(Trends Wide) — The remains of a woman found in a small Massachusetts town in 1978 were identified more than four decades after her death using “old-fashioned police work” and aided by advances in forensic genetic genealogy, officials announced Monday.
Known 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 only 5 years old when she died, helped identify his mother, according to investigators.
Patricia Ann Tucker
On November 15, 1978, Tucker’s skeletal remains were found in a wooded area near a logging road in Granby, about 80 miles west of Boston. An autopsy revealed that he died of a gunshot wound to the left temple, Gagne said.
The remains had been “out in the open for several months” before being found, and the autopsy could only conclude that it was an unnamed female between the ages of 19 and 27, he said. Her identity remained a mystery, so she was buried under a white cross. Years later an unmarked tombstone was installed at the site.
Authorities continued to look into the cold case, combing through 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 in identifying the victim, who for decades had been known simply as ‘the Granby girl,’” Gagne said.
A “biological sample” of the remains was sent in March 2022 to Othram, a forensic lab in Texas credited with helping to solve a long list of other previously unsettled cases, Gagne said. Months later, on January 23, 2023, “the great opportunity that researchers had been waiting for decades finally arrived,” she said. The lab told them that they had located a relative living in Maryland who might be the victim’s half-sister.
Investigators spoke to the woman on January 30 and discovered that she had an aunt, a mother of two, who disappeared in the 1970s, Gagne said. Authorities found one of the children, who had previously uploaded her DNA to Ancestory.com, and used her profile to confirm with the lab that the unidentified woman was her mother.
Her son, Matthew Dale, issued a statement through the district attorney’s office, thanking investigators for “never giving up on her.”
“At least now I have some answers after 44 years,” he said. “It’s a lot to process, but hopefully, the shutdown can start now. Thanks again.”
Investigators are now hoping to generate leads and find who killed Tucker, who was 28 at the time of his death, Gagne said.
The prosecutor noted that investigators discovered that she was married at the time of her death and that her husband at the time never reported her missing. The couple had lived along the eastern shore of Lake Pocotopaug in East Hampton, Connecticut, Gagne said, calling her husband “a person of great interest” in the case.
Gagne said the husband died in state prison in 1996 after being convicted of rape, 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 who know something about either of them that could help advance this investigation.”
Trends Wide’s Braden Walker contributed to this report.
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(Trends Wide) — The remains of a woman found in a small Massachusetts town in 1978 were identified more than four decades after her death using “old-fashioned police work” and aided by advances in forensic genetic genealogy, officials announced Monday.
Known 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 only 5 years old when she died, helped identify his mother, according to investigators.
Patricia Ann Tucker
On November 15, 1978, Tucker’s skeletal remains were found in a wooded area near a logging road in Granby, about 80 miles west of Boston. An autopsy revealed that he died of a gunshot wound to the left temple, Gagne said.
The remains had been “out in the open for several months” before being found, and the autopsy could only conclude that it was an unnamed female between the ages of 19 and 27, he said. Her identity remained a mystery, so she was buried under a white cross. Years later an unmarked tombstone was installed at the site.
Authorities continued to look into the cold case, combing through 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 in identifying the victim, who for decades had been known simply as ‘the Granby girl,’” Gagne said.
A “biological sample” of the remains was sent in March 2022 to Othram, a forensic lab in Texas credited with helping to solve a long list of other previously unsettled cases, Gagne said. Months later, on January 23, 2023, “the great opportunity that researchers had been waiting for decades finally arrived,” she said. The lab told them that they had located a relative living in Maryland who might be the victim’s half-sister.
Investigators spoke to the woman on January 30 and discovered that she had an aunt, a mother of two, who disappeared in the 1970s, Gagne said. Authorities found one of the children, who had previously uploaded her DNA to Ancestory.com, and used her profile to confirm with the lab that the unidentified woman was her mother.
Her son, Matthew Dale, issued a statement through the district attorney’s office, thanking investigators for “never giving up on her.”
“At least now I have some answers after 44 years,” he said. “It’s a lot to process, but hopefully, the shutdown can start now. Thanks again.”
Investigators are now hoping to generate leads and find who killed Tucker, who was 28 at the time of his death, Gagne said.
The prosecutor noted that investigators discovered that she was married at the time of her death and that her husband at the time never reported her missing. The couple had lived along the eastern shore of Lake Pocotopaug in East Hampton, Connecticut, Gagne said, calling her husband “a person of great interest” in the case.
Gagne said the husband died in state prison in 1996 after being convicted of rape, 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 who know something about either of them that could help advance this investigation.”
Trends Wide’s Braden Walker contributed to this report.
