In the early morning hours of Easter Sunday, April 19, 1987, Vicki Arleen Sundgaard, a 23-year-old mother of two, vanished from Alexandria, Minnesota. She was last seen at a party on Cedar Street and has not been heard from since. The day after she was last seen, her car was discovered parked a few blocks away from the party's location. Inside the vehicle were her personal belongings, including her purse and an asthma inhaler.
This detail was particularly concerning to her loved ones, who reported that her asthma had been troubling her in the days before she went missing, and they felt it was highly unlikely she would have left her inhaler behind intentionally.
Vicki was a devoted mother to her two young sons, who were five and three years old at the time of her disappearance. Those close to her described her as being extremely close to her children and insisted that she would never have abandoned them. In the week leading up to her disappearance, Vicki had confided in her sister, revealing her intentions to leave her husband and move away from the area. She had described her marriage as tumultuous and expressed a lack of trust in her husband around their children due to his reportedly violent nature. While authorities did investigate her husband in connection with her disappearance, he is not considered a suspect.
The investigation into Vicki's disappearance has continued for decades, yet the case remains unsolved. A man named Michael Dale Benson, who was also at the party on the night Vicki was last seen, has been identified as a suspect in her case. Two years after Vicki vanished, Benson was convicted of raping another woman in Alexandria in 1989. He was subsequently incarcerated and later civilly committed to a hospital for life as a sex offender. While in custody, Benson reportedly admitted to other violent crimes but has consistently maintained his innocence regarding Vicki's disappearance and has never been charged in connection with it. The disappearance of Vicki Arleen Sundgaard is a case marked by troubling circumstances and the heartbreak of a family left without answers, centered on a young mother who vanished after a night out, leaving behind her children and essential medication in a manner her family believes she never would have done voluntarily.Last Seen: Apr 19, 1987
