Ann ‘Annie’ Katherine Rippel-Griffin-Lee.

~ Another Bundy Blog.

Introduction: Ann Katherine ‘Annie’ Rippel was born on January 26, 1956 to Harry and Leah Rippel in Batavia, NY. Harry W. ‘Rip’ Rippel Junior was born on March 22, 1930 in Batavia, and was a 1948 graduate of Batavia High School. Shortly after he graduated, Rip got a job as a lineman with the New York Telephone Company (which is also known as NYTel), where he worked until he was drafted into the military (he served from 1950 to 1953). Upon returning home, Mr. Rippel continued his employment with the telephone company and worked for them for a total of thirty-seven years until he retired in 1986; at one point in his life, he also worked as a corrections officer and was employed at the Attica Prison. Ann’s mother Leah Katherine Folts was born on May 7, 1930 in Rochester, NY, and after she graduated from Saint Agnes High School, she also got a job at the New York Telephone Company.

Mr. Rippel was in the US Army during the Korean War, and at one point he served overseas in France (according to his father’s obituary); upon returning home, he and Leah got married at St. James Church in Batavia in 1954, and the couple went on to have three children together: Ann, Daniel, William (b. 1958); at some point they divorced and Harry got married for a second time to Donna G. (nee Spink) Flor on March 25, 1961 in Wellsboro, PA; they had three children together: Janet, Kathleen and Karen. On June 21, 1979 Leah got remarried to Donald Nelson Jones in Miami after she relocated to Florida.

Before I go any further, I want to express my gratitude towards Ann’s daughter, Victoria, who was kind enough to answer some questions I had about her mother and helped provide me with some clarity on a few points that were unclear. She was only ten when her mom was killed, and because of this she didn’t fully grasp exactly what was happening at the time: she said that some of what she knows comes from her own memories, where other things her family told her.

Ann graduated from Alexander High school in 1974, and she got married to Frederick Griffin sometime afterwards, who was a jockey at Batavia Downs; the couple had two children together, Sammy (b. 1976) and Robert (b. 1978). Vicky said that in addition to her brothers, Fred also had children from other relationships, and she always maintained a good relationship with her stepfather; she said that one of her earliest memories of him is that he bought her a doll when she was little. After Ann’s divorce from Fred, she went on to have a long-term relationship with Victoria’s father, Vincent Macheda, an Italian immigrant who came to the US at the age of fifteen in 1967; Vicky let me know that there was a significant age difference between her parents and that they were never married; she also said their relationship could be ‘very volatile.’

Ann graduated from Alexander High school in 1974, and she got married to Frederick Griffin sometime afterwards, who was a jockey at Batavia Downs; the couple had two children together, Sammy (b. 1976) and Robert (b. 1978). Vicky said that in addition to her brothers, Fred also had children from other relationships, and she always maintained a good relationship with her stepfather; she said that one of her earliest memories of him is that he bought her a doll when she was little. After Ann’s divorce from Fred, she went on to have a long-term relationship with Victoria’s father, Vincent Macheda, an Italian immigrant that came to the US at the age of fifteen in 1967; Victoria also let me know that there was a significant age difference between her parents, and that they were never married; she also said their relationship could be ‘very volatile.’

In her early years, Victoria primarily lived with her mom (although she clarified that her living arrangements changed on several occasions after court hearings), however shortly after her brother Sammy was killed in 1993, Ann gave full custody to her dad; she feels this most likely occurred because she reached a point where she could no longer manage or control her addiction and that giving Vincent custody was the best thing she could have done for everyone (Robert was also sent to live with his father). Macheda worked as a maintenance technician at Lapp Insulators, and when he got full custody of Victoria he took early retirement.

Around three years prior to her death Ann had married a man with the surname ‘Lee’ (although Victoria did not remember his first name), however that relationship didn’t last long and she was not living with him when she died (‘Lee’ had been her legal last name at the time of her death). Victoria said that domestic violence was a recurring theme in most of her mother’s relationships and right before her death, she had a new boyfriend that had given her a black eye. She also said there is a long history of alcoholism in her family, and that her mom’s addiction ‘didn’t exist in a vacuum: There are generational patterns that I think affected many members of my family.’

When she was very small Victoria remembers only ‘one or two visits to my grandfather’s home. My brothers would sometimes go to Florida and stay with my grandmother, but I never did. I think my mom craved relationships but struggled greatly with them.’ She also let me know that after her parents divorced her mom and uncle moved to Florida with their mom, but Ann was sent back to NY at some point to live with her father because she was getting too ‘wild;’ eventually, she found barrel racing and rode under the nickname ‘The Florida Cowgirl.’

Some of Victoria’s favorite memories of her mom are the smaller ones that most other people might overlook: ‘she had a way of telling me she loved me using hand motions. She would point to her eye for ‘I’ put her hand over her heart for ‘love,’ and then point at me for “you.” I still remember that. I remember being sick and my mom making a bed for me on the couch so I could lie there and watch Unsolved Mysteries with her. There is obviously a pretty heavy irony in that memory now. Some of my favorite family memories are also very ordinary. We didn’t have a lot growing up, but I remember my mom taking all of us shopping for Starter pullovers, which were basically the jackets to have in the 1990’s. I remember each of us getting one, and I remember the feeling of simply being together. I also remember Sammy playing airplane with me. He was my big brother and protector, and that is one of the memories I will always carry with me.’

Growing up, Victoria remembers seeing Stephen King books around their house, but she: ‘doesn’t know that I could confidently say which book was her favorite. Her all-time favorite musician was Janis Joplin. She listened to her constantly. My middle name, Rose, was partly influenced by the movie about Janis Joplin’s life. To this day, when I hear a Janis Joplin song, even when it is a remake, I immediately think of my mom.’

When I asked Victoria to describe her mother, she shared that she was ‘incredibly full of life. In many ways, she was still a kid even into her 30’s. She still had a security blanket, which I think speaks to how insecure and unsettled she felt in her own life. But she loved deeply. I have never doubted that my mom loved me. She loved all of her children. I believe she simply had something, her addiction, that ultimately had a greater hold on her than her love alone could overcome. She was incredibly caring toward other people. She would give you the shirt off her back if you needed it. She made the best peanut butter cookies and collard greens in the world. She adored animals, and we always had pets. I think my love of cats comes from her because there was almost always a cat around when I was growing up. We had a black cat named Batman, which I named when I was little. At her core, I think my mom was someone who desperately wanted to be loved. I also think she struggled to believe that she was worthy of that love. She was.’

The Tragic Death of Sammy Griffin: in 1993, Ann’s son, seventeen-year-old Sammy M. Griffin was tragically shot and killed at a ‘friends’ apartment on South Swan Street in the city of Batavia: police later recovered a .30 caliber rifle from the scene and determined that he died from a gunshot wound to the head. Fifteen-year-old Jeremy M. Fairbanks was accused in connection with the shooting, and according to Sammy’s half-sister, Nicole Griffin, the teens were reportedly playing Russian roulette and it’s her belief that her brother attempted to slap the gun out of the other boy’s hand, which caused the weapon to discharge into his face (Jeremy’s mother claims the two had been in a dispute over a girl). According to reports, Fairbanks showed signs of concerning behavior before he killed Sammy Griffin, including an incident involving a gun and a friend of the Rippel family.

To avoid trial, Fairbanks pled guilty to manslaughter, claiming he ‘mistakenly pulled the trigger of his father’s rifle while sticking the barrel in Griffin’s mouth.’ Judge Glenn R. Morton denied his request to be tried as a youthful offender, which would have reduced his sentence to about 1 1/3 to four years, and on August 22, 1994 he was sentenced to two to six years in prison (the minimum sentence permitted under the plea agreement created between DA Robert Noonan and his lawyer, John LaDuca); the fourteen months he spent incarcerated at the Monroe County Children’s Center was counted towards his sentence. Both attorney’s called Griffin’s death a ‘reckless accident,’ and agreed the sentence was ‘appropriate.’ According to LaDuca: ‘I think my client was prepared to accept that. I think Jeremy knew exactly what was in store for him.’

According to Jeremy’s mom Judith, she was friends with Ann and couldn’t bear the thought of never again speaking to her again, and in the weeks that followed Sammy’s murder, the two mothers met ‘very quietly’ on several occasions at the First United Methodist Church in Batavia. The meetings went well, and when it was suggested that the two families host a joint community prayer service dedicated to their sons, they agreed; ten days before Jeremy was sentenced, Ann and Judith held a service in a church across the street from the sheriff’s office. About the meetings with Ann, Judith Fairbanks said there was ‘no anger or bitterness between us. We have cried tears over the same things. We have compassion and understanding for each other and our children.’

Victoria described Sammy’s death as a watershed moment for her family: her mom was already struggling with addiction and doesn’t think she ever completely recovered from losing him. She described him as her ‘big brother and my protector. I think both of my brothers tried to shield me from as much as they could when we were young. Sammy was my mom’s firstborn, and I believe his death created a pain that she didn’t know how to process. In my view, addiction became a way for her to avoid feeling that pain.’

