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Tim Nelson
St. Paul

DNA leads authorities to charge burglar in 1987 St. Paul killing

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Lillian Kuller
Lillian Kuller, 81, was found dead in her Mac-Groveland home in St. Paul in 1987. Authorities now say they've solved the 30-year-old killing with the help of a DNA test.
Courtesy of Mark Kuller

Authorities on Thursday said they've solved the 30-year-old killing of Lillian Kuller, 81, who was found dead in her Mac-Groveland home in St. Paul. A new DNA test, they said, tied a burglar currently in prison to the crime.

Prosecutors charged Michael Anthony Withers, 58, with two counts of second-degree murder for killing Kuller. He was scheduled to be released from Stillwater Prison in October for his burglary conviction, Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said.

Officials said Withers was on their radar for the Feb. 1, 1987 killing but there was no evidence to link him. His name surfaced again during a cold case review several years ago, and more review over the past year provided more confidence that Withers was present at the crime scene.

The break, they said, came on Monday when DNA test results from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension came back showing the Y chromosome found beneath Kuller's fingernails matched Withers.

Choi and St. Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell praised the cold case investigators who kept digging.

"In St. Paul, we don't forget the victims of violent crimes, and we never will," Axtell told reporters, adding that it was still a somber day.

According to the complaint, officers found Kuller dead in her ransacked apartment with a pillow over her head. Despite evidence of a burglary, investigators weren't able to identify a suspect.

Lillian Kuller's grandson Mark Kuller described the charges as a "great relief to myself and my whole family. This is a sad day for me but it's so great, too."

He described his grandmother as a frail woman with emphysema who "probably weighed 90 pounds." He said he believed someone would eventually be held accountable. "I had good faith in the department because I think they hadn't given up on it."