Danielle Jelinek - LOCATED DECEASED

[LadyBlue]

After a month, the tears are still close to the surface and come easily, none more so than when Danielle Jelinek's lilting and carefully preserved voice is heard in a digitally recorded storybook of "The Night Before Christmas," reading to her 4-year-old nephew.

"I love you, Cedar," it concludes, adding an affectionate pet name: "Love, Auntie Nunu."

The tears are Cory Jelinek's. She, her son and her 27-year-old sister lived together in Oakdale -- until Jelinek was reported missing on Dec. 9.

"A thousand things run through your head," Cory Jelinek said, describing the cruel dilemma of not wanting to extinguish flickering hope, yet trying to come to terms with a reality that is unknown.

"She's the last thing I think about when I go to bed, and the first thing I think about when I wake up," said Ed Jelinek, their father.

The person with whom Jelinek was last seen, Aaron Schnagl, 28, sits in the Anoka County jail, awaiting a court hearing next week in one of two drug cases in which he is now involved.
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[LadyBlue]

Searchers took to the air Monday in another daylong effort to find Danielle Jelinek, the 27-year-old Oakdale woman reported missing in Chisago Lake Township on Dec. 9.

Fresh snow more than a foot deep had made last week's efforts to find clues to Jelinek's whereabouts difficult, but rain and warmer weather reduced some of that snow cover. That prompted a decision to conduct some flyovers of targeted areas, according to the Chisago County Sheriff's Office. No clues were found, however.

A State Patrol helicopter had aided last week in an exhaustive search that included hundreds of volunteers fanned out throughout the township. Firefighters, deputies and other teams of investigators led searches over the weekend.

Jelinek was last seen at the home of an ex-boyfriend, Aaron Schnagl, in the 11200 block of 261st Street. He was charged on two drug counts after a search of the home, and was being held in the Anoka County Jail on a separate warrant for a probation violation. Authorities continue to receive leads as the investigation into Jelinek's disappearance reaches its 10th day.

More than 400 people gathered at Five Oaks Church in Woodbury on Monday night for a prayer service and candlelight vigil for Jelinek.
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[LadyBlue]

Danielle Jelinek Had Another Boyfriend

Missing woman Danielle Jelinek reportedly had another boyfriend at the time that she was at her on-again-off-again boyfriend's home -- just before she vanished. Aaron Schnagl (also Schnagel) has been reported in the media as the primary person of interest in her disappearance, but it doesn't seem that her other boyfriend has ever been mentioned until recently. Her sister mentioned it while talking to the media about her disappearance.

Cory Jelinek had a mouthful to say about Danielle's relationship with Aaron Schnagl -- who remains jailed on drug charges while the search for Danielle continues.

"I don't think she [Danielle] would ever call him her boyfriend. They were on-and-off friends. She had a boyfriend when this happened," she said. "She cared about him as a friend. She cared about everybody, but I know she didn't love him."

These details add new elements to the case that haven't been speculated upon before.
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[LadyBlue]

Dive team finds no sign of missing woman Danielle Jelinek

A Washington County dive team found no trace of Danielle Jelinek in their search of Bone Lake on Dec. 31.

Jelinek, 27, has been missing for a month. She was last seen Saturday, Dec. 8 in the area of Lofton Avenue and 261st Street in Chisago. Bone Lake is south of Chisago, between Forest Lake and Scandia.

Aaron Schnagl, who was jailed on unrelated drug charges, was the last person who reported seeing Jelinek. He said he saw her at his house on the morning of Dec. 9 after a night out in Minneapolis.

Jelinek works at the Wells Fargo in Maplewood and has been living with her sister and nephews in Oakdale.

Hundreds of volunteers have joined family, friends and sheriff's deputies in multiple organized search efforts. The Chisago County Sheriff's Office continues to follow-up on all leads and tips in this case.

Anyone with information on Danielle Jelinek's whereabouts is urged to call 651-674-8848.
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[LadyBlue]

Body found in swamp identified as Danielle Jelinek

Police have found the body of Danielle Jelinek in a shallow pond just one-quarter mile from the home where she was last seen more five months ago.

Searchers from the Chicago County Sheriff’s Office and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, who had intensified their searches in the area in recent weeks, on Friday pulled the body from among some reeds and partly submerged in shallow water near the home formerly owned by Aaron Schnagl, whom investigators have called a person of interest in the case.

Late Friday, the Chisago County medical examiner identified the body as Jelinek, who was 27 when she was reported missing Dec. 9. The female body was clothed and had no shoes, said Chisago County Sheriff Rick Duncan. And the body’s location near Schnagl’s house gave credence to the idea that it was the Oakdale woman, he said.

Before the body was identified, Cory Jelinek, Danielle’s sister, said family members were awaiting confirmation but believed their wait to find her was over.

“It’s just really bittersweet,’’ she said. “We want this. It’s honestly devastating to think of her having been there for six months.”

Friday’s effort began about 2 p.m. when a State Patrol helicopter began conducting searches of ponds around Schnagl’s former home. About an hour later, searchers identified what they believed to be a body.

Duncan said his office had never stopped searching in the months Jelinek has been missing. But only recently has the snow disappeared enough to raise hopes.

“Let’s face it. Mother Nature hasn’t cooperated from the get-go,’’ Duncan said. More than a foot of snow had fallen on the first day of the search, and then winter lingered on.

Jelinek grew up in Cottage Grove and graduated from Park High School. She lived in Oakdale with her sister and nephew. The day she disappeared, she said she was meeting a girlfriend. Instead, police say she went to meet Schnagl, described by family members as an infrequent friend who on several occasions had been physically abusive with her.

When Jelinek did not call family members, they contacted the Chisago County Sheriff’s Office, and when deputies arrived at his home in the 11000 block of 261st Street in Chisago Lake Township, they became suspicious and began a search. They found several of Jelinek’s personal items, including shoes, but no sign of her.

Schnagl has not been charged in her disappearance and had adamantly maintained he had nothing to do with it.

Chisago County District Judge John McBride sentenced Schnagl to 78 months in prison in February after he pleaded guilty to a charge of second-degree cocaine possession. The drug charges stemmed from searches of his home in the hours after Jelinek’s family reported her missing, then another search a few days later at a Ham Lake residence linked to one of Schnagl’s friends. As part of a plea agreement, two lesser charges of possessing and selling marijuana were dismissed, said Assistant Chisago County Attorney Jennifer Santoro Bovitz, who prosecuted the case.

Investigators have been unsuccessful in getting information from Schnagl in Danielle’s disappearance.

“He’s not cooperating,” Duncan said.
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