This is serious and for real.
This unidentified woman was found dead from a gunshot wound on October 6, 1995, near a campground in rural Tolland, Mass.
Do you recognizer her—or her glasses? Investigators hope that you can help solve this 14-year-old “cold case” mystery.
A few years ago, Review of Optometry printed a small article about this murder victim. Now, recent evidence from a new type of forensic testing indicates that this woman spent the last several months of her life in or near Albany or upstate New York. Yet no one has filed a missing persons report. The woman’s identity—the key to solving her murder—remains unknown.
The woman was 30 to 45 years old with a light-skinned complexion, about 5’ 2” to 5’ 5” tall, of medium build, and about 120 to 130lbs. The victim also had upper and lower partial dentures.
There’s one other piece of evidence that might help identify this woman: her glasses prescription. Police investigators hope that an optometrist or an optician might be able to remember this patient by her frame and prescription. This could be the clue that leads the police to her identity. Her spectacle prescription: -4.25 -0.50 x 180 O.D., -3.50 -0.25 x 170 O.S., in size 52/16-135 maroon/gold frames from the Metaline Collection (#7) from Value Eyewear Inc. (Clifton, N.J.), manufactured in China.
This victim is linked to another unsolved murder: a second woman also dead from a gunshot wound just a week before this victim was found.The second victim was found in New Britain, Conn., and was about 17 to 20 years old.
Police believe that the crimes are linked and the victims may be related—possibly a mother and daughter, or an older and a younger sister.
“It’s very puzzling that no one has come forward and identified these people as being missing,” says Lt. Stephen J. Griffin of the Massachusetts State Police. Technically, the murder is not a cold case because the police have never stopped working on it.
If you have any information to offer, contact Lt. Griffin or Trooper Peter Konstantakos at (413) 747-4811 or Stephen.Griffin@state.ma.us. For more on this victim, go to www.doenetwork.org and search for case number 187UFMA.