerous stab wounds to his face, head, chest, back, and shoulders.

Police observed that the apartment’s kitchen door, which led to a back exit, was wide open. Crime lab personnel inspected the scene and determined this was the suspect’s likely path of flight from the murder, as there was blood along the route that did not appear to come from Victim 1. Your complainant is aware that it is common for persons wielding a bladed weapon to unintentionally cut themselves during an attack. Crime lab gathered samples of the blood from the kitchen floor, the back exit hallway, and the back exit doorknob.

In 2018, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) developed a DNA profile from blood collected from the kitchen floor and back exit doorknob. Over the next few years, investigators consulted with a genealogist and determined that, based on the DNA profile, Defendant MATTHEW RUSSELL BROWN (3/15/1957) was a suspect. Investigators made multiple attempts to surreptitiously obtain a DNA sample from Defendant and were unsuccessful. Finally, in March of 2023, Police collected a disposable plastic cup that Defendant had used.

The BCA obtained a major male DNA profile from the plastic cup, compared it to the DNA profile obtained from the blood at the crime scene, and determined that the profiles matched. 27CR2311020

Charges:

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