In June 2020, Linda Dane learned her brother Gary Herbst’s skull — found by a dog in rural Barron County, Wisconsin — had finally been identified. Gary, 57 when he vanished in 2013, had been a loner with few recent family contacts; the DNA Doe Project’s genetic genealogy work in 2019–2020 connected remains found in 2017 to his family.
Gary’s wife, Connie, had told Linda in 2013 that Gary left — “grabbed a suitcase” and got into an older gray Honda — but she didn’t report him missing to police. At Linda’s urging, Connie eventually filed a missing-person report with the Elko New Market, Minnesota, police, though details in that report would later conflict with other statements.
Barron County detectives, working from the DNA identification, tracked down Connie and their son Austin at the retirement community where both worked. Both were stoic when told a possible identification had been made. Investigators noted inconsistencies in their accounts: Connie initially said she was home when Gary left, later claimed she was at the library; she first didn’t mention a missing firearm, then said her .40 caliber pistol was gone. Austin’s story shifted too — from saying his father left with an unknown driver to later describing a heavily tattooed man as the driver.
Investigators canvassed the Herbst neighborhood and found neighbors who remembered Gary well — often describing him as mean, confrontational, and sometimes frightening. Several neighbors told police that on a stormy night around the time Gary disappeared they saw a truck backed up to the Herbst sliding glass door and watched Connie and Austin unloading large garbage bags and a rolled-up carpet into the truck. The neighbors later saw the couple acting unusually cheerful, holding a yard sale selling men’s clothing, tools and ammo, and walking the neighborhood offering cookies. Many neighbors, however, admitted they didn’t report what they’d seen because they considered Gary a menace.
Detectives later obtained a search warrant for the family’s former home. The new homeowner showed investigators a large reddish stain on the bedroom wall. A cadaver dog, Radar, alerted strongly in the garage area and at the sliding glass door; luminol testing produced reactions consistent with blood in the areas the dog indicated. Those findings intensified investigators’ suspicions that Gary had been killed inside the house.
Connie and Austin were interviewed multiple times. Both agreed to polygraphs arranged with FBI involvement; investigators said Connie showed no signs of deception while Austin displayed indicators of deception. FBI agents pressed Austin, who altered and expanded his story across interviews, offering at times the tattooed stranger explanation and at others claiming ignorance. Investigators described rehearsed responses and contradictory details, but lacked direct evidence tying them to a homicide until the accumulation of neighbor testimony, canine and luminol evidence, and interview inconsistencies persuaded prosecutors to act.
On Nov. 19, 2020, police arrested Connie, then 62, and Austin, then 26. Austin ultimately confessed in interrogation: he said that on July 8, 2013, after an argument between Gary and Connie, he retrieved a pistol from under the couch, walked into the living room where Gary lay half-asleep, pointed the gun and shot him in the head. He told investigators he “ended the problem,” then wrapped his father’s body in a rug, placed it in the trunk, and with his mother drove into Wisconsin and dumped the body in a field near trees, believing wildlife would scatter the remains. Gary’s skull was found by a dog in 2017.
Austin described long-term emotional and physical abuse by his father, recounting episodes of violence and terror beginning in childhood. He said he feared for his and his mother’s lives and believed killing Gary was the only way to protect them. In interviews and on camera for a “48 Hours” segment, he expressed remorse and said the act changed him irrevocably, though he also acknowledged feeling relief at being freed from fear.
Prosecutors disputed claims of documented abuse, noting no contemporaneous reports, medical records, or other evidence corroborating Austin and Connie’s later allegations. They argued the killing did not meet the legal standard for self-defense, because Gary was asleep on the couch and there was no immediate threat at the moment Austin shot him. Facing a circumstantial but persuasive case, prosecutors offered plea resolutions: Austin pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in exchange for a negotiated sentence; Connie pleaded guilty to aiding an offender — accomplice after the fact.
At sentencing in June 2021, prosecutors urged a harsh penalty, citing the brutality and callous disposal of the body. Judge Caroline Lennon, however, found Austin’s claims of fear credible and that he felt obligated to protect his mother. She sentenced Austin to 12 years and six months, with eligibility for release in 2029. Linda Dane and some others felt the sentence was light; prosecutors warned that accepting alleged abuse as a justification without corroboration could set a dangerous precedent. Connie received a two-year, three-month sentence under Minnesota guidelines but ultimately served three months and was released in May 2022.
The case left unresolved questions. Prosecutors said they never saw evidence of the abuse described after arrests and noted that Connie’s whereabouts at the time of the shooting could not be independently confirmed; some prosecutors wondered whether she might have played a more active role than she admitted, though Austin insisted his mother did not pull the trigger. Neighbors remained divided: some viewed the couple’s actions as understandable given Gary’s behavior, others were disturbed by the manner of the killing and the disposal.
The identification of Gary’s remains hinged on genetic genealogy work by the DNA Doe Project, which used DNA from the skull to build family connections that led investigators to the Herbst family. That identification reopened a matter that had lain dormant for years and ultimately led to arrest and plea resolutions based on the totality of witness accounts, canine and chemical evidence at the former home, forensic interviews, and Austin’s confession.
In the small town where the killing occurred, reactions ranged from sympathy for Connie and Austin to belief that justice had not fully accounted for the wrongdoing. For Linda Dane, the discovery brought both relief at knowing what happened and sorrow that it took so long — and that a brother’s life ended the way it did.
