It was a brutal crime that shocked Aitkin County back in February 1998, when 84-year-old Evelyn Malin was found murdered in her home connected to the Dollar Lake Store that she owned outside of McGregor.

Last week, Minnesota’s Attorney General’s Conviction Review Unit announced that 62-year-old Brian Pippitt’s murder conviction should be vacated and the charges against him dismissed.

“During the CRU’s investigation into the credibility of the key witnesses’ recantations, the CRU discovered that the prosecutor’s theory of the case, including how the defendants allegedly entered and exited the building, was implausible and that key evidence tending to exonerate Mr. Pippitt was overlooked,” according to the report.

“It just opened wounds,” said Mary Malin, the victim’s daughter-in-law who learned of the development last week. “If there’s such compelling reason to exonerate him, to put him back out on street, then why did it take this many years.”

Pippitt was convicted of first-degree murder in 2001 and sentenced to life in prison.

At the time, the Aitkin County Attorney alleged Pippitt and other men burglarized the store for cigarettes and beer and killed Evelyn in the process, according to a news release from the AG’s office.

The Minnesota Attorney General’s Conviction Review Unit found “…a series of problems which resulted in his wrongful conviction.”

“To me it’s just unbelievable,” Malin said of her initial reactions to the development.

The AG’s Office added that it appeared the crime scene was “staged” and that key witnesses have since recanted their stories.

There is a new Aitkin County Attorney in office who did not prosecute the case.

The County Attorney’s Office must now respond in a matter of days to Pippitt’s lawyers’ recently filed petition asking the court for his release.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS made numerous attempts to the Aitkin County Attorney’s Office for comment in the case.

In the many years since the murder, Mary Malin said she’s always wondered why her loved one was killed.

“Why she had to give her life,” Malin said. “Why and so brutally, why?”

And the latest development regarding the case, Malin said only adds more questions.

“I don’t believe in putting anyone away if they shouldn’t be, they shouldn’t be in prison,” Malin said. “But then that system needs to be better to begin with, if it’s that broken.”

The CRU staff spent more than 1,100 hours reviewing the case, according to the AG’s Office.