Tom Bearson’s Murder Remains A Mystery 2 Years Later

MOORHEAD - Today (Tuesday) marks an anniversary no one wants to celebrate. It was two years ago that Sartell native Tom Bearson went missing from the NDSU campus in Fargo. His body was found three days later in Moorhead.

Bearson was just 18 years old, and was a freshman in college.  He graduated from Sartell-St. Stephen high school in the spring of 2014, where he was a standout athlete.

Moorhead Police Lieutenant Tory Jacobson says the case continues to weigh heavy on the officers in his department. And, he says this is far from a cold case.

Somebody's holding information and they're living with something very tragic and terrible. At this point we still continue to feel that we're moving slowly closer to hopefully one day being able to identify what exactly happened.

Jacobson says they never did find Tom's cell phone or one of his shoes. Jacobson says investigators remain active on the case, and it's still one of their top priorities.

In mid summer here they were in Sartell, as well as even in August, they continued to work with the BCA forensics with processing items that we are still waiting on. So this is I guess evidence that we continue to follow leads, follow up information, that point us more toward the truth of ultimately what happened.

Jacobson says they still haven't identified a person of interest, or a motive, in the case.

The case is a partnership with Moorhead Police, Fargo Police, NDSU, the Minnesota BCA, and the FBI.

A reward is available for anyone who helps solve the murder.

Jacobson says investigators continue to stay in contact with the Bearson family.

Meanwhile, the Bearson family has started a non-profit in Tom's name.  The Tom Bearson Foundation's biggest project so far is an $85,000 renovation of the St. Francis Xavier gym in Sartell.

The foundation held their second annual golf outing at Blackberry Ridge in Sartell back in July.