US EditionProminent Duluth Woman's 1970s Disappearance Shed Light on Darker Things
Mary Chagnon vanished after leaving for a workshop; her fingerprint-free car was found in Minneapolis, and no charges were filed despite suspicions of foul play.
- On Aug. 23, 1973, Mary Brunette Chagnon did not arrive at a Twin Cities workshop, and her car was found days later in a downtown Minneapolis parking lot wiped clean of fingerprints.
- Chagnon built a public profile through antiwar and women’s liberation activism, serving as 8th District coordinator for the Minnesota Women’s Political Caucus and appearing with Mary Murphy and Rep. Donald Fraser.
- Long before Mary’s disappearance, Raymond Chagnon displayed violent episodes at a recycling center and attacked Jay Hess Jr., while later authorities linked him to a 1977 shooting and weapons with filed-off serial numbers.
- About a year later, Raymond Chagnon moved to Oakland and rented the Duluth home at 2811 E. Superior St.; Mary was legally declared dead by 1980, and they are in a joint burial plot at Union Hill Cemetery on his Jan. 28, 1982 death.
- The disappearance remained unresolved and revealed unsettling contrasts within the household, as the 1973 disappearance cast a long shadow and friends including Nancy Marschke believed something violent had happened to Mary Brunette Chagnon.
16 Articles
16 Articles
Post Bulletin
She was a pioneering feminist in the ‘70s who vanished. Then her car was found, wiped clean of fingerprints
DULUTH — A pioneering Minnesota feminist left her home to attend a conference in 1973 and was never seen again. While the circumstances point to foul play, no one was ever charged with or even accused of causing her death, and the wake of her disappearance revealed dark events that stood in stark contrast to her seemingly upstanding household. Mary Brunette Chagnon, 54, of Duluth, was scheduled to speak Aug. 23 of that year at a Twin Cities work…
Prominent Duluth woman's 1970s disappearance shed light on darker things
DULUTH — A pioneering Twin Ports feminist left her home to attend a conference in 1973 and was never seen again. While the circumstances point to foul play, no one was ever charged with or even accused of causing her death, and the wake of her disappearance revealed dark events that stood in stark contrast to her seemingly upstanding household. Mary Brunette Chagnon, 54, was scheduled to speak Aug. 23 of that year at a Twin Cities workshop on wo…
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