April 23, 1997, The Discovery: forty-one-year Ann was last seen in front of the Wilson Farms (which is now a 7/11) located next to her East Main Street apartment at around 11:20 PM on April 22, 1997, and what happened after remains a mystery to this day: tips led detectives to the city of Rochester, where someone claims to have seen her at 3 AM on April 23, 1997. Another led investigators to suspect she may have been at a house party near the creek and may have left with someone who had less than pure intentions (right before I was about to publish this, I saw a Facebook comment made by a person claiming they saw Ann at a bar in Batavia sometime that night as well). The following morning Rippel’s body was discovered in 1-2 inches of shallow water (although one article said it was ‘knee deep’) along the bank of the Little Tonawanda Creek in Alexander (about five to six miles from Batavia). According to former Genesee County Sheriff Gary Maha, she had been found slightly before noon by a mother and her five-year-old son, who were driving across a bridge when they spotted Ann lying face down in the creek near the intersection of Brookville Road and West Bethany Road; she immediately drove to a nearby farmhouse and called the police.

Ann’s body was located near the base of a small trail that led to the creek from a small gravel parking lot close to the Creek Road bridge of the Little Tonawanda Creek; she was naked from the waist down (on top she was wearing a sweater) but still had her socks on. Her other clothes were later found scattered around the creek. According to an article published in The Democrat and Chronicle, there were no outward signs of a trauma or obvious signs of a struggle despite the fact that duct tape had been found near her face and neck; detectives also determined she had not been bound and there were no bruises or defensive wounds anywhere on her body. Ripples autopsy also revealed that she did not have intercourse in the hours preceding her demise, and she had not been sexually assaulted. In the days that followed the discovery, the Genesee County Coroner ruled Ann’s death an ‘accidental drowning,’ even though the circumstances and how she arrived at the remote location still remain a mystery.

In a 2019 interview with ‘2 On Your Side,’ Ann’s half-sister Janet said in the months prior to her death she had distanced herself from her family because she was struggling with issues related to substance abuse: ‘unfortunately she had addictions that kept pulling her back in, but she really wanted to be there for her kids.’ Rippel also said there were two men fishing nearby at the time her sisters remains were discovered, but neither one remembered seeing her in the water earlier that morning.

According to Janet, on the day her sister’s remains were discovered she got a call from their dad, who ‘had called me and said, ‘They found your sister, Ann. They found her dead in the Tonawanda Creek.’ … ‘It was a shock. I mean, I really don’t even remember how I reacted it was, we were all in shock.’ She also said her sister’s body was found in a place that she did not frequent and pointed out that she didn’t have a driver’s license let alone her own vehicle, and wonders how she even got there: ‘what has always struck me as odd is this was out of Annie’s area. She was Batavia/Rochester. She would hop on a bus and go to Rochester, come back to Batavia. She wouldn’t have been out in the middle of nowhere. That just wasn’t her.’

Janet said that according to the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office: ‘nobody knew how she got there, what time she got there, and we don’t know who she was with. Her head was in the water; her feet were on the bank. She was wearing her sweater and socks. The rest of the clothes were thrown around the bank. She had tape around, duct tape around her neck, which we believe was probably from her mouth pulled down.’

In the period before her death, Lee was known to have been involved with some minor conflicts with the Batavia Police Department, and it has been confirmed that she traveled to Rochester at least twice on April 22 to buy crack cocaine; investigators said that one of two those trips took place immediately after she called a rehab center in one of many half-hearted attempts at getting clean. Police at the time said they were aware of any plans she had of returning to Rochester again later that night, and it’s unclear whether she went or not.

Janet suspects that her sister’s untimely death had something to do with drugs, and over the years she has not heard about any suspects or persons of interest related to the case: ‘I know that there were a couple people that the police interviewed heavily. That’s all they really told me is that they interviewed them heavily. There was DNA that they had found at the scene that they processed, that they’ve never found a match to.’

According to former director of Genesee Justice Dennis Wittman, Lee’s adult life was a rough one: she had a penchant for alcohol and drugs, but when she was sober was a different person, and ‘she had a heart for decency, even though she struggled.’ About the way she was found, Former Chief Deputy with the Genesee County Sheriff’s Department Jerome Brewster said that he strongly felt that ‘someone drove her there. We believe someone was with her when she died. Maybe they panicked and left.’

Victoria said the last time she saw her mom was on her tenth birthday: she had been ‘watching cartoons, ‘Wishbone.’ That was my favorite. She came in and gave me a Barbie. I was obsessed with Barbies. It was a Tooth Fairy Barbie. She always made birthdays special.’ On the afternoon she learned about her mom’s death she had just gotten out of school and was at her caregiver’s house and had been playing with her American Girl dolls when someone called and relayed the news: ‘I remember hearing her shouting and crying. She called me into the room and, through her tears, told me that my mom was dead. The only way I can describe what I felt is that it was as though my heart had literally been ripped from my chest. A part of me was being taken away because a part of me actually was. It hit me like a tidal wave. That is one of those moments where I can remember the feeling, the room, and the circumstances with an incredible amount of clarity even all these years later.’

Victoria struggled immensely after the loss of her mother, and she ‘felt incredibly alone. I already struggled to fit in with my peers, and suddenly I wasn’t just the child who had lost her mother, I was the child whose mother might have been murdered in an unsolved case that was being discussed in newspapers, on television and on the radio. Sometimes it was the elephant in the room. There are little memories that demonstrate just how much the case followed me through childhood. In elementary school, I had to talk to my teacher about why I couldn’t go on a field trip because they were visiting the cemetery where my mom was buried. In middle school, I needed to be excused from health class because the CPR training doll was named Annie. That was simply too close to home for me.’

The Investigation: Genesee County investigators said Rippel’s body was not in the water for very long before it was discovered, and the area in Alexander where she was found was often frequented by individuals that used it as a ‘pull off area.’ Genesee Country detectives theorized that maybe she had been left somewhere nearby in a ‘bound condition,’ but was somehow able to get up, shake off (most of) the duct tape and her restraints, then somehow ended up face down in the water.

In recent years, Genesee Country Investigator Pete Welker began going through Ann’s case file, and according to him, ‘just seeing if there are things that weren’t covered and cover them or just to rehash a few things, a lot has changed in 21 years as far as DNA evidence goes.’  He also said there was DNA evidence collected at the scene in April of 1997, which has been routinely submitted to genetic databanks since 1997 (as new samples from criminals are added every day).

In 2012, Chief Deputy Brewster says he got a call that a forensics lab saying they may have had a familial match: ‘there was a bunch of protocols I had to go through to continue with that process. I got everything all set to go and all my ducks in a row and then I got a call from the lab saying that the sample unfortunately did not meet the threshold.’

According to a 2012 interview with Batavia’s ‘The Daily News,’ Chief Brewster said that ‘the whole thing makes you wonder, whoever was with her probably left her in some state with duct tape on her. The investigation shows only one person walked down to the water and that was Ann. She was not helped into the water.’ He also went on to say that at the time of her death investigators did not suspect murder but believed that someone was with Lee at the time of her death and had simply fled the scene. It was also well known that she would frequently accept rides from strangers, and particularly in her last days suffered from seizures related to her addiction. Brewster theorized that someone had been with her, and they panicked when she had a seizure and had simply left her there, and that she may have crawled or fallen into the water and drowned: ‘I am not convinced she was murdered. Most are of the same opinion. She was with someone and she died, I believe, under her own power. If she was in distress and was left there, then someone should be held responsible.’

At the time of her mother’s death, Victoria was already somewhat isolated from most of the maternal side of her family because of their living arrangements: she said her grandfather took her mom’s loss very hard and he never really talked about it with her, but she does remember that he did make an effort to communicate with law enforcement and helped plan her funeral. Victoria said that her grandmother on the other hand was very open about how difficult her relationship with Ann was, as well as the issues they had over the years, and after her death the two became very close and, in ‘many ways, I think we grieved my mom together.’

A Criminal Profile: when writing his 2020 book on Ann title ‘Candles in the Rain,’ Attica based author Rob Thompson came up with what he feels is a profile of her killer, but before I go on, I do want to point out that he holds a BS in Human Services and a MA in English Literature. I could find no evidence of any formal education or training related to criminology or forensic psychology, however I do understand that he worked in the human services field for most of his career, and because of that he most likely picked up some of his knowledge through on-the-job training (I also understand he most likely took some psychology classes while in college, I obviously have not seen his transcript).

In his book, Thompson does not list any suspects by name, however he did provide an ‘offenders profile’ of traits that he feels the individual that was with Lee during the final hours of her life may have possessed: ‘I conclude the book with my providing a behavioral profile on a possible suspect to the family. My background in psychology and literary psychoanalytical criticism aids me during such pursuits. Based on studying the scene, the public information on the crime and after interviewing Ann’s family my detailed profile includes this: Ann’s possible offender is a white male who in 1997 was nineteen to twenty-four years old, and 42 to 47 years old now. At the time of the crime, he would reside within a two-mile radius of the scene and possess a central European surname, for example, German or Polish. He is knowledgeable of the creek and its various access points. He would have been a casual acquaintance of Ann’s.’  The profile ends with Mr. Thompson labeling the possible suspect a ‘sociopath.’

