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In September 2006, Mindy Morgenstern, a senior-year Valley City State University student, was found dead in her off-campus apartment. Two of her friends found Mindy's body in a pool of blood when they decided to stop by her place after she failed to respond to their calls. Upon discovering the body, a belt was seen wrapped around the victim's neck.
A week later, DNA evidence collected from the crime scene led authorities to one of Mindy's neighbors, a corrections officer named Moe Gibbs. While investigating, it was revealed that Gibbs was not who he claimed to be and had a criminal record. Moreover, his DNA was also matched to an unsolved r*pe case. He was found guilty in 2007 and sentenced to life in prison.
Keith Morrison on NBC's Dateline is slated to narrate Mindy Morgenstern's case in an all-new episode this Friday, February 10, 2023. The two-hour episode, titled Who Killed Mindy Morgenstern?, will premiere on the channel at 9 pm ET.
The official synopsis of the episode states:
"A college town is left in fear after a student is murdered. Detectives investigate neighbors, friends, and boyfriends before they find the killer hiding in plain sight."
Trigger warning: This article contains mentions of murder and s*xual abuse. Reader's discretion is advised.
Valley City State University student Mindy Morgenstern was found strangled to death along with her throat slit
On September 13, 2006, a 22-year-old senior at Valley City State University named Mindy Morgenstern was found dead at her apartment, located off campus, where she resided alone. The body was found in a pool of blood at a grisly crime scene by two of her friends, Toni Baumann and Danielle Holmstrom, who stopped by her place, when she failed to answer their calls.
They found the door unlocked and the apartment pitch dark. Inside was Mindy, lying in a pool of her own blood on the floor with a belt wrapped around her neck. Terrified at the sight, the girls immediately alerted a neighbor, who checked the victim for a pulse while one of the friends called 911. Upon arriving at the scene, first responders pronounced her dead.
Medical examiners initially found evidence of stab wounds and strangling on the victim's body. Following an autopsy, it was confirmed that Mindy Morgenstern's cause of death was due to asphyxiation and severe cuts to her neck. In fact, the attack was so savage that the knife blade broke off and remained lodged in the victim's neck.
However, the autopsy found no signs of s*xual assault. An inspection of the murder scene confirmed that there were no signs of a break-in and that nothing had been taken from the apartment, including Mindy's handbag and phone, which were found next to her. Moreover, there was a strong stench of Pine-Sol, in which the victim's body was covered.
There were not many leads to work with initially. However, authorities managed to extract a foreign DNA sample of the material found under Mindy's fingernails from the crime scene, which was being tested by forensic experts. They then combed through all her neighbors and collected DNA samples to rule out potential suspects.
One of Mindy Morgenstern's neighbors was connected to her murder, who was later convicted
Authorities learned that one of Mindy Morgenstern's neighbors was Moe Gibbs. He was a corrections officer from the Barnes County Jail who claimed he spent the morning at home and had lunch with his pregnant wife. Following which, he packed and loaded boxes into the car since he and his family were about to move out of the building. Moe also mentioned the strong smell of Pine-Sol in the building.
Meanwhile, authorities focused on other suspects, including the boyfriend of her friend Toni Baumann and a stranger who allegedly stalked the victim at her workplace. Both were subsequently ruled out as suspects when the sample found under the victim's fingernails matched 34-year-old Moe Gibbs' DNA. However, this was also a match for the one related to an unsolved r*pe case from two years ago.
Authorities also learned that Moe Gibbs had previously been convicted in 1994 for about five years in an unrelated attempted premeditated murder case. He had later changed his name from Glen Dale Morgan Jr. Gibbs to Moe Gibbs and was arrested based on forensic evidence when a female inmate from the Barnes County Jail accused him of s*xual assault.
Moe Gibbs then pleaded guilty to six counts of s*xual assault and a single count of r*pe. While the r*pe conviction netted him a 12-year prison term, he also received a concurrent 15-year sentence for the s*xual assault charges in 2007. He was eventually convicted in Mindy Morgenstern's case during a second trial after an initial mistrial and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Dateline on NBC airs with a new episode this Friday.
