Dakota Spotlight: True Crime & Cold Case Investigations

This Case Snapshot examines the 1990 murder of Robin Enockson in rural North Dakota. Beginning with an escape from a state hospital a decade earlier, the episode lays out the crime, the investigation, and how the case was ultimately resolved years later after a confession.

Archival news audio courtesy of the State Historical Society of North Dakota.

Produced by James Wolner. Research assistance by Mari Zoerb Hansen.

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Proudly produced by Six Horse Media: [email protected]

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All content in this podcast, including audio, interviews, and soundscapes, is the property of Six Horse Media. Any unauthorized use, reproduction, or rebroadcast of this material without the express written consent of Six Horse Media is strictly prohibited. For permissions or inquiries, please contact [email protected].
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Forty years after 22-year-old Kelly Jean Robinson was found floating in a gravel pit pond in rural Minnesota, her case had gone cold — until DNA tests taken by an adopted man revealed that Kelly was his biological mother, and she had been murdered.

In this episode, Dakota Spotlight is excited to share this story from our longtime friend Trisha Taurinskas. Her investigative reporting is meticulous, insightful, and deeply respectful of the families she covers.

Working with Kelly’s family, Trisha uncovered never-before-released information: new suspects, details from her autopsy, and new critical facts from an autopsy. To see images of Kelly, visit: https://www.inforum.com/people/kelly-robinson

Check out the full catalog and everything Dakota Spotlight: https://dakotaspotlight.com/

Get all episodes early, ad-free, and more. Subscribe to Spotlight PLUS: https://dakotaspotlight.com/spotlight-plus/

Sign up for the Dakota Spotlight newsletter: https://dakotaspotlight.com/newsletter/

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: https://facebook.com/groups/dakotaspotlight

X/Twitter: @dakotaspotlight

Instagram: @dakotaspotlight

TikTok: @dakotaspotlight

Bluesky: @dakotaspotlight.bsky.social

YouTube: @dakotaspotlightpodcast4800

Proudly produced by Six Horse Media: [email protected]

Advertise your podcast or brand in Dakota Spotlight episodes: [email protected]

All content in this podcast, including audio, interviews, and soundscapes, is the property of Six Horse Media. Any unauthorized use, reproduction, or rebroadcast of this material without the express written consent of Six Horse Media is strictly prohibited. For permissions or inquiries, please contact [email protected].
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James shares a Christmas message with Dakota Spotlight listeners. A moment to pause, say thank you, and reflect before the year comes to a close, with appreciation for everyone who listens, supports the show, and makes this work possible.
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In the season’s final chapter, Dakota Spotlight returns to Rapidan, Minnesota—to the classmates, friends, and families still living in the shadow of Ray Dahms’s murder. Host James Wolner traces the final years of Brian Lee Hendrickson, from later crimes and manipulation to his eventual downfall.

This episode also brings together two people whose lives he forever changed—Mark Hendrickson, the killer’s brother, and Michelle, one of his victims—for a conversation decades in the making. From courtrooms and archives to quiet Minnesota cemeteries, this conclusion reflects on truth, forgiveness, and the slow turning of justice.

A Dakota Spotlight true crime podcast rooted in investigative journalism, it’s a story about accountability, empathy, and how truth, though buried, endures.

Meanwhile in Mankato was written, researched, edited, and produced by James Wolner. Additional research assistance by Mari Zoerb Hansen.

Check out the full catalog and everything Dakota Spotlight: https://dakotaspotlight.com/

Get all episodes early, ad-free, and more. Subscribe to Spotlight PLUS: https://dakotaspotlight.com/spotlight-plus/

Sign up for the Dakota Spotlight newsletter: https://dakotaspotlight.com/newsletter/

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: https://facebook.com/groups/dakotaspotlight

X/Twitter: @dakotaspotlight

Instagram: @dakotaspotlight

TikTok: @dakotaspotlight

Bluesky: @dakotaspotlight.bsky.social

YouTube: @dakotaspotlightpodcast4800

Proudly produced by Six Horse Media: [email protected]

Advertise your podcast or brand in Dakota Spotlight episodes: [email protected]

All content in this podcast, including audio, interviews, and soundscapes, is the property of Six Horse Media. Any unauthorized use, reproduction, or rebroadcast of this material without the express written consent of Six Horse Media is strictly prohibited. For permissions or inquiries, please contact [email protected].
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By the early 1980s, Brian Lee Hendrickson was still working at the Minnesota Home School in Sauk Centre, supervising teenage girls. When one of them—Michelle—spoke up, she was dismissed as unstable and her accusation brushed aside. Hendrickson walked free again.

In this episode, Michelle tells her story, while Hendrickson’s brothers and Michelle’s husband reflect on how this could have happened. Dakota Spotlight revisits a Minnesota courtroom case where no one seemed to realize that the man on trial had already been convicted of murder years earlier.

Through careful investigative journalism, this true crime podcast examines how blind faith in rehabilitation allowed history to repeat itself—and how one survivor’s courage brings long-overdue clarity to a broken justice system.

Meanwhile in Mankato was written, researched, edited, and produced by James Wolner. Additional research assistance by Mari Zoerb Hansen.

Check out the full catalog and everything Dakota Spotlight: https://dakotaspotlight.com/

Get all episodes early, ad-free, and more. Subscribe to Spotlight PLUS: https://dakotaspotlight.com/spotlight-plus/

Sign up for the Dakota Spotlight newsletter: https://dakotaspotlight.com/newsletter/

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: https://facebook.com/groups/dakotaspotlight

X/Twitter: @dakotaspotlight

Instagram: @dakotaspotlight

TikTok: @dakotaspotlight

Bluesky: @dakotaspotlight.bsky.social

YouTube: @dakotaspotlightpodcast4800

Proudly produced by Six Horse Media: [email protected]

Advertise your podcast or brand in Dakota Spotlight episodes: [email protected]

All content in this podcast, including audio, interviews, and soundscapes, is the property of Six Horse Media. Any unauthorized use, reproduction, or rebroadcast of this material without the express written consent of Six Horse Media is strictly prohibited. For permissions or inquiries, please contact [email protected].
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