Overview

Last seen: November 12, 1987, at approximately 8:00 p.m.

Location: Marquip Inc., Phillips, Price County, Wisconsin.

Circumstances: Hansen was 23 years old and pregnant when she disappeared. She was last seen leaving work at Marquip. Her Dodge Omni was subsequently found at the Lake Ten/Lake 10 Resort or tavern about 11 miles south of Phillips. She was reported missing five days after her disappearance when she failed to report for a part-time job at the local IGA grocery store. Her remains have never been found.

Current status: The Price County Sheriff’s Office continues to describe the matter as an active, open investigation. Unsealed court records show investigators have treated the case as a first-degree intentional homicide investigation, although authorities have not publicly established that Hansen was killed.

Detailed Case Breakdown

Marchelle “Shelly” Hansen Disappearance: 1987 Phillips, Wisconsin Cold Case and Latest Investigation

Nearly four decades after 23-year-old Marchelle “Shelly” Hansen disappeared from Phillips, Wisconsin, her case remains open. Hansen was pregnant when she vanished in November 1987, leaving behind a mystery that has persisted for decades without the discovery of her remains or a criminal charge in connection with her disappearance.

Newly uncovered court records brought major details of the investigation into public view in 2026. Those records revealed that investigators had identified Hansen’s former supervisor, Michael D. Raskie, as a suspect years earlier and obtained his DNA through a search warrant. Raskie was never charged in connection with Hansen’s disappearance and died in 2015.

Brief Case Summary

Last seen: November 12, 1987, at approximately 8:00 p.m.

Location: Marquip Inc., Phillips, Price County, Wisconsin.

Circumstances: Hansen was 23 years old and pregnant when she disappeared. She was last seen leaving work at Marquip. Her Dodge Omni was subsequently found at the Lake Ten/Lake 10 Resort or tavern about 11 miles south of Phillips. She was reported missing five days after her disappearance when she failed to report for a part-time job at the local IGA grocery store. Her remains have never been found.

Current status: The Price County Sheriff’s Office continues to describe the matter as an active, open investigation. Unsealed court records show investigators have treated the case as a first-degree intentional homicide investigation, although authorities have not publicly established that Hansen was killed.

Marchelle Hansen Disappears After Leaving Work in Phillips

Marchelle Hansen, commonly called Shelly, was living in the Phillips area of northern Wisconsin in 1987. She worked second shift at Marquip Corp. and also held a second job at an IGA grocery store.

Hansen was pregnant when she disappeared. Letters she sent her mother indicate she intended to continue the pregnancy and expected the baby’s father to provide financial support and baby supplies. According to the letters described in later reporting, Hansen had agreed not to publicly identify the father.

On November 12, 1987, Hansen was seen leaving Marquip at approximately 8 p.m. She disappeared afterward.

Five days later, on November 17, her absence was reported to authorities after she failed to arrive for work at the IGA store.

Hansen’s Car Is Found at Lake Ten

Hansen’s vehicle, a maroon Dodge Omni, was found in the parking lot of the Lake Ten tavern/resort south of Phillips. Contemporary investigative records indicate the vehicle was there by the morning of November 13. The location was roughly 10 to 11 miles south or southwest of Phillips.

Public case summaries have long stated that investigators found no obvious signs of foul play in either Hansen’s vehicle or her residence north of Phillips on Highway 13.

The vehicle ultimately became an important piece of evidence. Investigators collected DNA swabs from it in 2006. Wisconsin Watch reported that the Wisconsin State Crime Lab identified DNA belonging to an unknown male. Samples from at least two other men were subsequently used to exclude them as the source.

Investigation Eventually Focused on Michael Raskie

Information made public in 2026 significantly expanded what was previously known about the investigation.

Wisconsin Watch obtained a previously sealed search-warrant affidavit showing that investigators had focused on Michael D. Raskie, a supervisor at Marquip who worked with Hansen. The court records identified Raskie as a suspect and indicated investigators believed he could have been the father of Hansen’s unborn child.

These are investigative allegations, not findings of guilt. Raskie denied having a sexual relationship with Hansen, was never charged with an offense related to her disappearance and died in 2015.

