Did You Know This Moose Lake Murder Was On Forensic Files?
If you are into true crime, you've likely watched Forensic Files at some point. The long-running television show has featured so many crime stories over the years from famous to cases that have flown under the radar.
There are many shows just like, too. One of the most famous examples of a similar show is Unsolved Mysteries. Of course, nothing is resolved at the end each episode but that show highlights crime cases big and small.
They recently revived Unsolved Mysteries for Netflix and at the end of one of the new episodes, they highlighted a case that made headlines in Pine City. Pine City is just about an hour from the Twin Ports.
The episode was about two child abductions that happened just months apart back in 1989. At the end of the episode, they shed some light briefly on a few similar cases like the one near Duluth. Aaron Anderson disappeared from his backyard the same year as the cold case featured on the episode and his family thinks he could still be alive today.
Sadly, that is not often the case on a show like Forensic Files. I was watching a few random episodes of it just the other day when an episode started playing and I realized it was centered around a case from right here in the Northland.
The episode is called "Tooth Or Consequences" and centers around the murder and disappearance of Katie Poirier in 1999. The episode is pretty chilling right from the start, kicking off with security camera footage of the then 19-year-old as she was abducted from the gas station where she worked in Moose Lake.
Security footage from inside the store caught a man coming in just before midnight and forcing her out into the parking lot. There were no cameras outside so that is all the police have to work with in terms of video.
Someone passing by after the abduction noticed that the store was empty and thought it was strange so they called the cops. From there, the episode follows investigators as they gather clues and eventually arrest Donald Blom for the kidnapping and murder.
By the way, this all happened at a Conoco store in Moose Lake, which is a short drive from Duluth. I remember hearing about the case growing up and being spooked when my family would drive past the exact store she was abducted from.
The episode also name drops Duluth within the first minute, which makes sense since it is the most famous city within the vicinity of Moose Lake. It is pretty neat to see law enforcement from our area solve the case, even though it had a tragic ending.
I won't get into the gruesome details of it all, as the details of the case are very graphic, but if you want to learn about the case, you can watch the episode. It is about twenty minutes long and was featured on season seven.
Episodes are available on Hulu and Peacock but not every single episode of every season. You can also find most episodes on YouTube, as is the case with this one.
By the way, Blom is now in a maximum security prison in Stillwater, just a few hours from Duluth. This case was also covered on a similar show called Extreme Forensics, along with a handful of others.
This isn't the first time Forensic Files has featured an episode around a case from the area. The 2001 murder of Eric Schrieffer was the centerpiece of one episode. He was 27 years old at the time of his death, which happened after a house party turned violent.
The case is devastating but the episode is moving in that you can tell the law enforcement officials in Duluth really cared about getting to the bottom of what happened and making sure the case didn't go cold.