STEVENS POINT, WI (WSAU-WAOW) — Investigators with the Portage County Sheriff’s Office have determined that a 1984 cold case death was accidental.
WAOW TV reports that Janet Raasch died after her sleeping bag caught fire while she was camping in the woods near Plover, just after she walked away from the UWSP campus after learning she was pregnant.
Investigators reopened the case in 2020 and using new technology they determined that the 20-year-old may have awoken to her sleeping bag engulfed in flames, flung it off her body, and attempted to get to a nearby highway for help. However, she may have stumbled and fallen.
Investigators noted that there was a zig-zag pattern of burned clothing near the campsite.
Her body was later found by hunters. It was initially thought that she may have been strangled, but forensic investigators noted there were no signs of trauma on her remains. Additionally, her shirt was still tucked into her pants.
It’s believed that she was trying to get to a larger city for an abortion but may have been revisiting the idea after a conversation with a stranger who tried to talk her out of it.
