June 15, 2015

Reward Announced in 2014 Murder Case

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The FBI is announcing a $5,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest in the murder of Theresa Dashewich, a 47-year-old woman who disappeared from a Montana truck stop a year ago and whose body was found several days later and 375 miles away in a culvert off a South Dakota interstate highway.

The Bureau’s reward is in addition to the $5,000 reward being offered by the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, the lead investigating agency. South Dakota officials requested the FBI’s operational assistance in identifying the person or persons responsible for Dashewich’s death because of the interstate nature of the case. The case was also added to our Highway Serial Killings Initiative, through which we assist on investigations involving violent crime victims with some nexus to our nation’s highways.

Dashewich, an Ohio native who led a transient lifestyle and often frequented truck stops, was last seen in the early morning hours of June 14, 2014, talking to truck drivers outside a Flying J truck stop in Billings, Montana. She was wearing a gray t-shirt, navy sweatpants, and white tennis shoes, and she carried a duffel bag. At approximately 8 a.m. on June 14, 2014, a person resembling Dashewich was observed walking away from the Flying J toward the eastbound on-ramp of Interstate 90. Her body was discovered on June 17 along I-90 by a passing motorist—she had been beaten to death, and investigators believe she had been held against her will, possibly in a large vehicle.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324), or contact the nearest FBI field office or American Embassy or Consulate. Help bring closure to the victim’s family and the responsible perpetrator(s) to justice.