28 October 2023
KITTSON COUNTY, MINN. Becky Jo Look’s disappearance wasn’t widely known, even in her own rural Minnesota county.
The 41-year-old told friends in October of 1995 that she was planning to leave her home in Halma, in Kittson County, for a future in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Yet her plans weren’t yet set in stone, and friends and family members became concerned when they hadn’t heard from her in months.
She never said goodbye and that wasn’t like her.
Four months after she was last seen on Oct. 1, 1995, Look was declared a missing person.
The hunt to find her and what happened to her has taken investigators on a chase around the Northern Minnesota county.
Multiple farm sites have been excavated, and cadaver dogs have been unleashed. Yet the chase has only unveiled more questions than answers.
Investigators do believe one thing, though: Look’s remains are likely in Kittson County.
A cold case revisited
Look’s disappearance went unnoticed during the first critical days, weeks and months.
When she was reported as a missing person, the case didn’t receive a critical eye from investigators. It wasn’t picked up by media outlets, either.
In a sense, there was no initial investigation into her disappearance.
She had, after all, told friends she was moving to New Mexico.
Yet Look’s friends and family members knew she hadn’t arrived in New Mexico. They believed foul play was involved.
They pleaded for help, yet received nothing.
More than a decade after she went missing, Look’s family member called the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to check in on the case.
Just before that call was made, a new Kittson County investigator, then-Chief Deputy Sheriff Matt Vig, had just combed through Look’s case file.
“I came across it in the sheriff’s office when I was going through old files,” Vig said in a 2020 Grand Forks Herald interview. “It was just ironic that I had actually just read through the case file. Then about a week later, a BCA agent calls me and says, ‘hey, I got a call from a family member regarding the Becky Jo Look case.'”
With fresh eyes on the case, investigators began to piece together failures in the initial investigation. They also began to follow up on tips.
There were a lot of tips.
More than 60 interviews were conducted throughout the course of the renewed investigation.
One of those interviews led investigators to at least two rural Kittson County farm sites.
https://youtu.be/H6gEA5lA4hc?si=P8uJRNrlRsiHOsla Searching the farm
In August 2018, the Kittson County Sheriff’s Office unloaded a backhoe onto a rural farm property outside of Karlstad, Minnesota.
The Sheriff’s Office made the call to dig up portions of the farm because of “compelling information” that came up during their investigation, according to an Associated Press article from 2018.
The compelling information came from a mother who claimed her son, Christopher Nelson, told her while intoxicated that Look’s body was located on a rural farm site in Kittson County, according to The Grand Forks Herald.
The farm site belonged to Nelson’s father.
Nelson had died before his mother reported what she heard to Kittson County investigators.
Nelson claimed he helped another man hide Look’s body in a rock pile, located on the property outside of Karlstad.
Based on the information provided, investigators believed they would uncover Look’s body and put an end to the cold case that had remained unsolved, at that time, for more than two decades.
The excavation did not turn up a body, though.
Animal bones were uncovered, although lab analysis ruled out any association to Look.
That was a blow for Vig, who had devoted himself to finding answers related to his case.
In the aftermath of the unsuccessful excavation, Vig and his team admitted that the case would likely go cold again.
Unless someone were to come forward with answers.
Along with Look’s two daughters, Vig asked the public to turn over any information they may have however big or small. They turned to Facebook, with a video.
“Despite our efforts and that of the authorities over the years, we’ve never had an answer,” the daughters said in the Facebook video.
Their plea to the public worked. They did receive a tip.
The tip led investigators to another rural farm property, which belonged to Nelson’s stepfather.
The site was thoroughly searched with backhoes and cadaver dogs.
Again, the dig did not turn up any answers. Bones were found at the site, but were determined to be animal bones.
At this point, Vig and his team have exhausted all leads in this case.
Now, it comes down to someone coming forward with credible information.
Anyone with information is urged to call the Sheriff’s Office at 218-843-3535.
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