Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page E12

In a warehouse on the edge of Minneapolis, boxes filled with yellow and pink duplicates are stacked next to mounds of evidence: furniture, luggage, bicycles and Joseph prized red Epi- phone guitar. This is where Sgts. Jane Moore and Chris Karakostas look for answers. As the force behind the rejuvenated Cold Case Squad, they pore through old files and follow leads in cases that reached the limits of what science could and witnesses would tell them. Over time, though, labs have gotten better; people loosen their tongues, the Karakostas said, probably in that With the popularity of true crime stories such as the podcast and a the MPD is tapping into a cultural moment with the Cold Case Squad Since its launch last March, it has premiered slick videos about several cases on the new website, InsideMPD.

com The videos have a dual purpose: soliciting tips from viewers and boosting the image. is a visual Moore said. is on social media. Why not use it to our advantage as Karakostas landed in the Cold Case Squad after solving a case he had investigated years earlier, as a beat cop. In 1998, a young couple were killed in their apartment on Christmas Eve.

Karakostas never forgot it. After he doggedly pursu ed DNA testing that led to an indictment, the FBI funded a position within the MPD for him to investigate other unsolved cases. Since then, his desk, which he calls a has been overtaken by boxes from the evidence warehouse. Moore, who studied cold case units around the country, devised a system for methodically revisiting cases year by year digitizing evidence, unearthing new DNA samples, reinterviewing witnesses and searching for new clues. the Moore said.

a fresh murder happens, moving really quickly. On a cold case, at the beginning of the woods and just Cold cases rarely end with the satisfaction of putting a perpetrator behind bars, though. Karakostas estimates that only 1 percent of cold cases ever get closed, compared with 60 to 75 percent of current cases. But seeing the hope the work gives to families is enough. see the delight when a case is solved, that it does give these families some Moore said, what drives Barbara met Joseph at a show at the Prom Ballroom in St.

Paul. For them, music and romance always went together. Barbara worked the door at the touring gigs when she bartending at the Cabooze in Minneapolis. The couple married in Miami while the band recorded a third album. Instead of a ring, she bought him a Casio keyboard.

As star rose, the partying got harder, and Barbara and relationship frayed. They were living separately, but remained close, when Joseph was killed. our personal relationship ended up as, this man loved me more than any human has ever loved me in my Barbara said. After the funeral, an acquaintance told Barbara that if she left Joseph, still be alive. All these years later, she been able to forget the exchange.

know not true, but it stuck in my she said. need this to be solved, because I need it to go Barbara never understood why the case stopped in its tracks. Police say that there enough evidence and that they were inundated with homicides at that time. Barbara suspected it was the disappearance of Jacob Wetterling about two months later that eclipsed the publicity surrounding the slaying of a well-known musician. Only two stories in the Star Tribune touched on death in the days afterward; then, his name disappeared from headlines.

Now, because of a second look by the Cold Case Squad, a new of in the case. had Moore said. we need The efforts have given new hope to other survivors, including the family of Tina Slaughter The young North Side mother was stabbed in her home by a burglar in 1985. For her mother, Patricia Slaughter, the pain of death faded. something that you live with she said.

Around the 30th anniversary of death, her brother Courtney Slaughter rallied his family to press harder for answers. He and his brothers walked into MPD headquarters around Christmastime, when Moore happened to be working a night shift. The squad took on the case, and began retesting evidence from the scene. Just a few weeks ago, DNA tests revealed the presence of another person in home. Now the squad has something to go on.

That news is helping heal old wounds. The tragedy of put a little in the fabric of their once close family, Courtney said. during the last few weeks, gotten a little closer. all working together and talking a lot he said. kind of resembles that old family, before this The breakthrough was more than the Slaughters and police expected.

Solving a cold case is a delicate process that takes more of what these cases have already given: time. where your evidence and your interviews lead you is right back to the starting Moore said. But the squad has learned to find other ways to measure success. never feel like Moore said. I do feel like I did the best I could for this That might have to be enough.

Moore retired at the end of July, leaving Karakostas as the only detective who is devoted full-time to cold cases. (Other homicide detectives rotate into the squad when they have time.) Despite her retirement, Moore has vowed to continue working on the Behrend case for as long as it takes, because, she said, not something you want to let Joseph Behrend left the a few years before his death. Still, he had remained good friends with his former bandmates. Robert Wilkinson, the lead singer, remembers the classically trained keyboardist as a quirky character and a skilled cook who once whipped up Thanksgiving dinner in the RV while on tour. Their bond, forged from years of making music together, was unbreakable, he said.

Even in death. an exchange of energy that musicians and artists he said. when in a room creating music, that person is always with you. There will always be a part of him always inside of me, and in some of the music that I Since the Cold Case Squad picked up case, Barbara Behrend is closer to finding closure. Even if there are no charges, no trial, no killer put in jail, she is ready for the peace of mind that comes with knowing what happened.

sleep she said. be able to tell my friends OK. And know I did right by Moore and Karakostas admit that the case may never be closed. Until it is, beloved guitar strings broken, battered from blunt force will remain in a police warehouse, out of sight. Sharyn Jackson 612-673-4853 Cold case: Haunted by murder COLD CASE from E1 Photos by JERRY HOLT Sgt.

Chris Karkostas, left, is investigating Joseph death with the help of now retired Sgt. Jane Moore, who helped start the Cold Case Squad. They looked like rock stars: Singer Robert Wilkinson with that Beatle-y mop top, guitarist Johnny Rey and bassist Jody Ray with their Jeff Beck rooster hairdos, drummer Bob Meide with his I-could-win- a-Ringo Starr-look-alike-contest- except-for-my-shaggy-hair look. And then there was keyboardist Joseph Behrend, a visual outlier with his balding professorial vibe. It was 1977, and they called themselves Flamingo.

In an era when the punkish Suicide Commandos and the arty Suburbs were dominating the Twin Cities rock scene, Flamingo was the local new-wave band with the most commercial potential. Regulars at such clubs as the Longhorn, and the Union Bar, Flamingo got radio attention with the tune Remember Pioneering video maker Chuck Statler (Devo, Elvis Costello) directed a video of the song, which landed on MTV, and another clip of The story was that Flamingo got close to a record deal after a show at the Longhorn, but their manager let the big-time talent scout meet the band. Because a 1950s doo-wop group owned the name the Flamingos Only Have Eyes for the Twin Cities band was forced to find a new moniker, choosing the They flamed out in 1987 after the release of their fourth indie album, the under the moniker the In 1997, the reunited for the splashy Mill City Music Festival in Warehouse District, which also featured Ray Charles, Joan Jett and B.B. King. In 2005, the below-the-radar group delivered a solid new album, Live the Wilkinson and his latest incarnation of the still play the occasional gig none more significant than a 40th anniversary celebration at 9 p.m.

on Sept. 24 at Famous Uptown. More info at flaminohs.com. JON BREAM The live on CAN YOU HELP? Have information about the murder of Joseph Behrend or Tina Slaughter Submit a tip to MPD Tip Line at 612-692-TIPS (8477). To watch videos on current cold cases, visit insidempd.com/cold-case-files An early studio shot of the with Joseph Behrend, left, who was murdered in 1989.

Drummer Bob Meide died in 2010 at age 59 Barbara Behrend held a wedding day photo of her with Joseph. New forensic technology is being applied to evidence from his 1989 slaying, including the blood in the photo at left, leading to a new person of interest and reviving hopes that the mystery of the death will be solved. The two lone Star Tribune clips from Joseph 1989 murder. E12 STAR TRIBUNE VARIETY SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 2016.