Man charged in 1986 killing

VIRGINIA, Minn. (AP) — A judge set bail at $1 million Thursday for a man charged with killing a woman 34 years ago on Minnesota’s Iron Range in a case that was resurrected with the help of genealogy database analysts.

Michael Allan Carbo Jr., 52, of Chisholm, was charged with second-degree murder in the 1986 killing of Nancy Daugherty of Chisholm. He remained in jail and is due back in court Aug. 6.

Agents from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and Chisholm police arrested Carbo Wednesday after a state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension lab confirmed that his DNA matched DNA from the crime scene, according to officials.

Daugherty was last seen alive early on July 16, 1986. That afternoon, police conducting a welfare check found her dead inside her home.

According to the complaint, Carbo was 18 at the time, lived less than a mile from the crime scene and attended school with Daugherty’s children.

Investigators over the years interviewed and collected DNA from more than 100 people but were unable to find a solid lead.

Early this year, Chisholm police approached the BCA about providing a sample of the DNA evidence to a company that analyzes public genealogy databases. This month the company identified Carbo as a potential suspect.

Carbo’s public defender, J.D. Schmid, declined comment Thursday.

Third family member dies

MAPLE GROVE (AP) — A third person has died of injuries that prosecutors say were inflicted with a pipe wrench by a mentally ill family member in Maple Grove.

David Ekers, 34, is charged with attacking his sister, Eleanor Ekers, his mother Linda Ekers and his grandmother Darlene Broste on July 8.

Broste, 86, died the next day. Eleanor Ekers, 34, died two weeks later, according to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office. Linda Ekers, 63, died this week, her husband, John Ekers, posted Wednesday on CaringBridge.org.

A criminal complaint says David Ekers admitted to trying to kill his grandmother, mother and sister because he believed the women wanted him to return to a psychiatric hospital or start taking his medication again.

His father told police of his son’s schizophrenia and about “a catatonic episode” the previous day, when he was unintelligible for 2 minutes. the Star Tribune reported.

David Ekers remains jailed on $1.5 million bail, with his next court appearance set for Aug. 4.