A 69 year old man's remains are found in the trunk of his car In the autumn of 1991, the community of Jamestown, North Dakota, was unsettled by the mysterious death of Joseph Anderson, a 69-year-old local businessman. Anderson was last seen alive on September 12, 1991, at a Ducks Unlimited banquet. Four days later, on September 16, a foul odor and what appeared to be blood stains on a 1979 Buick Riviera in the Gladstone Inn parking lot prompted a call to the police.
The vehicle belonged to Anderson, and what authorities discovered inside would launch a homicide investigation that remains open to this day.
Inside the trunk of his car, law enforcement found the decomposing body of Joseph Anderson. He was clad only in a pair of white Jockey underwear and had been covered with a green sheet that was later determined to have come from his own home. An autopsy revealed that Anderson had likely died within hours of his last meal at the banquet, though the exact cause of death was not publicly disclosed. Investigators found no signs of a struggle or disturbance at his residence.
Joseph Anderson was a prominent figure in the area, a self-made man who had invented and patented a hay grinder, eventually establishing a manufacturing plant in Jamestown that employed around 100 people. At the time of his death, he was reportedly exploring business opportunities outside of North Dakota. In the years following the discovery of his body, various rumors circulated throughout the community regarding potential motives and suspects. A year after the homicide, authorities acknowledged that they had some suspects but lacked sufficient evidence to bring forward any charges. No arrests have ever been made in connection with the death of Joseph Anderson, and the case has grown cold over the decades, leaving a lingering mystery in the small North Dakota city.
