One case changed everything. Twenty years later, Special Agent Mike Anderson is paying it forward.

When Special Agent Mike Anderson talks about how he ended up at the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), he does not start with a badge. 

He starts with stories. 

The stories that started it all 

Growing up in Waterville, Mike spent much of his childhood around his father’s auto body shop and towing business, where interactions with law enforcement officers, firefighters and first responders were a regular part of life. His father also volunteered with the local fire department, and conversations with the officers who stopped by often centered on helping people, solving problems and serving their communities. 

“And cops tell stories,” Mike says with a laugh. 

Those early experiences sparked an interest in law enforcement that stayed with him through college and into a career that began in southern Minnesota in the early 1990s. He worked as a patrol officer in Janesville, served part time with the Le Sueur County Sheriff’s Office, later joined the Waseca Police Department and eventually became a narcotics investigator. 

Along the way, he discovered something about himself. 

“My niche was investigations.” 

The investigation that defined a career 

One case in 1999 changed the course of his career forever. 

When a 12-year-old girl was found murdered in Waseca, Mike was one of the first investigators called to the scene. The city had never experienced a documented homicide. What began as a local investigation quickly grew into one of the largest in the area’s history — bringing together investigators from surrounding agencies and the BCA. 

“I wasn’t very familiar with the BCA at the time,” Mike recalls. “I knew they did training and some narcotics work, but I never imagined it as a career.” 

Over the weeks and months that followed, he watched experienced BCA agents lead a complex investigation with professionalism, patience and a willingness to mentor local investigators. 

“Looking back, that’s what shaped me as an investigator.” 

Months later, while investigating a series of residential burglaries, a suspect led investigators to evidence connected to the homicide. Through forensic work conducted at the BCA laboratory, investigators were able to link that evidence back to the case, reinforcing for Mike the critical role science, collaboration and persistence play in solving violent crimes. 

The experience solidified a new goal: he wanted to become a BCA agent. 

His first opportunity did not work out. Accepting the position would have required relocating his family to northern Minnesota, so he withdrew from the hiring process. 

A few years later, after presenting the homicide investigation at a conference, Mike found himself sharing a ride back to his hotel with then-BCA Deputy Superintendent Tim O’Malley. During the drive, the conversation turned to Mike’s decision to withdraw from the hiring process and his continued interest in joining the BCA. 

Several months later, a homicide investigator position opened in Mankato. 

It was everything the first opportunity was not. Mike could continue doing the work he loved while remaining close to home, which meant his wife could keep her job and his son could stay in his school. 

He applied, and this time, everything lined up. 

Mike joined the BCA in March 2006 and has spent the past two decades investigating homicides across southern Minnesota. 

While the job often took him wherever the work was needed, he says he was never carrying that responsibility alone. 

“When homicide investigations had me traveling across the state, my wife had the support of both our families while she was home doing it all,” Mike says. "I couldn’t have done this job without that support.” 

Coming full circle 

The relationships Mike built during that first homicide investigation continue to shape the way he approaches the job today. 

“The BCA is about relationships,” Mike says. “One of my mentors once told me he thought the reason I was a good agent was because I genuinely like people. I’d never really thought about it that way before, but he was right. At its core, law enforcement is a people business.” 

For Mike, success has never been about taking over an investigation. It’s about earning the trust of local investigators long before they need you, then standing beside them when they do. Over the past 20 years, he’s worked alongside sheriffs’ offices, police departments and prosecutors across the state, building partnerships rooted in respect, trust and a shared commitment to victims, their families and the communities they serve. 

As retirement approaches this August, Mike says one of the most rewarding parts of the job has been helping develop the next generation of investigators. 

“I try to pay forward what others gave me,” he says. “Pass it on. Help them. Recruit them to the BCA.” 

Mike says that, for him, that’s what being a BCA special agent has always been about: Not just investigating the most difficult cases, but helping others become the investigators their communities need when tragedy occurs. 

As one chapter closes after more than three decades in law enforcement and 20 years with the BCA, Mike hopes the relationships he built and the investigators he mentored will continue that work long after he’s gone. 

After all, every good story gets passed on.