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Donna Lee Ingersoll has been missing since 1990
and is presumed deceased.
UPDATE July 2, 2014: A cold case team in Wabasha County has begun refocusing on Donna's 1990 disappearance. Read the Post-Bulletin article.
Missing Since: December 17, 1990 from Wabasha, Minnesota
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date of Birth: November 29, 1965
Age: 25 years old
Height and Weight: 4'11, 106 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian female. Blonde hair, green eyes. Ingersoll's right index finger is shorter than her left index finger. She has a cross tattooed on her right arm. She normally wears eyeglasses, but left them behind when she vanished.
Clothing/Jewelry Description: Blue jeans, boots and possibly a camouflage-print jacket.
Details of Disappearance
Ingersoll was last seen in Wabasha, Minnesota on December 17, 1990. She had been drinking alcohol and got into an argument with her boyfriend, Gary Murphy. She was last seen running out the back door of her residence at 11:45 p.m. Ingersoll has never been heard from again. She did not take her purse, vehicle or any money with her when she vanished. The temperatures in the area that night were very cold, and it is unclear whether she was wearing a coat.
An extensive search of the area turned up no indication of Ingersoll's whereabouts. Murphy committed suicide in the summer of 1991, but it is unclear whether his death was a result of Ingersoll's disappearance. One of her friends stated Ingersoll and Murphy had a good relationship; the friend does not believe Murphy would have harmed her. Foul play may have been involved in Ingersoll's case. It remains unsolved.
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact the Wabasha Police Department at
(651) 565-3261.
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Tom Retzlaff
From June 8, 2015:
WABASHA, Minn. (KTTC) -- Police in Wabasha said they've made progress in cracking the cold case of Donna Ingersoll who went missing 25 years ago.
After a weekend of combing the area for any sign of Ingersoll, Wabasha Police Chief Jim Warren said officers have found “items of interest.”
Those items, according to Warren, weren't significant enough to tell what they were, but have been sent to a lab for testing. Results are expected to come back later on Monday.
Either way, a local journalist says solving this mystery would bring closure to Wabasha. Mike Smith of the Wabasha County Herald covered the Ingersoll case when she first went missing in December of 1990.
"It was a big deal. People were nervous, you know. Someone's missing that was right here in town,” said Smith. "There were a lot of unanswered questions so people were talking about it."
Smith dug up the haunting headlines about her disappearance in the Wabasha County Herald's archives.
"I don't ever want to have us be the news, the newspaper of the community be the news that everyone's talking about unless it's really good. But it doesn't work that way. Sometimes bad things happen even in small communities,” he said.
Searches for Ingersoll back in the early 90s turned up nothing, but 25 years later, the search continues. Saturday, out of state volunteers as well as Wabasha authorities combed through 180 acres of land, searching for clues.
"I think the community, again, is just very grateful that people are willing to invest some time and a lot of hard work into finally bringing this thing to a closure if at all possible,” said Smith.
Twenty cadaver dogs and more than 60 in manpower turned up something. Although officials won't know the significance of the items until lab results come back, Chief Jim Warren calls it progress. Still, there's still a lot of ground to cover.
"Maybe they'll come up with something this time and put the whole thing to rest,” said Smith.
The history is in the headlines, but the answers may be hidden somewhere in the bluffs.