Thompson also said that: ‘in my opinion, the investigating officers are and have been very close to solving this case. I believe it comes down to just one or two things or even just one long-silent voice stepping forward. I wanted the readers to know Ann was a very real person and not a just a dusty file folder.’

A Connection to the LISK?: I came across an interesting coincidence while researching Ann’s case on the WordPress blog ‘Murder, Inc:‘ according to the site’s creator, Rex Heuermann’s uncle, Valentine Socha lived in Pavilion, NY at the time Ann was killed, which is only a fifteen-minute drive from where she was living at the time. Additionally, he was known to use duct tape on his victims (as investigators found that some of them were bound or wrapped up with it). Although it’s definitely odd, nothing has ever conclusively tied Rex Heuermann to the murder of Ann Rippel.

Altemio Sanchez: a name I came across a few times in relation to the murder of Ann Rippel is Altemio Sanchez (aka the Bike Path Rapist), a serial killer that was active in Western New York from the late 1970’s until his arrest in January 2007. In the late 1970’s/early 80’s he was suspected of committing numerous sexual assaults and rapes in the Buffalo area, and his behavior escalated in September 1990 when he raped and murdered University at Buffalo student Linda Yalem; in June 1992 he raped and murdered Majane Mazur. He had a period of dormancy until September 2006 when he killed Joan Diver, which led to DNA profiling that ultimately linked him to the earlier crimes and his 2007 arrest.

Later that year, Sanchez pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree murder for the deaths of Linda Yalem (1990), Majane Mazur (1992), and Joan Diver (2006) and was sentenced to seventy-five years to life in prison; DNA evidence tied him to roughly fourteen to twenty additional rapes and sexual assaults beginning in the 1970’s and ending in the 90’s (which he was not prosecuted for to the statute of limitations running out). He died in custody in September 2023 at the age of sixty-five. Despite being semi-close in proximity to Batavia, nothing conclusively ties Sanchez to the death of Ann Rippel.

Richard Fox: another name I came across while looking into Ann’s murder is Richard Fox, a serial killer that was active in the western part of NY across multiple periods of time that spanned decades, beginning as a teenager in 1976 when he murdered his grandma Beatrice Meabon in the town of Brant. He abstained from killing again until 2003/2004 when he took the life of Cassandra Watson in Buffalo; in 2021 Fox killed Marquita Mull in Buffalo, and in January 2023 he killed Crystal Curthoys in Niagara Falls. Despite being close to Batavia, nothing conclusively ties Fox to Ann’s death, and according to Janet Rippel he has officially been exonerated thanks to DNA.

Jeremy Fairbank’s Activity after Killing Sammy Griffin: after he was convicted on the manslaughter charge for killing Sammy Griffin, Jeremy Fairbanks was sentenced to two to six years in prison. He was initially sentenced to a juvenile detention facility and spent his final year in prison; he was released in February 1998. His freedom didn’t last long, and four months after his release he was back in prison, serving a two-to-four-year term for assault; he served three years and was released in 2001. Three years later, Fairbanks was back in the news after he repeatedly sexually assaulted a thirteen-year-old girl: he pled guilty to first-degree sexual abuse and was sentenced to five years in prison. Seven years later he violated parole and was returned to prison for another two years and was released in 2013. He is classified a level two, sexually violent offender on the New York State Sex Offender Registry.

Since then, Fairbanks has had a series of (comparably) minor arrests: in December 2019 he was arrested after a domestic disturbance on Jackson Street in Batavia and was charged with first degree strangulation (a felony). In February 2020 he was arrested on a bench warrant after he failed to comply with a court ordered program that he was instructed to take the month prior; after his arrest he was released under the supervision of Genesee County Probation. Perhaps his most impressive feat is related to charges from July 2020 when he (along with his then girlfriend, Leah R.H. Kelly) violated a city court order repeatedly over several months; both individuals were hit with 306 counts each of second-degree criminal contempt, totaling 612 charges between the couple. This mass volume of charges was noted by local media as potentially the largest number of charges ever simultaneously filed against an individual in Genesee County history. I lost track of Fairbanks’ activity after that 2020 arrest, and if he is currently incarcerated it isn’t at the Genesee County Jail.

Victoria’s Thoughts: when I asked Ann’s daughter what she thinks happened to her mom, she said it was ‘probably the hardest question because I want to be very clear that what follows is my personal belief, not something I can prove. My mom had struggled with seizures before her death. I also know that the boyfriend she was with at the time had previously threatened her life and had been physically violent toward her. Based on what I know and what I have learned over the years, I believe she may have suffered a seizure, either that night or earlier, and that the people she was with may have believed she was unconscious or dead and left her rather than getting her the help she needed.’

‘I also suspect that the people around her may have been under the influence of drugs. But I want to emphasize that this is my interpretation of the circumstances, not a statement of established fact. What I do know is that the saddest part for me is that my mom, a person who had such a giving spirit and who would do almost anything for another person, was ultimately left alone during her final moments. That is the part that breaks my heart.’

When I asked her if she thought the investigation could have been handled differently, she said she does ‘believe the police did what they believed was the best they could at the time. This was 1997, and I don’t think most of the people involved had ever dealt with a case like this. At the same time, I wish more resources, particularly at the state level, would have been brought in sooner. I understand that this was an incredibly complicated case, and I don’t pretend to know everything investigators were dealing with at the time. I do know that DNA evidence was collected at the scene. I don’t know how much was collected, what condition it remains in, or whether it is usable today. I would absolutely hope that modern forensic resources, including a laboratory such as Othram, could potentially help unlock answers if the available evidence is suitable for additional testing. At this point, I think any legitimate avenue that could help determine what happened to my mom is worth exploring.’

Conclusion: Harry Rippel died at the age of eighty-eight on August 21, 2018 in Olean General Hospital after battling a short illness. According to his obituary, he was married to his wife Donna for forty-three years at the time of his death, and at one point in his younger years he served as ‘constable’ of East Bethany; he was also a past president of the Bethany Volunteer Fire Department and an honorary member/former commander of the Batavia American Legion Glen S. Loomis Post 332. Rip was also a member of the Telephone Pioneers of America and upon moving to Olean, he was a communicant of St. John’s Catholic Church, and a member of the St. Stephen’s Club. He deeply loved animals and enjoyed the company of many pets over the years.

Ann’s mother died of natural causes at the age of eighty-four on July 4, 2014 in North Little Rock, Arkansas (Victoria believes she had either just moved there to be closer to her Uncle Daniel either right before Ann died or shortly afterward). Per her obituary, she worked for the New York Telephone Company for many years, and according to her granddaughter, ‘she loved to travel, which was something we talked about often. She came to every graduation I had, and that meant more to me than I can probably explain. There were so many milestones where I wished my mom could have been there.’  One of Victoria’s favorite stories that her grandmother ever shared about her mom involved Robert Kennedy: Leah helped organize his open-car motorcade through Buffalo’s East Side along Broadway during his 1964 US Senate campaign, and at one point when Ann had been sitting in the car with him, she asked why he had so many children and suggested that maybe he shouldn’t have any more. Vicky said her ‘grandmother was absolutely mortified at the time, but she laughed when she told me the story years later.’ 

In a September 2018 interview with Batavia’s ‘Video News Service,’ Ann’s stepdaughter Nicole Griffin said the family needs closure after all these years, and her ‘mother passed away not knowing what happened to her and her father just recently closed his eyes not knowing what happened either.’ …’We live day by day wondering you know, is this somebody that we hang out with that knows? Is it a drifter that just came through, could it be a member of law enforcement? It’s just frustrating to know that we may never know what happened to her.’

Nicole also said Ann was a great mom and had her issues like anybody else: ‘she was a vibrant person who loved everybody. She would give you anything that she had if you didn’t have it.’ She had been found deceased a month before her son’s graduation from Batavia High School, where he was a star football and basketball player: ‘my brother Bobby and I have been through some troubled times. We have learned to cope with it and learned to deal with it. I feel like my brother Bobby has not had a proper goodbye to his mom.’ … ‘Despite the lifestyle my mom lived, she is still somebody’s mother, somebody’s daughter, somebody’s aunt, cousin or friend. She wasn’t a nobody, she was very much loved and is very much missed.’ Per Janet, her sister ‘was a fireball. Her energy was just like nothing you’ve ever seen.’

Victoria currently lives in Weedsport, NY with her husband and according to her LinkedIn profile, she is ‘a nonprofit leader, trauma-informed advocate, and public speaker who believes in the transformative power of community, mentorship, and hope.’  She has earned two master’s degrees and was voted ‘Mrs. New York American 2024;’ in addition to her many talents, Victoria also has a blog on her website (victoriawejko.com), where she discusses a variety of different topics, ranging from her love of pageantry to guidance and help for those suffering from childhood trauma. About the investigation into her mom’s death she said, ‘the police do contact me every once in a while. There’s never much to report. I still think there’s not an answer. It’s sad and heartbreaking, but I know that she’s at peace.’ According to his Facebook page, Ann’s son Robert lives in Newfane with his wife and four kids, and he loves being a dad.

