In March 2024, a 77-year-old man from Crystal, a suburb of Minneapolis, was charged in the case. Prosecutors accused him of hiding the slippers.
Crystal police said the slippers “had been buried in the back yard of a residence in Crystal” for years.
The man agreed to plead guilty. But on March 16, 2025, before he could, he died. The charges were dismissed.
Exactly who held the slippers through all those years, and where, has never been made fully clear.