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Hunters asked to watch for missing woman
by Dan Gunderson, Minnesota Public Radio
November 7, 2002

Hundreds of deer hunters will walk the woods and fields of northern Minnesota in the next two weeks. The Marshall County sheriff is asking hunters to help search for a woman who's been missing for six years. At a time when some missing people make instant news, the sheriff is trying to rekindle interest in this cold case. It's a challenging case for local investigators. They have a suspect, but no evidence of a crime.

Moorhead, Minn. — It was a few days before Halloween in 1996. Veronica Safranski, 41, was with friends at a Warren, Minnesota bar. She walked out with a man, leaving her coat and purse behind. She never returned.

A month later, investigators found a piece of her Halloween costume along a county road. Ground and air searches came up empty.

Don and Bernice Lenhart still search remote areas of Marshall County, hoping to find their daughter's body.

"We have no idea what happened," says Bernice. "We don't know anything. All we know is she's missing."

"We're still praying and hoping," says Don. "That's all we can do now."

"Maybe by accident somebody will run across her. Something could happen," says Bernice.

The Lenharts say they need to know what happened to their daughter.

Marshall County Deputy Mike Johnson is lead investigator on the case. He has a theory, but little else.

Veronica Safranski was last seen leaving the bar with a man -- a man with a history of convictions for sexual assault. The man told investigators he left the bar with Safranski, but doesn't know what happened to her.

About 12 hours passed before Veronica was reported missing, according to Johnson.

"Marshall County is a rural county, lots of farming, lots of abandoned farmsteads. There's just a variety of places that -- if someone needed to hide someone -- they could," says Johnson. "It's just a very big area to cover."

Without a body, Johnson says there's little hope of prosecuting a suspect.

The sheriff's department has organized several searches in hopes of finding a body. Psychics have offered help. But all that's been found is a belt from Safranski's Pocahontas Halloween costume.

There's a $15,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case. The investigation has followed thousands of leads, according to Sheriff Herb Maurstad. The conclusion is always the same.

"We go right back to the last person that was with Voni. And that's the person we need to focus on," says Maurstad. "We can't make people talk to us. We can ask them to do that, but we can't make them talk to us."

The suspect was recently released from prison. He was serving time for being a convicted felon in possession of a gun.

Sheriff Maurstad wants to solve the case to bring justice to the family of Veronica Safranski. He also fears it's only a matter of time before the suspect assaults another woman.

"Somebody's missing here. Somebody may have lost their life. In fact, we're quite sure somebody did lose their life," says Maurstad. "And that's what we're here for -- to bring those people to justice, and hopefully prevent other people from losing their lives. So it is frustrating. You think about it all the time."

The sheriff believes the six-year-old case can be solved. Investigators need a lucky break, he says. Like a hunter stumbling across some sign of the missing woman.

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