Twenty-nine-years after Rippel’s tragic was found lying in a few inches of water in Alexander, the circumstances behind her death remain unknow, and the Genesee County Sheriff’s Department is still looking into her case with the hope of one day providing her family with answers. According to Former Chief Deputy Brewster (in 2012), ‘new leads come in periodically. Right now, we are looking out west for a person. There is someone out there who knows what happened. We just have to find that person.’ In April 2026 it was announced that the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office had plans of sending the DNA evidence that was collected at the crime scene out to be analyzed using enhanced forensic techniques, which was made possible through newly acquired grant funding.

I want to conclude this article with one final statement about Ann made by her daughter: ‘I think the most important thing I would want people to understand is that my mom was more than the circumstances of her death: She was an addict. She made mistakes. She was involved in unhealthy relationships. She struggled in ways that ultimately had devastating consequences. But she was also a mother who loved her children. She was funny and vibrant. She loved animals. She made incredible food. She listened to Janis Joplin. She had a security blanket as an adult. She told me she loved me with hand motions. She made me a bed on the couch when I was sick and watched Unsolved Mysteries with me. She was complicated, as all human beings are.’

Works Cited:
‘AKA.’ (September 6, 2018). ‘DNA could now provide answers in an unsolved death from 21 years ago.’ Taken August 7, 2026 from videonewsservices.net
‘AKA.’ (April 10, 2019). ‘Family Creates Facebook Page in the Hopes of Finding Answers in Unsolved Death.’ Taken August 8, 2026 from videonewsservices.net
Batavia News Staff. (April 26, 2026). ‘Sheriff’s office continues to seek leads in 1997 Bethany cold case.’ Taken August 7, 2026 from thedailynewsonline.com
Becker, Mari. (April 23, 2026). ”It’s a constant reminder’: Sister of Genesee County cold case homicide victim Hoping for Justice.’ Taken August 8, 2026 from wkbw.com
Desmit, Scott. (October 15, 2020). ‘Unsolved Mystery: Author uses historical fiction to tackle 23-year-old homicide.’ Updated Oct 15, 2020 TheDailyNewsOnline.com
Desmit, Scott. (November 17, 2016). ‘Still Only Theories: Homicide Believed a Possibility in Deaths.’ Taken August 8, 2026 from thedailynewsonline.com
Desmit, Scott. (July 8, 2020). ‘Coiuple Facing 612 Chargges.’ Taken August 10, 2026 from thedailynewsonline.com
Gallagher, Tommy. (April 23, 2026). ‘Genesee County seeks fresh leads in decades-old Ann Rippel investigation.’ Taken August 8, 2026 from wgrz.com
Gandy, George. (April 23, 2026). ‘Nearly 30 years later, Genesee County death remains unsolved.’ Taken August 8, 2026 from rochesterfirst.com
Leconte, Joseph. (January 1, 1998). ‘Making Criminals Pay: Genesee County leads a national movement to make criminals accountable to their victims.’ Taken August 9, 2-026 from hoover.org
Stack, Leanne. (November 22, 2019). ‘Unsolved: Family seeks justice for Batavia woman found dead in creek.’ Taken August 7, 2016 from wgrz.com

Ann eating cake, celebrating her birthday.
Ann (far right) with her two younger brothers.
Ann on the day of her first communion in the Sunset Terrace neighborhood of Batavia.
Ann in Elementary School.
Ann Rippel’s junior year picture taken from the 1973 Alexander High School yearbook.
A colored version of Ann Rippel’s senior year picture from the 1974 Alexander High School yearbook.
Ann Rippel’s senior year picture taken from the 1974 Alexander High School yearbook.
Annie’s achievements from her time in high school, taken from the 1974 Alexander High School yearbook.
Ann.
Ann Rippel, photo courtesy of The 518 Veil.
Ann with her children, photo courtesy of videonewsservice.net
Ann with her children, photo courtesy of videonewsservice.net
Ann and Victoria.
Ann.
Ann and her daughter, Victoria. Photo courtesy of Victoria Wejko.
Ann and her daughter, photo courtesy of Spectrum Local News.
Some information about Ann’s cold case, taken from WHEC.com.
A map of where Ann was found in Genesee County that was published in The Democrat and Chronicle on April 24, 1997.
What 511 East Main Street looks like as of September 2025, per Google Maps (I drove by on August 19, 2026 and it still looks like this).
The bridge near to where Ann was found, picture courtesy of the ‘Remembering Annie’ Facebook page.
The bridge near to where Ann was found, picture courtesy of the ‘Remembering Annie’ Facebook page.
Picture courtesy of the ‘Remembering Annie’ Facebook page: Janet Rippel (who is running the page) took this picture while standing on Brookville looking east; Gillhooly is off to her right and the gravel road, aside the creek where Ann was found is marked ‘D.’
A bridge close to where Ann’s remains were discovered, photo taken in August 2026.
The dirt parking lot close to where Ann Rippel’s body was discovered, photo taken in August 2026. My educated assumption is that is the farmhouse the mother (and child) called the police from.
The dirt trail that runs parallel to the stream where Ann Rippel’s body was discovered, photo taken in August 2026.
The area where Ann Rippel’s body was discovered, photo taken in August 2026.
A shot looking over the bridge where Ann’s remains were discovered, photo taken in August 2026.
The pathway leading to the water where Ann was recovered, photo taken in August 2026.
An aerial shot of where Ann’s remains were found, courtesty of Google Maps.
A possible Google Maps route from Ann’s residence in Batavia to where her body was recovered in Alexander.
Ann’s sister Janet Rippel standing close to where her remains were recovered doing an interview with Spectrum Local News Reporter Fadia Patterson.
Ann Rippel-Griffin’s final resting place.
A note on Ann’s ‘FindAGrave’ page left by her father and stepmother.
Weather conditions in Alexander on the morning of April 23, 1997, courtesy of ‘wunderground.com’
A screen grab of Rob Thompson’s book about Ann Rippel titled, ‘Candles in the Rain.’ When I asked Victoria about the profile Thompson created about her mother’s killer, she said she has: ‘heard about his theory and, based on what I understand of it, I disagree with the behavioral profile he created. My reason is that it doesn’t align with my understanding of the circumstances surrounding my mom’s death. That said, I also recognize that my own theory about what happened is just that: a theory. I don’t have forensic or investigative credentials, and I don’t want my personal beliefs to be presented as established facts. I think that distinction is important.’
The back of Rob Thompson’s book.
The description about a podcast about Ann’s death that was done by the creators ‘The Devil We Know.’
This is how I learned that Rex Heuermann’s grandfather once lived close to where Ann was found.
The route from Valentine Sota’s house (Rex Heuerman’s uncle) to where Ann was living at the time of her murder.
A Websleuth user named ‘Charlot123’ giving some of their opinions about the Ann Rippel case.
A Facebook screen grab made by Ann’s daughter, Victoria.
A Facebook post made by Ann’s daughter Victoria about the anniversary of her mom’s death.
The pinned post on a Facebook group dedicated to Ann’s memory, ‘Remembering Annie.’
The criminal profile created by Rob Thompson, taken from the Facebook group, ‘Remembering Annie.’
According to Rob Thompson, these are some of the characteristics Ann’s killer possessed, taken from the Facebook group, ‘Remembering Annie.’
A comment made on a WKBW Facebook post about the 1997 murder of Ann Rippel in Alexander.
The side of Chucks Tavern in Batavia, where Ann was supposedly seen during her final hours of life.
A comment made on a WKBW Facebook post suggesting that serial killer Richard Fox was responsible for Ann’s death.
Some comments made on a Facebook post about the anniversary of Ann’s death.
Some more comments on a Facebook post about Ann’s death.
A comment on a Facebook post about Ann.
Part one of an article about the murder of Sammy Griffin that was published in The Democrat and Chronicle on June 14, 1993. 
Part two of an article about the murder of Sammy Griffin that was published in The Democrat and Chronicle on June 14, 1993. 
An article about the murder of Sammy Griffin that was published in The Democrat and Chronicle on June 15, 1993.
A newspaper clipping about Ann speaking out after her son’s tragic death that was published in The Democrat and Chronicle on May 3, 1993.
A newspaper clipping about Ann speaking out after her son’s tragic death that was published in The Buffalo News on June 13, 1993.
A newspaper clipping about Ann speaking out after her son’s tragic death that was published in The Democrat and Chronicle on June 15, 1993.
A newspaper clipping about Ann speaking out after her son’s tragic death that was published in The Democrat and Chronicle on June 14, 1993.
A newspaper clipping about Ann speaking out after her son’s tragic death that was published in The Democrat and Chronicle on June 15, 1993.
A newspaper clipping about Ann speaking out after her son’s tragic death that was published in The Democrat and Chronicle on June 29, 1993.
An article about the murder of Sammy Griffin that was published in The Democrat and Chronicle on May 3, 1994.
Part one of an article about the murder of Sammy Griffin that was published in The Democrat and Chronicle on May 5, 1994.
Part two of an article about the murder of Sammy Griffin that was published in The Democrat and Chronicle on May 5, 1994.
A clipping about the discovery of the body of Ann Rippel that was published in The Democrat and Chronicle on April 24, 1997.
A clipping about the discovery of the body of Ann Rippel that was published in The Times-Union on April 24, 1997.
An article about Ann’s murder, courtesy of the Facebook page, ‘Remembering Annie.’
Ann’s father is listed in his father Harry V. Rippel’s obituary that was published in The Buffalo News on February 4, 1953.
v
I apologize for the poor quality, I refuse to pay for AI to create a clear image of this; according to his draft card, at the time he enlisted in the service Harry William Rippel Junior was single and had a job as a lineman with the New York Telephone Company in Batavia, NY.  He was officially registered in the draft on September 17, 1948 in Batavia, and at the time had been 160 pounds and 6’1” tall; he had brown hair, blue eyes, and a ‘ruddy complexion.’ His next of kin was his father, Harry V. Rippel, his draft number was 30783063, and his box number was 162.
Harry Rippel from the 1948 Batavia High School yearbook.
Harry Rippel and Leah Folts in the NYS Marriage Index.
William Rippels name listed under ‘area deaths’ that was published in The Times-Union on July 24, 1964.
A newspaper article about the death of Ann’s brother William Rippel that was published in The Times-Union on July 24, 1964.
The final resting place of Ann’s brother, William.
Daniel Rippel’s marriage license.
Rip cutting wood, photo courtesy of Ancestry user ‘grammarip.’
A picture simply titled ‘Rip and Holly,’ courtesy of Ancestry user ‘grammarip.’
Harry W. ‘Rip’ Rippel Junior.
Harry W. Rippel Junior during his time as Commander at the Glenn S. Loomis American Legion Post in Batavia, NY; photo courtesy of Ancestry user ‘grammarip.’
Harry and a scooter, photo courtesy of Ancestry user ‘grammarip.’
Harry Rippel’s obituary, courtesy of his Legacy page.
Leah Katherine (nee Folts) Rippel.
Leah K. Rippel.
Leah K. Rippel’s obituary taken from the McAndrew Funeral Homes website.
Some comments on Ann’s mothers Legacy page.
Ann’s stepmother, Donna G. Rippel.
Donna G. Rippel’s obituary taken from ‘caseyhalwighartle.com’
Another shot of Fred Griffin, photo courtesy of Facebook.
Fred Griffin, photo courtesy of Facebook.
An article about Fred Griffin’s time as a jockey at Batavia Downs that was published in The Buffalo News on April 6, 1978.
Fred Griffin’s obituary, published on ‘standardbredcanada.ca’
A clipping about Vincent Macheda’s car getting stolen that was published in The Lancaster Enterprise on March 1, 1951.
A clipping about a fire that took place in Vincent Macheda’s home that was published in The Buffalo News on October 10, 1977.
Ann’s son Sammy at five years old, photo courtesy of Ancestry user ‘grammarip.’
Ann’s son Sammy, who was born on March 20, 1976 in Batavia and he died at the age of seventeen on June 11, 1993.
Sammy Griffin.
Ann’s son, Robert Griffin.
Ann’s son Robert on his wedding day.
Ann’s daughter, Victoria, who is a wonderfully kind person, I had the pleasure of asking her some questions about her mom. She was a pleasure to work wit. About what happened to her mom, she said: ‘thomI think sometimes when someone dies under tragic circumstances, especially when their death remains unsolved, the person themselves can become lost behind the mystery. I would really love for people reading about my mom to remember that she was a whole person and that her life mattered before the night she died.’
Ann’s daughter Victoria Rippel holding a family photograph at her home on Allen Street, photo courtesy of Rocco Laurienzo of ‘The Daily News.’
Ann’s daughter Victoria, photo courtesy of Rocco Laurienzo of ‘The Daily News.’
Nicole Griffin (Ann’s stepdaughter) with her boys Chris Thomas Junior and Jevon Griffin, photo courtesy of ‘videonewsservice.net’
A picture of a then fifteen-year-old Jeremy Fairbanks being led into court by officers that was published in The Democrat and Chronicle on June 15, 1993.
Fairbanks in 2013, photo taken from his Facebook page.
A mugshot of a then forty-one-year-old Jeremy M. Fairbanks taken in December 2019; at the time he was living on Jackson Street in Batavia and had been charged with strangulation in the second degree after an investigation into a domestic dispute on Jackson
street on December 13, 2019.
Jeremy Fairbanks stats on the NYS sex offender registry.
More stats related to Jeremy Fairbanks being on the NYS sex offender registry.
200 South Swan Street, where Jeremy Fairbanks was living a the time he shot and killed Ann’s son, Sammy Griffin.
An article about a jury being chosen for the trial of Jeremy M. Fairbanks in relation to the murder of Sammy Griffin that was published in The Democrat and Chronicle on May 4, 1994.
An article about Jeremy Fairbanks trial being put off that was published in The Democrat and Chronicle on August 6, 1994.
A clipping about Jeremy M. Fairbanks getting a sentence of two to six years after he killed Sammy Griffin that was published in The Times-Union on August 23, 1994.
An article about officers in LeRoy arresting Jeremy Fairbanks after he fled from police that was published in The Democrat and Chronicle on August 15, 1996.