The records also contain statements from witnesses gathered over many years. One witness reportedly told investigators that Hansen and Raskie had been seen kissing. Hansen’s neighbor reported hearing an intense argument involving a man and woman from Hansen’s apartment shortly before she disappeared. Investigators also documented information from a witness who said Hansen had described the father of her unborn child as a married man with two children.

A Witness Account Revived the Cold Case

A significant development reportedly came in 2003, when a former Phillips police officer provided investigators with information about the night Hansen disappeared.

According to the search-warrant information reported by Wisconsin Watch, the former officer said he had seen Raskie’s vehicle in the parking lot of Hansen’s apartment building that night. The officer also reported seeing Hansen at a local bar after the time she was previously believed to have left work and disappeared.

Investigative activity increased in the years that followed. Raskie was interviewed three times during 2004 and 2005. Investigators collected evidence from Hansen’s vehicle in 2006, and the State Crime Lab detected unknown male DNA.

Investigators Obtain Raskie’s DNA

In 2008, investigators sought a search warrant compelling Raskie to provide DNA.

A Price County Circuit Court judge approved the request, and investigators obtained three swabs from Raskie’s mouth. The affidavit supporting the warrant laid out the evidence investigators had assembled and their reasons for seeking the sample.

One particularly significant detail remains unresolved publicly: the result of the comparison between Raskie’s DNA and the unknown male DNA recovered from Hansen’s vehicle has not been disclosed.

The unknown male DNA had reportedly been found on the left side of the vehicle’s steering wheel. Because the Price County investigative file remains closed to public inspection, Wisconsin Watch reported that the outcome of subsequent laboratory testing is not publicly known.

Obtaining a DNA warrant established probable cause for collecting the sample; it did not establish Raskie’s guilt. No criminal charge followed.

Searches Failed to Locate Shelly Hansen

Authorities conducted additional searches as the investigation continued.

Former Price County Sheriff Wallace Krenzke told Wisconsin Watch that deputies dredged Lake Ten and excavated multiple locations, including a garbage pit behind a residence that Raskie’s brother had rented near the Lake Ten tavern. Those efforts did not locate Hansen’s remains.

Hansen has never been found.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice continues to officially list her as a missing adult.

Latest Investigation Information

The most significant public development came in June 2026, when Wisconsin Watch obtained the previously sealed court records and published details of the investigation.

Those records confirmed that the Price County Sheriff’s Office had investigated Hansen’s disappearance as a first-degree intentional homicide and that Raskie had been identified by investigators as a suspect. They also revealed the 2008 DNA warrant and details of evidence and witness interviews that had not previously been widely known.

The disclosure did not result from authorities announcing a new charge or declaring the case solved. Raskie died in 2015 without being charged in connection with Hansen’s disappearance, and Hansen’s remains have never been recovered.

As of the latest publicly available information in 2026, the Price County Sheriff’s Office says Hansen’s disappearance remains an active, open and pending investigation. The Wisconsin Department of Justice has also cited the continuing investigation and potential criminal prosecutions when declining to release records.

Price County Chief Deputy Hawn told My Northern Wisconsin in 2026 that investigators were currently working on the question of DNA and modern technology, but the department did not disclose details of that work.

That leaves one of the most important forensic questions unanswered publicly: whether modern DNA testing, additional comparison work or other forensic techniques could identify the unknown male DNA recovered from Hansen’s car or otherwise help determine what happened to her.

The Search for Answers Continues

Marchelle “Shelly” Hansen disappeared in November 1987, but her case has not been closed.

What began publicly as the unexplained disappearance of a pregnant 23-year-old is now known to have developed into a homicide investigation in which authorities identified a suspect, conducted extensive interviews and searches, recovered unknown male DNA from Hansen’s vehicle and obtained a suspect’s DNA under a court-authorized search warrant.

None of those developments has produced a publicly announced resolution.

Authorities continue to seek information about Hansen’s disappearance. Anyone who remembers Hansen, the people she associated with, her activities around November 12, 1987, or circumstances surrounding her vehicle at Lake Ten is encouraged to contact the Price County Sheriff’s Office.