The remains of a woman found in a small Massachusetts town in 1978 have been identified more than four decades after her death with the help of advances in forensic genetic genealogy.
The news was announced by the authorities on Monday (6).
Referred to for decades as the “Granby Girl” after the town about 12 miles north of Springfield where her body was found, the woman was identified Monday as Patricia Ann Tucker, First Assistant District Attorney Steven Gagne said. at a press conference.
DNA samples from Tucker’s son – who was just five when she died – helped identify his mother, investigators said.
On November 15, 1978, Tucker’s remains were found in a wooded area near a logging road in Granby, about 80 miles west of Boston. An autopsy revealed that she died of a gunshot wound to her left temple, Gagne said.
The remains were “off the air for several months” before she was found, and the autopsy could only conclude that she was an unidentified female between the ages of 19 and 27, he said. Her identity is still a mystery, she was buried under a white cross. Years later, an unnamed headstone was installed.
Authorities continued to look into the cold case, checking missing persons databases for years without success, according to Gagne.
“Ultimately, it was advances in forensic science and, in particular, forensic genetic genealogy that provided a new source of hope for identifying the victim, who for decades was known simply as ‘Granby Girl,'” Gagne said.
A “biological sample” of the remains was sent in March 2022 to Othram, a forensic laboratory in Texas credited with helping to solve a long list of other cold cases.
Months later, on January 23, 2023, “the big break investigators have been waiting for for decades finally arrived,” he said. The lab told investigators they located a relative who lives in Maryland who may be the victim’s half-sister.
Investigators spoke with the woman on Jan. 30 and learned she had an aunt, a mother of two, who disappeared in the 1970s, Gagne said.
Authorities found one of the children, who had already uploaded her DNA to Ancestory.com, and used her profile to confirm with the lab that the previously unidentified woman was her mother.
Her son, Matthew Dale, released a statement through the district attorney’s office and thanked investigators for “never giving up on her.”
“At least I have some answers now after 44 years,” he said. “It’s a lot to process, but hopefully the closure can start now. Thank you again.”
Investigators are now hoping to generate leads and find out who killed Tucker, who was 28 when he died, Gagne said.
The prosecutor noted that investigators discovered that she was married at the time of her death and her husband at the time never reported her missing.
The couple lived along the east shore of Lake Pocotopaug in East Hampton, Conn., Gagne said, calling her husband “a person of strong interest” in the case.
Gagne said her husband died in state prison in 1996 after being convicted of rape, gross indecent assault and assault with a dangerous weapon the previous year.
“Now that we know Patricia’s identity and we know who she was married to at the time of her disappearance,” Gagne said, “there may be people out there who know something about any of them that could help further this investigation.”
Source: CNN Brasil
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