Star Tribune
Anonymous donor offers $10K reward to find who killed St. Paul woman in 1988
An anonymous donor is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to finding whoever killed a young mother 35 years ago in her St. Paul home.
Someone entered 23-year-old Cheryl Prokop’s home at the Vista Village Townhomes in the 600 block of Kansas Avenue and strangled her overnight on Dec. 2, 1988.
Prokop’s 4-year-old daughter, Katy, found the body later that morning and went to the apartment caretaker’s office to report what she had seen.
The St. Paul Police Department and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) said Friday they have been actively investigating the killing since it happened, but no information has led to anyone responsible for Prokop’s death.
“We’ve waited for 35 years to understand why Cheryl was killed and who did it,” her father, Dick Prokop, said in a statement accompanying announcement of the anonymous donation. “Nothing can bring her back, but maybe this reward will help lead to some answers. If you know what happened, please report what you know.”
Drew Evans, superintendent of the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), said, “Despite decades of forensic and investigative efforts, available evidence has not led us to the person or persons responsible for Cheryl’s death. But we’re continuing to work this case and are hopeful the reward will result in new information.”
St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry added, “We as a department never forget victims and their families who are left behind seeking answers. We will continue to seek those answers and are committed to providing closure for families and bringing every offender to justice.”
Police back then said Prokop’s daughter reported seeing one or two intruders that night.
Homicide detectives said they suspect that whoever killed Prokop likely entered through a ground-level window that was found pushed out. Entry also could have made through an unlocked door, a police lieutenant added.
Police saw in the West Side apartment signs of a struggle. Her body was found in a hallway. She appeared to have been strangled with a curtain-type cord.
Prokop was a 1984 graduate of St. Paul Humboldt High School and was enrolled at the time of her death in a medical secretary program at what is now called St. Paul College. She was months away from graduating.
If a tip leads to an arrest and conviction in this case, the anonymous donor will pay the reward in coordination with the family and law enforcement.
Anyone with information about who is responsible for Cheryl Prokop’s death is urged to contact the BCA at 877-996-6222 or at bca.tips@state.mn.us. Tips can be provided anonymously.
Amid the cacophony and chaos of the pregame preparation before a recent Minnetonka High School football game, an exceptional group of six girls is gathered together among the school’s deep and talented cheerleading and dance teams.
The cheerleaders, a national championship-winning program of 40 girls, dot the track around the football field. As the clock ticks down to kickoff and their night of choreographed routines begins, the six girls, proudly wearing Minnetonka blue T-shirts emblazoned with “Skippers Nation” and shaking shiny pom-poms, swirl around the track, bristling with excited energy.
Their circumstances are no different from any of the other cheerleaders with one notable exception: The girls on this team have special needs.
They’re members of the Minnetonka Sparklers, a squad of cheerleaders made up solely of girls with special needs.
A football game at Minnetonka High School is an elaborate production. The Skippers’ recent homecoming victory over Shakopee brought an announced crowd of 8,145. And that is just paying attendees; it doesn’t include school staffers, coaches, dance team, marching band, concession workers, media members and others going about their business attached to the game.
The Sparklers program, now in its 12th season, was the brainchild of Marcy Adams, a former Minnetonka cheerleader who initiated the program in her senior year of high school. Adams has been coach of the team since its inception, staying on through her tenure as a cheerleader at the University of Minnesota.
She started the program after experiencing the Unified Sports program at Minnetonka. The unified sports movement at high schools brings together student-athletes with cognitive or physical disabilities and athletes with no disabilities to foster relationships, understanding and compassion through athletics. Many Minnesota schools offer unified sports.
“I grew up in a household that valued students with special needs and valued inclusion,” Adams said. “I saw a need to give to those students. At Minnetonka, we have a strong Unified program, and this was a great opportunity to build relationships and offer mentorship opportunities.”
Elite runners are in a league of their own.
To get a sense of how far ahead elite runners are compared to the rest of us, the Minnesota Star Tribune took a look at how their times compare to the average marathon participant.
The 2022 Twin Cities Marathon men’s winner was Japanese competitor Yuya Yoshida, who ran the marathon in a time of 2 hours, 11 minutes and 28 seconds, for an average speed of 11.96 mph. He averaged 5 minutes and 2 seconds per mile.
That’s more than twice the speed of the average competitor across both the men’s and women’s categories, of 5.89 mph, according to race results site Mtec. The average participant finished in 4 hours, 26 minutes and 56 seconds. That comes out to an average time of 10 minutes and 11 seconds per mile.
And taking it to the most extreme, the fastest-ever marathon runner, Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya, finished the 2023 Chicago Marathon in 2 hours and 35 seconds, for an average pace of about 13 mph. Kiptum averaged 4 minutes and 36 seconds per mile.
Here is a graphic showing these differences in average marathon speed.
The school said in its lawsuit that both Hugo and May Township consider the land rural residential zoning, and that the codes identify a school as a conditional use. Hugo officials have generally supported the LCA plan, granting a building permit in 2022 that allowed LCA to invest $2.1 million into the former Withrow school for renovations.
The school said in its lawsuit that the existing septic system is failing and needs to be replaced, regardless of expansion plans.
The school said it notified neighbors of the property in 2022 and again in 2023 about its land purchase. About 50 residents in total attended those meetings, and just two expressed concerns over the issues of traffic and lights, according to the suit. The school met with the May Township board in May of 2023, and minutes from that meeting show that the board had no concerns beyond lighting at the time, according to the suit. The board asked if the school could use “down lighting” for its athletic fields and the school said it would.
In June, Hugo City Council approved a conditional use permit for the school, but the May Township board voted to extend the decision deadline to early August.
The suit says it was at a subsequent meeting in July that May Town Board Chairman John Pazlar objected to the plan for the first time, saying “the main concern, based on public comment, is to keep Town of May rural.”
The school said its plans for the May Township portion of its property had been submitted eight months prior to the July meeting, and that its plans met requirements of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