Missing/Murdered Women in Utah, 1965 to 1979.

~ Another Bundy Blog.

Tanya Weber (June 26, 1965, Logan): the seventeen-year-old high school student was strangled to death on June 26, 1965, after returning from a wedding reception; in 2024, DNA testing on her clothing allowed the Logan City Police Department to officially close the case and identify a local suspect who died by suicide shortly after the 1965 crime, Owen Hodges Kimball.

Murders Linked to Myron Lance and Walter Kelbach (December 1966): I am going to touch on the murders of Lance and Kelbach as a whole: in December 1966, parolees Myron Lance and Walter Kelbach committed a brutal, multi-victim murder and robbery spree across Salt Lake County, leaving six people dead over a five-day period. The six total victims included gas station attendants, a taxicab driver, and patrons at a local establishment. On December 21, 1966, the pair entered the tavern, shot and killed patrons James Sisemore, Fred Lillie, and Beverly Mace, and wounded another before fleeing with stolen cash. Police apprehended Lance and Kelbach after a shootout at a downtown bar that killed three others at a roadblock roughly three hours after the final shootings at a roadblock near Parleys Canyon. In 1967, a jury convicted both men of first-degree murder, which resulted in the death penalty, however when the US Supreme Court struck down capital punishment in 1972, their sentences were changed to life in prison. In 1968, both prisoners briefly participated in a major maximum-security breakout from the Utah State Prison, but were quickly recaptured. Myron Lance died of natural causes in 2010 at age of sixty-nine, and Walter Kelbach died in prison in 2018.

Myrtle Bear Pete: (found on February 4, 1967, the Skull Valley Indian Reservation in Tooele County): the remains of the twenty-five-year-old Native American woman were discovered on Skull Valley Road, roughly three-hundred yards from her home in Tooele County, UT. Despite her body showing signs of severe trauma (including a broken arm, shoulder, and potential broken neck), detectives and medical experts at the time determined her death was either an accident or exposure related to a being hit by a car.

Fontella Galloway (found on June 19, 1969, Roosevelt): Galloway’s remains were found at her residence in Roosevelt; her cause of death was suffocation.

Gladys Powers (July 22, 1969, SLC): the victim was found by her husband at approximately 5:00 PM on July 22, 1969: she had been laying on the floor in their hallway, with a fork stuck in her chest.

Loretta Jones (July 30, 1970, Price): the twenty-three-year-old single mother was brutally murdered in her home in Price, which was discovered by her four-year-old daughter. Though a prime suspect named Thomas Edward Egley was arrested shortly after, charges were dismissed due to a lack of evidence; after forty-six years, the case was reopened, her body was exhumed for modern forensic review, and Egley finally pled guilty to her murder in 2016.

Dale Jean Langston (April 11, 1970, Layton): twenty-four-year-old Dale Jean Langston and her two young children, Christine Jeffs (age 6) and Troy Don Langston (age 3), were brutally murdered in their home on Marilyn Drive in Layton, Utah. Key details surrounding the infamous Layton cold case include: The victims were found inside their residence in a pool of blood. Dale Jean Langston had been sexually assaulted and stabbed more than 33 times. Both children were also violently attacked; Christine’s throat was slashed, and Troy was stabbed repeatedly and disemboweled. At the time of the murders, Dale Jean’s husband, Don Langston, was away on a trip to Detroit with his brothers and a friend.

The 1970 Washington County ‘Jane Doe’ (October 1970, Gunlock State Park): in October 1970, Gunlock State Park a road crew employee discovered the badly decomposed, skeletal remains of a woman off Gunlock Road, approximately eighteen miles west of St. George near what is now Gunlock State Park. Her remains were found with a few strands of blonde or light-colored hair, and she had been deceased for months to years before her body was found. An autopsy conducted by the Utah Medical Examiner’s Office left the cause of death as undetermined; unable to identify her, officials interred the woman in an unmarked grave with a headstone reading ‘unknown’ at the Hurricane City Cemetery, where she had remained for over five decades. In January 2026, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office announced that its Investigations Division had officially reopened the case.

Johanna Tabitha Virginia Strong Leatherbury (disappeared on August 20, 1971, Olympia): the seventeen-year-old was a recent graduate of Olympus High School, and on the night she disappeared, had been hanging out at a popular teenage gathering spot known as ‘The Complex’ in SLC; witnesses last reported seeing her in a vehicle with two men and several other passengers.

