What Happened to Jan Kruse? Her Murder Is the Subject of a 'Dateline' Episode

What happened to Jan Kruse? The Minnesota resident was shot and killed in her mattress in 2015. More than 5 years later, the killing stays unsolved.

For more than 28 years, the correspondents on Dateline have been sharing human pastime stories, and the NBC series shifted to completely detail true crime cases in the early aughts.

Though the harrowing murders lined on the show are tragic, many episodes conclude with some sort of solution about a convicted killer.

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On the Dec. 4 episode, "Far from Spider Lake," Keith Morrison covers the 2015 murder of Jan Pigman-Kruse. While asleep in her Minnesota house, Jan Kruse used to be shot to loss of life. Though anyone did go on trial for the killing, the case stays unsolved. 

What happened to Jan Kruse? Continue studying for the key main points in the investigation. 

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What happened to Jan Kruse?

On Aug. 19, 2015, Jan Kruse used to be fatally shot in the chest in her Brewster, Minn. home. 

The 40-year-old mother was in mattress with her husband, Chris Kruse, when she was once shot two times with a shotgun, main the police to initially suspect that he was once involved. He used to be no longer injured right through the incident. 

Their teenage daughter, Bailey Kruse, used to be additionally home when the tragedy happened, and although she heard the shot, she used to be unharmed as neatly. 

While calling the police, Jan Kruse's husband indicated that the again door of the home used to be open. He also stated that anyone had come into the bed room to shoot Jan Kruse, however that he didn't see who that person used to be.

When the authorities arrived, they noted that there were damaged home windows at the home. This would beef up the idea that someone may have damaged in. 

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Nothing used to be taken, however, main investigators to imagine that Jan Kruse was targeted, and that the killing wasn't likely a robbery-gone-wrong. 

Prior to the murder, the Kruse circle of relatives's storage had mysteriously burned down too.

Eventually, the focus shifted to Chris Kruse, as no other seemingly viable suspects emerged. Some of his interview subject matter at the police station used to be inconsistent, and there was center of attention put on the nature of the 911 name.

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Plus, they found a shotgun (the sort of weapon utilized in the crime) at Chris Kruse's carpentry store, and the Okay-Nine unit could now not hint a scent of an outsider.

As for a purpose, the investigators had a principle. 

They realized that Chris Kruse and Jan Kruse had a need to buy the Spider Lake Resort, a place the place that they had vacationed before. But they could not have the funds for it, even with the loan that the financial institution used to be willing to give them.

Investigators decided that Chris Kruse's motive used to be his spouse's lifestyles insurance policy which, when cashed, would quilt the quantity needed to purchase the lodge. 

In 2019, Chris Kruse was once arrested on charges of first- and second-degree murder. But the case was some distance from over. 

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Where is Chris Kruse now?

After his initial arrest in March of 2019, Chris Kruse went on trial in early 2020. He was once represented by Steven Groschen and Thomas Hagen from the Kohlmeyer Hagen Law Office in Mankato, Minn. 

Following a two-week trial, the jurors deliberated for roughly 12 hours prior to acquitting Chris Kruse of the fees.

The defense argued that Chris Kruse was in shock while making the 911 name, which explained his demeanor and his incapacity to perform potentially life-saving procedures like CPR.

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They also mentioned that it could no longer be showed that the photographs got here from Chris Kruse's gun, or that he had sufficient time to stash it in his carpentry place of business ahead of calling the police. 

During the trial, Chris Kruse's prison workforce also offered up some other suspect: Bailey Kruse's boyfriend. They argued that he owned the same type of shotgun as the one used in the killing.

There have been no other arrests made in the murder of Jan Kruse. 

Chris Kruse is now Forty six years outdated, and he contributed to the Dateline episode about his overdue wife. 

The Dateline episode featuring the murder of Jan Kruse airs on Dec. 4 at Nine p.m. ET on NBC. 

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