A 45-year-old mystery has been solved thanks to advances in DNA technology.
Woman found shot in the state of Massachusetts in 1978.has finally been identified with the advancement of science, the Air Force announced.
Patricia Ann Tuckerthen 28, was known for decades only as “The Granby Girl” after the small town where her body was found.
DNA samples from her sonwho was five years old when she disappeared, helped identify her.
For decades, she was buried with a tombstone marked “Unknown.”
“Thank you for never giving up on her,” her son Matthew Dale said in a statement to the media.
“At least now I have some answers after 44 years.”
Patricia Tucker’s body was found buried under leaves on the side of a Granby road on November 15, 1978. She had been shot and her death ruled a homicide.
BBC News – ‘Granby Girl’ identified as Patricia Ann Tucker 45 years after her murderhttps://t.co/YLQeHxuhQq
— Amstel News (@amstelnews) March 7, 2023
The autopsy concluded that she had been dead since about June 1978. and that she was between the ages of 19 and 27. But her identity has long remained a mystery.
“Advances in forensic medicine, and forensic genetic genealogy in particular, have provided a new source of hope for victim identification,” said First Assistant Northwestern District Attorney Stephen Gunn at a news conference Monday.
About two years ago, authorities obtained Ms. Tucker’s DNA profile through a forensics lab and eventually identified a woman in Maryland who was possibly related to her.
This relative gives information to the police that her aunt disappeared in the 1970s and reports the names of his aunt’s two sons, Gan said.
DA identifies ‘Granby Girl’ decades after her body was found on logging road in western Mass. https://t.co/J1OFen9AR9
— Boston 25 News (@boston25) March 7, 2023
One of those sons, Matthew Dale, confirmed that his mother, Patricia Tucker, had disappeared in 1978. A comparison of his DNA with Mrs. Tucker’s resulted in a 100 percent parent-child match, officials said.
“While it’s satisfying to finally know who the ‘Granby Girl’ really is, the investigation won’t stop until we identify her killer,” Gann says.
Investigators determined that Ms. Tucker was married to Gerald Coleman at the time of his death, but he never reported his wife missing. In 1995, Coleman was convicted of charges including rape and assault and died in prison in 1996.
Police say Coleman is a “person of interest” in his wife’s murder.
“We still officially do not have probable cause to file charges in Patricia’s murder,” Gann said. “We hope that today’s press conference will generate some additional leads that will help move this investigation forward and ultimately identify the killer.”
