Forty years after 22-year-old Kelly Jean Robinson was found floating in a gravel pit pond in rural Minnesota, her case had gone cold — until DNA tests taken by an adopted man revealed that Kelly was his biological mother, and she had been murdered.

In this episode, Dakota Spotlight is excited to share this story from our longtime friend Trisha Taurinskas. Her investigative reporting is meticulous, insightful, and deeply respectful of the families she covers.

Working with Kelly’s family, Trisha uncovered never-before-released information: new suspects, details from her autopsy, and new critical facts from an autopsy. To see images of Kelly, visit: https://www.inforum.com/people/kelly-robinson

Check out the full catalog and everything Dakota Spotlight: https://dakotaspotlight.com/

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James shares a Christmas message with Dakota Spotlight listeners. A moment to pause, say thank you, and reflect before the year comes to a close, with appreciation for everyone who listens, supports the show, and makes this work possible.

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In the season’s final chapter, Dakota Spotlight returns to Rapidan, Minnesota—to the classmates, friends, and families still living in the shadow of Ray Dahms’s murder. Host James Wolner traces the final years of Brian Lee Hendrickson, from later crimes and manipulation to his eventual downfall.

This episode also brings together two people whose lives he forever changed—Mark Hendrickson, the killer’s brother, and Michelle, one of his victims—for a conversation decades in the making. From courtrooms and archives to quiet Minnesota cemeteries, this conclusion reflects on truth, forgiveness, and the slow turning of justice.

A Dakota Spotlight true crime podcast rooted in investigative journalism, it’s a story about accountability, empathy, and how truth, though buried, endures.

Meanwhile in Mankato was written, researched, edited, and produced by James Wolner. Additional research assistance by Mari Zoerb Hansen.

Check out the full catalog and everything Dakota Spotlight: https://dakotaspotlight.com/

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By the early 1980s, Brian Lee Hendrickson was still working at the Minnesota Home School in Sauk Centre, supervising teenage girls. When one of them—Michelle—spoke up, she was dismissed as unstable and her accusation brushed aside. Hendrickson walked free again.

In this episode, Michelle tells her story, while Hendrickson’s brothers and Michelle’s husband reflect on how this could have happened. Dakota Spotlight revisits a Minnesota courtroom case where no one seemed to realize that the man on trial had already been convicted of murder years earlier.

Through careful investigative journalism, this true crime podcast examines how blind faith in rehabilitation allowed history to repeat itself—and how one survivor’s courage brings long-overdue clarity to a broken justice system.

Meanwhile in Mankato was written, researched, edited, and produced by James Wolner. Additional research assistance by Mari Zoerb Hansen.

Check out the full catalog and everything Dakota Spotlight: https://dakotaspotlight.com/

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All content in this podcast, including audio, interviews, and soundscapes, is the property of Six Horse Media. Any unauthorized use, reproduction, or rebroadcast of this material without the express written consent of Six Horse Media is strictly prohibited. For permissions or inquiries, please contact [email protected].

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This episode looks inside Minnesota’s prison and parole system during the years when Brian Lee Hendrickson was behind bars—and how shifting attitudes toward rehabilitation vs punishment helped lead to his early release. We hear from Brian’s brothers, Mark and Gary, about the shock of seeing him walk free after just five years for murder, and how he soon ended up working for the State of Minnesota at the Minnesota Home School in Sauk Centre.

Through interviews, records, and careful investigative journalism, Dakota Spotlight examines the Minnesota parole experiment that failed to protect the vulnerable and reveals how the optimism of reform collided with the realities of crime and manipulation.

A Dakota Spotlight true crime podcast that uncovers how one man’s early release exposed deep flaws within Minnesota’s corrections system—and how the consequences still echo decades later.

Meanwhile in Mankato was written, researched, edited, and produced by James Wolner. Additional research assistance by Mari Zoerb Hansen.

Check out the full catalog and everything Dakota Spotlight: https://dakotaspotlight.com/

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The second half concludes the You Killed Chris story — newly abridged and remastered. Through interviews, archives, and reflection, I revisit Linda’s decades-long effort to confront the man she believes murdered her college friend — and how her determination kept the story alive through five decades of silence and disbelief.

Check out the music of MVLL CRIMES: https://mvllcrimes.bandcamp.com/

Two Good Books about Christine Rothschild:

Murder on the 56th Day: Linda Schulko. Get the Kindle version of Linda’s great book. Linda donates all proceeds to charity. Get Linda’s book on Amazon⁠ https://amzn.to/4cX0DEe⁠

Cold: The Unsolved Murders of Seven Young Women: Kevin Damask. Get Kevin’s book on Amazon⁠ https://amzn.to/43YFy8l

Additional research by Mari Zoerb Hansen

Check out the full catalog and everything Dakota Spotlight: https://dakotaspotlight.com/

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Proudly produced by Six Horse Media: [email protected]

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All content in this podcast, including audio, interviews, and soundscapes, is the property of Six Horse Media. Any unauthorized use, reproduction, or rebroadcast of this material without the express written consent of Six Horse Media is strictly prohibited. For permissions or inquiries, please contact [email protected].

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A newly abridged and remastered two-part version of You Killed Chris: A Friend’s Fight for Justice. In 1968, 18-year-old Christine Rothschild was found murdered outside Sterling Hall on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus. This first part takes us back to the turmoil of the 1960s and into Christine’s world — and to her friend Linda, who refused to let her story be forgotten.