Carolyn Yvonne Kingston (September 2, 1971, SLC): thirty-year-old Carolyn was a clerk at Natters’ Market in Salt Lake City, and on the afternoon of September 2, 1971, an armed gunman entered the established with the intention of committing a robbery; she had her two small children with her at the time and it’s possible she struggled with the man. She and a deliveryman were both shot; the suspect attempted to shoot a second deliveryman, but the gun did not go off. Carolyn died later as a result of her injuries.

Ann Marie Hammer-Woodward (March 2, 1973, Moab): forty-six-year-old Woodward owned and operated Woody’s Tavern (along with her husband, Leslie H. ‘Woody,’ a local establishment where she was killed after closing time. The case remained unsolved for over five decades until it was officially solved by the Moab Police Department: in May 2024, the results positively identified her killer as Douglas K. Chudomelka, a twenty-five-year-old local mine worker whose DNA had been heavily present on the inside of her pants and on her shirt buttons.

Jennifer Lee Klein (May 25, 1974, Moab): Klein was last seen that Memorial Day Weekend with her family at a campground approximately ten miles north of Moab; her father had gone back to the camper for something, and she was playing in the sand. Everyone’s attention was diverted because of a dogfight and when Jennifer’s mother and five-year-old brother turned around, she was gone. It is believed that she may have fallen into the river, but that has not been confirmed.

Nancy Perry-Baird (July 4, 1975, SLC): the twenty-three-year-old single mother disappeared on Independence Day while working at a gas station on Highway 89 in Layton.

Nancy Wilcox (October 1, 1974, Holladay): the sixteen-year-old vanished in Salt Lake County on October 1, 1974. She is believed to be an early victim of Ted Bundy; her body has never been recovered.

Laura Ann Aime (October 31, 1974, Lehi): the seventeen-year-old disappeared on October 31, 1974, from Lehi, Utah, and her body was later found in American Fork Canyon. Advanced DNA testing officially confirmed Ted Bundy as her killer in April 2026.

Susan Curtis (June 27, 1975, Provo): the fifteen-year-old disappeared while attending a youth conference at Brigham Young University in Provo; she is also highly suspected to be a victim of Ted Bundy.

Debra Diane Smith (February 1976, SLC): seventeen-year-old Debbie’s remains were discovered in April 1976 near the Salt Lake International Airport; her death remains an open cold case investigated by the Salt Lake City Police Department. Historically, investigators and researchers have suspected she may have been a victim of Ted Bundy.

Joy Kathleen ‘Kathy’ Jones-Harmon (March 2, 1976, SLC): Kathy had been out with a friend at the Better Days Bar and left the establishment alone around midnight; investigators located the coat she had worn to the bar inside her apartment, which made them believe she made it home safely that night before being targeted. She was reported missing by her parents after she failed to show up for work the following morning. Four days later a hiker discovered her partially clothed body on the still-frozen slopes between Emigration Canyon and Parleys Canyon, just north of I-80; forensic evidence indicated she had been beaten, raped, and strangled to death.

Orthea Duncan Wamsley (found on May 5, 1976, Neola): Wamsley was abducted from her POE of ‘The Neola Store’ during the middle of a shift; her remains were found north of Neola in a wooded area. Her hands had been bound behind her back, and she had been shot in the head.

Paula R. Scartezina (June 24. 1976, Carbon County): the victim was found deceased in her bed by her husband.

Valaine Briggs (August 18, 1977, SLC):the twenty-one-year-old left her apartment in Salt Lake City to walk to a neighborhood convenience store and never returned. Her body was found shortly after in a remote area of Morgan County. Decades later, her case remains heavily active with investigators continually checking for updated DNA technology leads.

Sharon Lecia Schollmeyer (found on December 5, 1977, SLC): the sixteen-year-old had been found dead inside her Salt Lake City apartment, and had been blindfolded, gagged, and placed in her bathtub. Decades later, advanced DNA testing of the gag identified the building’s former manager, Patrick McCabe, who was subsequently charged with her murder.

Phyllis Ady (disappeared on December 13,1977, Cedar City): fifteen-year-old Ady was reported as missing on December 13,1977, and had been living with her Aunt and Uncle at the time in Cedar City. Her Aunt dropped her off at Hermie’s Drive-In December 12th, where she met an acquaintance she was not seen after that night. On July 2, 1980, skeletal remains were found in an old carrot pit beneath a wooden trap door covered by a mound of dirt in a backyard in Cedar City; they were later identified as Phyllis Ady.

Corazon Cabug Frandsen (February 4, 1978, Unified): the twenty-six-year-old went to dinner with her in-laws on the evening of February 4, 1978, and afterward she picked up a few groceries and then proceeded home to her apartment located at 5272 South Cobble Creek Road. It appears she was first attacked as she got out of her white two-door Mercury Cougar in the parking lot of the apartment complex, and she was found the following morning in the bushes adjacent to the parking lot of a nearby church. She had been severely beaten and was unconscious at the time she was found; she died a short time later at the hospital as a result of blunt force trauma injuries and exposure to the elements.

Marla Rae Scharp (June 29, 1978, Provo): the twenty-one-year-old Brigham Young University student was raped and strangled in her Provo apartment while her roommates were away for only thirty minutes; her case was reopened in late 2019 after it was revealed a previous confession by Henry Lee Lucas was entirely fabricated.

Linda Sue Peterson (disappeared on September 16, 1978, Murray): five and 1/2 months pregnant Peterson was reported missing to the Murray Police Department by her husband, William on September 30, 1978: he said that she had stopped by his work (where he was a pharmacist) and told him she planned a last-minute trip to Kentucky with two unknown ‘girlfriends’ (he said he didn’t know them but strongly thinks one of their names was Susan); he seemingly accepted this news and gave her $300 in cash, and made sure that she also had her master card with her. The credit card was never used after she disappearance and Phil died in 2013.

Patricia Ann Barrett (September 25, 1978, SLC): Patricia was forty-five-years-old at the time of her disappearance, and it is believed she had only been in the Salt Lake area a couple of months prior to vanishing. She was originally from the Texas area had been travelling in the year-and-a-half prior to her death and it’s highly possible she was in the south-east portion of the US (including Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana). Contact with Patricia indicated she may have been homeless prior to her disappearance, and she had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. The last known contact with Barrett was with her children on August 31, 1978, and her nude body was found wrapped in carpeting in the old Salt Lake Beach area near the I-80 by a motorist on October 25, 1978; her cause of death was unable to be determined but may have been strangulation, and her time of death was estimated to be approximately one month prior to being found. The body remained unidentified until June of 2012 when DNA testing confirmed her identity as that of Patricia Barrett.

Mona Lee Ulibarri (disappeared on April 17, 1979, SLC): the victim went to Billy-O’s Bar sometime in the evening on April 17,1979; she had been drinking and playing pool. No one remembers seeing her leave the bar that night and her Volkswagen Bug was found the next day close to the bar; its interior had been incinerated. Ulibarriwas found in the Jordan river twelve days later.

Mary Katherine Miller (June 20, 1979, SLC): Mary was ‘emotional and upset’ at the time she disappeared and was last seen by her daughter in Provo. Her car was located at the face of Timpanogos, it was found stuck. She had a bridge on her upper front teeth.

Sandra Matott (disappeared on July 10, 1979, SLC): the thirty-seven-year-old mother vanished from Salt Lake City; her husband, Warren reported her missing eight days later. In August 2021 her identity was finally uncovered after advanced forensic DNA testing identified her as the ‘Millard County Jane Doe,’ who had been discovered on August 19, 1979 after a hunter named Leonard Watts discovered skeletal remains covered in debris near the Interstate 15 Cove Fort exit in rural Millard County; an exact cause of death was never determined. No one was ever convicted or officially named by police as the killer of Matott, however her husband and Henry Lee Lucas were considered to be the two main suspects; both men died before any charges could be filed.

Rachael Arenaz (last seen alive on October 1, 1979, SLC): on May 8, 1980 two young boys out riding horses stumbled upon the remains of Arenaz lying in an irrigation ditch at 2100 North and 4000 West; her time of death was estimated to be anywhere from six months to one year prior.

Dawn Marie Davis (found on October 23, 1979, South SLC): Dawn’s body was found in her apartment after no one heard from her for about two weeks prior to the discovery.

Missing/Murdered Women in Colorado, 1965 to 1979.

~ Another Bundy Blog.

Marilyn Joyce Pittwood (November 11, 1965, Pueblo): twenty-one-year-old Pittwood was last seen wearing all western style clothing, specifically green pants and a black shirt; she had been traveling from Swissvale, CO to Pueblo along Highway 50.

