Roseville police say they have identified a new person of interest in the unsolved killing of 22-year-old Susan Capistrant, whose nude body was found in an alley on April 8, 1987, and are asking for the public’s help to solve the case.
Detective Brady Martin said Friday they have evidence linking Capistrant to a deceased Roseville man Robert Osborne, who was born in 1963 and died in 1996.
Martin said he believes more than one individual may have been involved in Capistrant’s death and stressed that Osborne’s involvement is unclear.
The body of Susan Capistrant, shown here in her senior year picture from Alexander Ramsey High School, was found April 8, 1987, face down behind a Roseville grocery store and a dry cleaner where she had worked. Her death at age 22, a homicide caused by asphyxia due to neck compression, remains a cold case, a mystery, but very much active, according to police. (Pioneer Press file)
“We know Ms. Capistrant was in contact with Mr. Osborne on April 7 or 8, 1987,” Martin said. “We are seeking the public’s assistance in connecting the lives of Capistrant and Osborne.”
Other than being roughly the same age and both living in Roseville, police cannot find any connection between the two, said Martin, who was assigned to the case five years ago.
“If a member of the public knew these two individuals or saw them together, we are asking that they contact police,” he said.
He declined to share specifics about the evidence linking Capistrant with Osborne, who died in 1996.
“We don’t want to jeopardize the integrity of the case by revealing too much information,” he said.
An unknown caller
Capistrant spent the night of April 7, 1987, at a neighborhood bar, Patrick’s Lounge, at Larpenteur and Hamline avenues in St. Paul, with her brother and a male friend. Capistrant and the friend returned to the Capistrant family home in the 1300 block of Garden Avenue.
Shortly after midnight, Capistrant got a telephone call. Capistrant had a short conversation with the caller and then left the house around 1 a.m. The friend said he also left the house at that time.
Police were never able to determine who called Capistrant.
About six hours later, an 11-year-old girl walking to school happened upon Capistrant’s body in an alley behind Jerry’s Foods and where she worked, One-Hour Martinizing, along County Road B just west of Dale Street.
Investigators had little information to work with in the initial hours and days after the killing. No clothing or other belongings were with Capistrant’s body.
‘We want to solve Capistrant’s murder’
Capistrant’s death, a homicide caused by asphyxia due to neck compression, has remained a mystery, but very much active. Police have investigated more than a dozen possible suspects, interviewed more than 100 witnesses and scrutinized evidence in an attempt to retrace Capistrant’s final hours.
“There’s not a day that goes by that I’m not touching some aspect of the case,” Martin told the Pioneer Press in 2022.
The slaying has mostly stayed out of the public eye since the initial media reports. That changed, though, when the case wound up on social media. A Facebook page — “Who Killed Susan Elizabeth Capistrant?” — that went up in October 2020 has put a new type of spotlight on the case.
“I have been in contact with the Facebook group organizers providing as much information as I can,” Martin said. “Roseville Police has also continued to investigate the case, combing through evidence and files. We want to solve Capistrant’s murder and give her family and the community closure.”
Cases like these are often solved by information “that someone deems too small or inconsequential to provide,” he said, adding the public should call 651-792-7008 or email rvpoliceinvest@cityofroseville.com to provide any information they have.
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