Two Good Books about Christine Rothschild:

Murder on the 56th Day: Linda Schulko. Get the Kindle version of Linda’s great book. Linda donates all proceeds to charity. Get Linda’s book on Amazon⁠ https://amzn.to/4cX0DEe⁠

Cold: The Unsolved Murders of Seven Young Women: Kevin Damask. Get Kevin’s book on Amazon⁠ https://amzn.to/43YFy8l

Additional research by Mari Zoerb Hansen

Check out the full catalog and everything Dakota Spotlight: https://dakotaspotlight.com/

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YouTube: @dakotaspotlightpodcast4800

Proudly produced by Six Horse Media: [email protected]

Advertise your podcast or brand in Dakota Spotlight episodes: [email protected]

All content in this podcast, including audio, interviews, and soundscapes, is the property of Six Horse Media. Any unauthorized use, reproduction, or rebroadcast of this material without the express written consent of Six Horse Media is strictly prohibited. For permissions or inquiries, please contact [email protected].

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Episode 3 follows Brian Lee Hendrickson’s case through late 1965 and 1966, as court procedures, psychiatric evaluations, and a Minnesota trial unfold under the state’s Youth Conservation Commission. At the same time, a new Supreme Court ruling on Miranda rights reshapes the very laws surrounding confession and sentencing.

We meet Hendrickson’s brothers, Mark and Gary, whose memories of that era reveal a family story caught between denial and discovery, and we open a parallel thread on Michelle’s early life — the beginnings of a second tragedy yet to come.

Through careful investigative journalism, Dakota Spotlight continues this true crime podcast journey through Minnesota’s justice system, where one decision inside a courtroom still echoes six decades later.

Meanwhile in Mankato was written, researched, edited, and produced by James Wolner. Additional research assistance by Mari Zoerb Hansen.

Check out the full catalog and everything Dakota Spotlight: https://dakotaspotlight.com/

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YouTube: @dakotaspotlightpodcast4800

Proudly produced by Six Horse Media: [email protected]

Advertise your podcast or brand in Dakota Spotlight episodes: [email protected]

All content in this podcast, including audio, interviews, and soundscapes, is the property of Six Horse Media. Any unauthorized use, reproduction, or rebroadcast of this material without the express written consent of Six Horse Media is strictly prohibited. For permissions or inquiries, please contact [email protected].

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In the aftermath of Ray Dahms’s killing, Blue Earth County investigators launch a Minnesota murder investigation that soon points to a local teenager, Brian Lee Hendrickson. When they finally bring him in for questioning, Hendrickson shocks officers with a murder confession that seems to close the case almost as quickly as it began with the justice system. 

Episode 2 of Meanwhile in Mankato revisits those first tense hours of the Mankato Gas Station Murder and the community’s mourning for Ray Dahms, whose death left Rapidan searching for answers. Through careful investigative journalism, Dakota Spotlight explores how a small-town murder rippled across Minnesota, shaping perceptions of truth and accountability.

A Dakota Spotlight true crime podcast where every answer reveals another question—and where justice proves far more elusive than anyone imagined.

Meanwhile in Mankato was written, researched, edited, and produced by James Wolner. Additional research assistance by Mari Zoerb Hansen.

Check out the full catalog and everything Dakota Spotlight: https://dakotaspotlight.com/

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Proudly produced by Six Horse Media: [email protected]

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All content in this podcast, including audio, interviews, and soundscapes, is the property of Six Horse Media. Any unauthorized use, reproduction, or rebroadcast of this material without the express written consent of Six Horse Media is strictly prohibited. For permissions or inquiries, please contact [email protected].

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In 1965, seventeen-year-old Brian Hendrickson committed a small-town murder when he walked into a gas station outside Mankato, Minnesota, and shot clerk Ray Dahms twice at close range. Sentenced to forty years, he served just over five.The case would later be remembered as the Mankato Gas Station Murder.

In this opening episode of Dakota Spotlight’s twelfth season, host James Wolner takes us back to 1965 and the small town of Rapidan, Minnesota. We meet the classmates and friends of Ray Dahms, shot down at the age of 18 in this Minnesota murder case — people who have never forgotten him. The episode traces Ray’s final hours on September 25, 1965, and introduces us to seventeen-year-old Brian Lee Hendrickson, whose own path that night would lead to tragedy at Rothfork Truckstop in Blue Earth County, Minnesota. Dakota Spotlight is a true crime podcast dedicated to investigative journalism, revisiting cold cases and small-town murders across the Midwest.

Learn more about the Mankato Gas Station Murder at DakotaSpotlight.com.

Meanwhile in Mankato was written, researched, edited, and produced by James Wolner. Additional research assistance by Mari Zoerb Hansen.

Check out the full catalog and everything Dakota Spotlight: https://dakotaspotlight.com/

Get all episodes early, ad-free, and more. Subscribe to Spotlight PLUS: https://dakotaspotlight.com/spotlight-plus/

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YouTube: @dakotaspotlightpodcast4800

Proudly produced by Six Horse Media: [email protected]

Advertise your podcast or brand in Dakota Spotlight episodes: [email protected]

All content in this podcast, including audio, interviews, and soundscapes, is the property of Six Horse Media. Any unauthorized use, reproduction, or rebroadcast of this material without the express written consent of Six Horse Media is strictly prohibited. For permissions or inquiries, please contact [email protected].

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