NEW SALEM - Before people in New Salem found out the jury in the Moe Gibbs murder trial had been unable to reach a verdict, employees and customers at Farmer's Union Oil Co. thought that might be the outcome.

"We kind of thought that," said Rick Klatt, who was running the counter at the farm supply store Thursday afternoon. "It was taking too long."

Gibbs, 34, was on trial for the murder of Mindy Morgenstern, 22, a Valley City State University student from New Salem, who was found dead in her off-campus apartment on Sept. 13, 2006.

Klatt, who said he saw Morgenstern come into the store on occasion, said employees and customers had discussed the case in passing. They felt the jury must be having a hard time getting a unanimous opinion.

Marie Hanson, a relative of Morgenstern, said some parts of the trial have mystified her, such as defense attorney Jeff Bredahl's assertion that Morgenstern could have picked up Gibbs' DNA from using the same doorknob to get in the apartment building.

"You know, there were a lot of things that were brought up that make you wonder," she said. "But, I mean, DNA on a doorknob? Come on."

Hanson has felt Gibbs was guilty because of the DNA evidence against him, but she said many questions were raised by the trial that gave her room for doubt.

"I'd have hated to have been on the jury," she said. "I don't know one way or another."

Ashley Kunz said she and Morgenstern were friends since Kunz moved to New Salem in fourth grade. They played basketball together through high school, and Kunz joined Morgenstern as a student at Valley City State University after spending two years in Wahpeton.

Kunz got word of the jury's inability to reach a verdict from Morgenstern's brother-in-law, Jason Young, on Thursday afternoon.

Kunz said Young told her he was frustrated with the verdict but was hopeful a second trial in the case would go better. She said she was trying to keep that kind of an attitude about the situation.

"I was disappointed, but I'm trying to stay positive and keep thinking it's going to turn out the way it should," Kunz said.

Kunz's mother, Sandy, who keeps a photograph of her daughter and Morgenstern at Family Hair Care on Main Avenue in New Salem, said she heard about the jury's decision from the Morgenstern family.

"I just think God has a plan, and we're just not going to second-guess it," she said.

Hanson was filling in Thursday for the owner of The Field, a New Salem bar. At around 2:30 p.m., many of the bar stools were propped up on tables and Hanson had only one patron to wait on. She said she only has been filling in at the bar for a few days, and she has heard little talk about the trial.

"Everybody has just really been behind the family," she said.

Kunz described Morgenstern as "one of a kind," and Hanson said "she was a character."

Shyness was not a vice of Morgenstern's, they said.

"She wasn't shy," Kunz said with a smile. "She would say just about anything."

Hanson said she was beautiful, "inside and out."

"Mindy was a very friendly, outgoing young lady,"Hanson said. "She did have a lot of friends. Lots and lots of them, just because of her personality."

"There was nobody like her,"Kunz said. "Nobody will replace her and make an impact like she did."

Kunz said Morgenstern fit in well in her family and in New Salem. No one in the town ever mentioned anything about race when it came to Morgenstern, who was adopted out of Bogota, Colombia, by her parents, Larry and Eunice.

"There was no black or white issue,"Kunz said. "She was Mindy."

Kunz said she and Morgenstern would hang out most days once they both were in Valley City. Morgenstern always stayed in contact with friends and classmates and made a point to make everyone feel important, Kunz said. She said there was nothing fake about her friend.

"And I think that's why everybody loved her," she said.

Kunz said she and Morgenstern had been chatting online on Sept. 13, the day Morgenstern was killed, during Kunz's lunch break from student teaching. Kunz had to get back to student teaching, and their conversation ended at about 12:20 p.m.

"Then, later that night I got a phone call and found out she was killed," the slender, dark-haired woman said, her voice softening with every word. "That was tough."

When people heard about Morgenstern's death, they couldn't understand why something like that would happen, Hanson said.

"It was one of those things that was really unbelievable," she said.

Hanson is hoping for justice in the case against Gibbs.

"If the good Lord says he's innocent, he should be proven innocent," she said. "If he's guilty, he should be proven guilty."

"I would wish him luck, but I don't know if he deserves it," she said.

(Reach reporter Jenny Michael at 250-8225 or jenny.michael@;bismarcktribune.com.)