The body was found about 4:30 a.m. in a burning truck left in a remote section of woods in Sibley County. While authorities eventually identified the victim as Daniel Juarez, that is about the only thing investigators have been able to determine conclusively about the Dec. 6 killing of the 42-year-old Chaska businessman. "It is a big case for us," said Sibley County Sheriff Bruce Ponath, whose office last handled a murder more than 20 years ago. "Very unusual."
Ponath said he has several investigators on the case, as well as agents from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Carver County and, for a while, the Chaska police. Almost two months later, key questions remain unanswered -- most notably, what exactly was the cause of death?
The Sibley Sheriff's Office has refused to say how Juarez died or provide even a generic cause of death after an autopsy.
"We are doing what we think is best for the investigation," Ponath said.
Last week, the Sibley Sheriff's Office did go public with one announcement: It offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case. "Obviously, we're looking for more leads," Ponath said.
Juarez, who owned a satellite dish company and recently had started a Spanish language newspaper in Chaska, was found inside a burning DJ Satellite Service company truck in a wooded area about a mile northeast of Green Isle.
What the father of four children was doing in such a remote spot and whom he might have been with that night remains a mystery. Also unanswered is how someone could have killed him in such an isolated place and made a getaway without leaving a trail.
Although there is speculation that Juarez was shot and the truck burned to destroy evidence, Ponath won't talk about motive, possible suspects, or even if authorities are able to say how Juarez spent the last few hours of his life.
