{"id":1184617,"date":"2023-03-07T13:10:10","date_gmt":"2023-03-07T18:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/granby-girl-was-found-buried-under-leaves-44-years-ago-shes-now-been-identified\/1184617\/"},"modified":"2023-03-07T13:10:10","modified_gmt":"2023-03-07T18:10:10","slug":"granby-girl-was-found-buried-under-leaves-44-years-ago-shes-now-been-identified","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/granby-girl-was-found-buried-under-leaves-44-years-ago-shes-now-been-identified\/1184617\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Granby girl\u2019 was found buried under leaves 44 years ago. She\u2019s now been identified"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/div>\n

In the fall of 1978, a woman\u2019s body was found beneath a blanket of leaves on a logging road in rural Massachusetts. She had been shot in the head.<\/p>\n

Unable to identify the victim, police referred to her simply as \u201cGranby girl,\u201d after the small town in which she was discovered. Her remains were buried under a gravestone marked \u201cUnknown.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now \u2014 44 years later \u2014 advances in DNA testing and the persistence of investigators have led officials to identify the woman, according to a March 6 news release from the Northwestern District Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnsolved cases sometimes seem to go cold, but investigators never give up,\u201d Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan stated. \u201cThe Massachusetts State Police, Granby Police and Northwestern District Attorney\u2019s staff worked collaboratively for years to achieve this breakthrough in the investigation, and\u2014 most importantly\u2014provide some answers to (the) victim\u2019s family.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The woman was identified as Patricia Tucker.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Born July 28, 1950, Tucker turned 28 the year she was killed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She had been married three times and was known as Patricia Coleman at the time of her disappearance and death, officials said.<\/p>\n

Following the discovery of her body, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined she had been killed by a bullet to the temple and estimated she had been dead for months. The identity of the victim, however, eluded officials for decades.<\/p>\n

But a breakthrough came several years ago when Massachusetts officials provided Tucker\u2019s DNA profile to a private forensics laboratory in Texas.<\/p>\n

The company, Othram, used forensic genetic genealogy to identify a Maryland woman who was most likely related to the victim, officials said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolice contacted that woman, who in turn led them to Tucker\u2019s adult son,\u201d officials said. \u201cComparison of his DNA to Tucker\u2019s DNA resulted in a 100% parent\/child match.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tucker\u2019s son Matthew Dale was 5 years old at the time of her disappearance.<\/p>\n

Upon further investigation, officials learned that at the time of her death, Tucker\u2019s husband was named Gerald Coleman. The pair had been married a year earlier and lived in a lakeside home in East Hampton, Connecticut.<\/p>\n

Coleman never contacted police about his missing wife and is considered a person of interest in Tucker\u2019s killing, officials said. He died in 1996 in a Massachusetts prison.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to say thank you to everyone in trying to identify my mother and wrapping your arms around her, especially the community of Granby,\u201d her son wrote in a statement. \u201cThank you for never giving up on her. At least I have some answers now after 44 years. It\u2019s a lot to process, but hopefully, the closure can begin now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The decadeslong investigation will continue until Tucker\u2019s killer is identified, officials said.<\/p>\n

Body of Georgia man missing during business trip found rolled in a rug, officials say<\/a><\/p>\n

School employee arrested when chokehold demonstration goes awry, Connecticut cops say<\/a><\/p>\n

Hiker slips from rocky bluff and plunges 20 feet to his death in ocean, Oregon cops say<\/a><\/p>\n

From:AOL<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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