Crime podcast examines unsolved 1985 murder of Burnsville college student in New York state

The 1985 slaying of a 20-year-old Burnsville college student who was killed walking home from a party in New York state is the subject of a podcast released this month, according to producers.

An episode of “Method and Madness,” a true-crime podcast, will focus on the death of Kristin O’Connell, who was slain in Ovid, N.Y., while visiting a friend. She vanished after leaving a party to go for a walk. Her nude body was found two days later in a cornfield a quarter mile from the friend’s home. Her throat was slashed.

The investigation into O’Connell’s killing has made headlines after crime investigators blamed the New York Health Department for blocking efforts to use a sophisticated DNA technique to try to solve the murder.

State police said they were promised funding from the county to hire a D...