Grew up a stones throw away. Bluntly, not much. It's a fairly dense suburban area. The closest densely wooded area is just the two county parks, one about 3 miles East and the other about 2.5 miles south. Neither is very big though. For a larger area there's a nature preserve about 15 miles west, but that's still pretty limited.

True wilderness is about 60 miles north.

Now Sibley county, where he was found, is quite rural but not wild at all, similar distance to wilderness.

walking distance

How much time?

Why did he assume he could get away with about seventy people, like maybe over a VERY drawn out period but that's a list comparable to some of the most accomplished serial killers operating for decades. At most you could maybe get away with five or so and that's moving from one target to another killing at night with no stopping.

Thank the gods these motherfuckers have the reasoning abilities of a ham sandwich.