Paula Sue Steinbach (June 3, 1966, Aurora): when nine-year-old Steinbach vanished from her Aurora neighborhood, prompting a massive 26-day search by law enforcement and hundreds of community volunteers. On June 29, 1966, her body was discovered hidden beneath the floorboards of a backyard shed at 1657 Clinton Street, the residence of the Lange family, who lived directly across the street from the Steinbach’s: fourteen-year-old Charles Brett Lange confessed to the atrocity shortly after the discovery was made and revealed that he had given Paula Sue a ride on his bicycle and taken her to his backyard shed. After binding her limbs with twine and placing electrical tape over her mouth, he attempted to pull down her shorts, but when she started to scream, he panicked and shook her, then strangled her to stop the noise then concealed her body under the floorboards. In March 1967, Lange was found legally insane and sent to the Colorado State Hospital instead of prison; he was released in 1970 after being deemed restored to reason.

Constance Marie Paris (March 26, 1968, Englewood): at roughly 9:45 PM on March 26, 1968, Paris exited a Denver Tramway bus at Girard Avenue and South Broadway and was attacked on the Little Dry Creek path; on March 31, 1968, her body was found in a roadside dump along West Kenyon Avenue, between Sheridan and Lowell Boulevard in Denver. She had been strangled to death.

Constance Marie Paris (March 26, 1968, Englewood): at roughly 9:45 PM on March 26, 1968, Paris exited a Denver Tramway bus at Girard Avenue and South Broadway and was attacked on the Little Dry Creek path; on March 31, 1968, her body was found in a roadside dump along West Kenyon Avenue, between Sheridan and Lowell Boulevard, in the City and County of Denver. She had been strangled to death.

Joyce Neil (April 13, 1969, Golden): the body of seventeen-year-old Neil was found off Golden Gate Park Road down an embankment; she had relocated to Denver from Arizona and had been working as a nurse’s aide at Mercy Hospital and living in a house with several roommates. She had been stabbed and was found wearing white Levi’s jeans, a striped shirt, and moccasin boots. At the time of her murder, she had been hanging out with men in different motorcycle gangs, possibly the Husky Hustlers.

JoAnne Harris (found on November 16, 1969, El Paso): thirty-nine-year-old Harris was last seen at the Ivy Wild Inn on October 13, 1969; her autopsy revealed she died of strangulation.

Jane Doe (January 1, 1970, Durango): on January 1, 1970 a human skull was found in Durango; it’s believed the victim was between the ages of twenty and forty-nine.

Marilee Ruth Burt (February 26, 1970, Littleton): fifteen-year-old Marilee disappeared while walking home to Columbine Valley after cheerleading at a high school basketball game at Goddard Middle School in Littleton; her brother (who had been driving to their residence separately), recalled seeing a man in a van talking to a girl walking on the road. He later realized it was his sister, who was abducted within a five-minute window. A road crew discovered her nude body the following day in Deer Creek Canyon; she had been sexually assaulted and strangled, and her clothes, books, and purse have never been found.

Lena Dowerman (March 9, 1970, Denver): the seventy-one-year-old widow was found beaten and strangled to death in the apartment complex that she managed on Bayaud Street; little to no information is known about her case.

Helen Beckam (October 6, 1970, Denver): on the afternoon of October 6th, 1970, members of the Denver Police Department responded to the residence of forty-three-year-old Beckam after they received a report of a medical emergency; upon arrival, she was found shot to death.

Marianne Weaver & Cara Lee Knoche (October 13, 1970, Denver): the friends tragic deaths took place inside a rented apartment located at 2555 West 37th Avenue, a structure that was originally built as a grand mansion but had deteriorated into a tenement house by the 1970’s  (it is known today as the historic Lumber Baron Inn).

Pamela Ann Williams (March 8, 1971, Commerce City): sixteen-year-old Williams was dropped off by her mother near 12th and Milwaukee Streets, where she stayed with friends for about a week; on March 8, 1971, a Train Engineer spotted Williams partially nude remains in the bushes near Colorado Highway 2 and East 104th Avenue. It was later determined she had been shot.

Willa C. Berks-Brady (March 27, 1971, Denver): the fifty-one-year-old was brutally assaulted and beaten insider her apartment located on the 1400 block of Glenarm; she died because of the injuries sustained during the attack.

Leeora Rose Looney (August 20, 1971, Lakewood): twenty-year-old Looney disappeared during her shift at a doughnut shop, which was later discovered empty with the cash register open; roughly had been $100 missing but her purse and car were both left behind. Her nude, decomposing body was discovered three days later in a remote pasture on a rural ranch in Weld County, and an autopsy revealed she had been raped, shot twice, then eventually strangled. The investigation led detectives to the McCrary’s, an itinerant family from Texas that embarked on a cross-country crime spree that were ultimately linked to somewhere between twenty and twenty-four murders across multiple states; they often targeted young women who were working alone at night in doughnut shops.

Stanley Anita Moore (December 13, 1971, Denver): the twenty-three-year-old mother and nurse’s aide had been found strangled in her home on the 2200 block of Lafayette Street; she had an eighteen-month-old daughter at the time of her death and was described as outgoing and friendly by her family. Her original paper case file was tragically lost in a police station fire, which created incredible hurdles for future detectives investigating the case.

Loraine Wilson (March 27, 1972, Denver): on March 27, 1972, emergency medical personnel responded to the 100 block of Bannock Street on a report of an unresponsive female, and upon arrival they discovered seventy-four-year-old Wilson, who had been discovered deceased in her apartment; as part of the follow-up investigation, it was determined she had been strangled to death.

Deborah Lea Hudler (May 23, 1972, Denver): the thirteen-year-old disappeared from the Fort Logan Mental Health Center in Denver; she had epilepsy, and at the time of her disappearance took medication for seizures. After her father witnessed some concerning behavior at the facility she was residing at, he filed a complaint to have her removed, and she went missing shortly after.

Dolores House (August 16, 1972, Lakewood): that Wednesday, House went to the Westland Shopping Center to run an errand and at some time called her residence and informed her daughter that she was having car trouble but would be home within a half an hour. She was never seen or heard from again, and her vehicle was later located in the Westland Shopping Center parking lot. Witnesses reported seeing the 1967 Oldsmobile, Vista Cruiser being towed into the lot by a white over maroon Ford Bronco; its driver was described as a white male, between 5’11” to 6′ tall, around 160 pounds, with dark blonde hair, graying and thin on top.

Jane Doe (August 27, 1972, Bailey): the victim’s skeletal remains were located on Forest Road 554, about one mile east of the Park/Jefferson County line in unincorporated Jefferson County. She had been wearing a pair of black women’s shoes, one-inch heels (size 6.5 with a B width and pointed toe and an ‘Apollo’ insole), and a pair of pierced gold colored hoop earrings. She also had on her one brass button and four small ‘pearl’ buttons.

Diana Donaldson (August 29, 1972, Denver): Donaldson had been found shot behind a Northeast Denver residence near the intersection of East 29th Avenue and Marion Street; little to no information is known about her case.

Maxine Ansley (found March 3, 1973, Denver): the nude body of Maxine Ansley was found by a maintenance man who saw her feet in the water near a boathouse building in Sloan’s Lake; her hands were bound together with an electrical cord, and her mouth had been taped shut. Investigators also found a coat (that had a slit cut up its back), slippers, and a bra in the lake. Autopsy results indicated that she had died due to suffocation caused by drowning and she had visible wounds on her body.

Elizabeth Katherine Frye (June 9, 1973, Centennial): the forty-five-year-old settled into her normal weekend routine of cleaning her house, and her husband, Herbert, later claimed that he spent part of the morning helping her with chores before he left to go and watch their son’s karate class in Boulder. He told police he returned home late in the day with their son, only to discover his wife brutally bludgeoned to death in their garage. The case sat cold until the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Department cold case team officially reopened it in 2005, and the breakthrough came from a hidden family secret: prior to her death in 1995, Herbert’s mother Lolita revealed to her daughter that her son had privately confessed to killing Elizabeth. Compelled by this confession and life insurance policies totaling over $149,000, a grand jury indicted the then eighty-one-year-old Herbert Duane Frye for first-degree murder in January 2007. The following year a district court judge ruled that the sister’s testimony about the mother’s statement was inadmissible hearsay (as there was no corroborating evidence regarding the circumstances or details of the alleged confession) and because of this, prosecutors were forced to drop the charges against Frye.

Linda Vernell Thompson (June 18, 1973, Colorado Springs): twenty-year-old Linda Thompson had just dropped her young son off at her babysitter’s house near Airport Road when she was shot by an unknown assailant in the front yard of that residence; she managed to walk back inside the house and ask for help, then collapsed on the floor. She was taken to St. Francis Hospital, where she later died of her injuries.

Mary Byrd (found on July 1, 1973, Colorado Springs): on July 1, 1973, the Colorado Springs Police Department received a call about a possible dead body in the Palmer Park area of Colorado Springs. Upon investigating, they found the remains of Mary Byrd, who had been deceased from multiple stab wounds. Later in the investigation it was determined that Byrd came to Colorado Springs to work as a prostitute; several POI were interviewed, however no suspects were ever identified.

Rebecca Hernandez (September 20, 1973, Denver): on the afternoon of September 20, 1971, twenty-three-year-old Rebecca Hernandez and her child were walking home after shopping at the grocery store, when they were confronted by a pair of unknown suspects near 34th Avenue and Marion Street: the suspects shot Rebecca and stole her wallet. She died from the injuries sustained during the robbery.

