ST. CLOUD, MN — A Minnesota nursing student who survived a hammer attack and sexual assault in 1974 helped investigators identify Harvey Carignan, a serial killer tied to multiple women’s deaths and assaults.
Her identification in a photo lineup became a turning point in a case that linked Carignan to murders and attacks in Minnesota and Washington state.
Surviving the ravine and reaching help
The woman was 19 when she was abducted from a Sears parking lot on Sept. 14, 1974, beaten with a hammer and thrown into a deep ravine in rural Minnesota.
After surgery to repair her fractured skull, she was able to recall details of the attack. She said she kept trying to crawl out of the ravine, using her elbows and a fence to guide her through the farmland.
A 12-year-old boy later spotted her from a tractor and went for help. First responders took her to the hospital in an ambulance.
A photo identification that widened the investigation
When detectives showed her photos, she recognized Carignan and told them, “This is him.” She had remembered that he gave her his first name and the description of his vehicle, which helped police narrow the suspect list.
Her identification opened the door to additional cases. Investigators connected Carignan to at least three other women who were attacked with a hammer-like weapon. Eileen Hunley and Kathleen Schultz died, while one woman survived.
A woman from Duluth, Minnesota, also identified Carignan after a sexual assault in which he did not have the weapon, according to the account.
How the case reached back to Washington and Minnesota courts
The identification also tied Carignan to earlier cases in Washington state, including the 1973 murder of 15-year-old Katherine Miller and a possible role in the 1972 killing of 20-year-old Laura Leslie Brock.
Before his attempted murder trial in Carver County, Minnesota, Carignan pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. His defense presented a troubled childhood and mental illness, while he testified about his upbringing in North Dakota.
From North Dakota childhood to prison and appeal
Carignan was born in Fargo on May 18, 1927, and later spent nearly seven years at the Mandan Reform School after being sent away from home as a child.
He later joined the Army, where he was convicted of the 1949 assault and murder of Laura Showalter in Alaska and sentenced to hang. That conviction was overturned on appeal after his defense challenged how the confession had been obtained.
The ruling gave him another chance, and the 1974 attack on the nursing student became part of the final stretch of a spree that had already drawn a nationwide manhunt for “The Want Ad Killer.”
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