Brenda Joyce Pierce (August 30, 1973, Colorado Springs): twenty-one-year-old Brenda Pierce was the victim of a stabbing in the 200 block of South Prospect Street.  

June Kowaloff (October 20, 1973, Denver): the twenty-year-old University of Denver mathematics major was found stabbed on her front porch near the 2300 block of South Race Street.

Roxanne Leadbeater (November 19, 1973, Platteville): a fifteen-year-old from Redondo Beach, California whose unidentified remains were found by hunters along the St. Vrain River in Platteville. For fifty-one years, she was known as Weld County’s oldest ‘Jane Doe,’ but in late 2024 investigative genetic genealogists successfully identified her. Her cause and manner of death and how she ended up in Colorado remain unknown.

Beverly Jean Pagarigan (January 1, 1974, Breckenridge): little information is known about this case.

Peggy Ann Reynolds (disappeared on June 4, 1974, Breckenridge): Peggy Reynolds was last seen while boating with three friends on the Blue River near Silverethorne when the rowboat capsized. The other passengers were able to make it safely to shore, but she presumedly drowned. Divers discovered her life jacket about a half mile from where the boat capsized but her body has yet to be recovered. Reynolds was last seen wearing a dark blue turtleneck, plaid shirt, blue corduroy, white underwear and bra, brown hiking boots, her gold wedding band and possibly earrings.

Colleen Kay Burgess (August 31, 1974, Englewood): thirty-one-year-old Burgess left her job at Frito Lay in Denver and never returned home; roughly one week later one of her close friends received a letter (strongly believed to be written by Colleen) that said she had a terminal illness and left home because she didn’t want her husband and four children to see her suffering. It was the last time anyone has heard from her, and she may have left in a 1967 green Chevrolet Nova.

Kathleen Louise Salamat-Baldwin (December 5, 1974, Denver): the twenty-five-year-old was found stabbed to death in her Capitol Hill apartment when a friend went to check on her when they became concerned after several failed attempts were made to contact her.

Diocela Espino-Simpson (December 6, 1974, Denver): twenty-two-year-old Diocela Espino-Simpson had moved to Colorado from Texas about two years prior her murder; during her time in Denver, Diocela and her roommate were employed as seamstresses at Gerry’s Sporting Goods store, and on the day she disappeared she left work early and went home. When her roommate came home later that day, she found Diocela dead inside of their residence.

Betty McDade (December 7, 1974, Denver): twenty-two-year-old Betty McDade was found dead in her apartment; she had been stabbed and strangled. Little to no information is known about her case.

Margaret Renee Armbrust (reported missing on January 1, 1975, Golden): Margaret and her husband Anthony moved from California to an apartment in Golden in late 1973; around that time, they sent letters to members of their church in San Diego to come get their belongings and their puppy, and shortly after they went missing. Anthony was terminally ill at the time of their disappearance and its strongly suspected they went to Colorado with the intentions of killing themselves. On February 11, 1974, two teens hiking in Guanella Pass in Park County came across a body partially frozen in the ice, and in October 2020, the remains were identified as Anthony’s; according to his autopsy, he died not long after he disappeared. It’s believed he was climbing the rocks, looking for a higher place to jump when he slipped and fell to his death. Margaret remains missing.

Caryn Eileen Campbell (disappeared on January 12, 1975, Snowmass Village): originally from MI, twenty-three-year-old Campbell was vacationing in Snowmass Village with her fiancé (Dr. Raymond F. Gadowski DO) and his two children when she was abducted from the lobby of the Wildwood Inn. A month later her beaten body was discovered on Owl Creek Road, just west of the Sinclair Divide; it was this case that led to Ted Bundy’s initial arrest in Colorado.

Elizabeth Gail Andrews (January 18, 1975): at about 5:30 AM on January 18, 1975 Andrews was found lying on the floor of her home; little to no information is known about her case.

Harriett Perez (February 10, 1975, Denver): on the evening of February 10, 1975, the Denver PD were called to the residence of twenty-six-year-old Perez to conduct a welfare check; once inside, they discovered her deceased.

Julie L. Cunningham (March 15, 1975, Vail): Cunningham disappeared early in the evening after she left her Apollo Park apartment to see a friend at a local tavern. Although he was never charged in her case, Ted Bundy confessed to her murder: he said that he lured her into his vehicle by posing as an injured skier on crutches and asked her to help him carry his ski boots to his car. From there, he knocked her unconscious, placed her in his Beetle then drove her to a remote area about eighty miles west of Vail and raped her. He then strangled her and disposed of her body in a shallow grave near Rifle in a high desert area with a circular drive and some large trees; despite Bundy’s confession, her body has never been recovered.

Denise Lynn Oliverson (April 6, 1975, Grand Junction): Oliverson decided to go for a bike ride to visit her mom and dad in Grand Junction after having an argument with her boyfriend; when she didn’t return that evening, he assumed she had decided to stay the night. She never arrived at her parents, and the next day her sandals and bicycle were found under a viaduct near a railroad bridge close to the Colorado River on US Route 50. She is strongly suspected to be a victim of Ted Bundy, who later claimed to have dumped her body into the Colorado River roughly five miles west of Grand Junction.

Sheila Sawyer (found on April 10, 1975, Craig): Sawyer’s remains were discovered at dawn by two truck drivers lying on the east side of US Highway 13 (seven miles south of Craig) close to the old Sterling Hard Ranch; the Moffat County coroner determined she had been shot three times with .38 caliber bullets. She had been working as a clerk at Scotty’s Liquors the night before her body was discovered, and at around 11 PM a customer found the store unattended and reached out to police.

Melanie Suzanne Cooley (April 15, 1975, Nederland): eighteen-year-old Cooley was last seen hitchhiking, and had last been last seen wearing jeans, a blue jean jacket with an embroidered eagle on the back, and tan colored boots; a road maintenance worker found her remains on May 2, 1975 in Coal Creek Canyon. The coroner determined she had had been hit over the head repeatedly with a large rock.

Linda Benson & Kelley Ketchum (July 24, 1975, Grand Junction): twenty-four-year-old Linda Benson and her five-year-old daughter Kelley were found dead by a neighbor in their Chateau Apartment: Linda was found in the master bedroom, and Kelley was in the hallway. Both victims had been stabbed multiple times. On October 27, 2010, Jerry Nemnich was convicted of first-degree murder in relation to their deaths.

Mary Theresa Gushurst (November 18, 1974, Denver): on the morning of November 18, 1974 eighty-one-year-old Mary Gushurst and her husband were inside of their residence in the 100 block of South Elm Street when they were attacked by an unknown intruder. They were both severely beaten and required immediate hospitalization: Mr. Gushurst survived his injuries, but his wife succumbed to them one month later.

Portia Leon Perez (March 19, 1975, Commerce City): Perez was reported as missing to the Denver PD by her son, Herb Denton; several months later, the black/dark blue vehicle she owned was found abandoned on the street. As was customary, it was towed to the impound lot and during a customary search, she was found deceased in the trunk.

Marjorie Sue Fithian (June 23, 1975, Greeley): Fithian and her eighteen-month-old son, Dylan Sage Fithian, were supposed to return from a family visit in Denver to their home in Greeley but they never boarded their bus; instead, she was found dead from a gunshot wound to the head later the same morning on a desolate gravel road about fifty miles from Denver. Her son sat nearby and was thankfully uninjured (despite sitting amidst broken glass); he had been found clutching her hand.

Kathleen Tennant (June 30, 1975, Pueblo): after an unknown car pulled into her driveway, Tennant was fatally shot in front of her home and she was approaching it (there are many neighboring witnesses that corroborate this story); the assailant was driving a late 1960’s greenish-blue Mustang.

Bertha Behrent (July 1, 1975, West Denver): eighty-six-year-old Behrent lived alone in her residence located at the 1700 block of Irving Street, and after her a family member was unable to make contact with her, they reached out to the Denver PD; upon entry she was found deceased, and it was determined she had been beaten and strangled.

Shelley Kay Robertson (July 1, 1975, Arvada): the twenty-four-year-old was determined to be missing after she failed to show up for her job in Golden; on August 21, 1975, two mining students discovered her naked and badly decomposed remains roughly five hundred feet inside an abandoned mine on Berthoud Pass. She is strongly suspected to have been a victim of Ted Bundy.

Vinnie Lee Newbury (July 23, 1975, Commerce City): Newbury was found deceased in her apartment located at 5591 East 70th Avenue; she was last seen the night before by several friends who had visited her at her residence. Little to no information is known about her case.

Rebecca Bell (disappeared on August 25, 1975, Denver): on August 24th, 1975, nineteen-year-old Rebecca Bell went to spend the night at a family member’s home, and the following day she was unaccounted for and a Missing Person’s Report was filed with the Denver PD. On August 26th, 1975, construction workers discovered her remains in the South Platte River near the 15th Street Bridge, and an autopsy determined that Rebecca’s death was the result of drowning.

Patricia Botham & Linda, Chad, and Troy Miracle (October 1975, Grand Junction): on the night of August 22, 1975, twenty-five-year-old Patricia Botham, twenty-four-year-old Linda Miracle, and Linda’s sons, five-year-old Troy and three-year-old Chad vanished from their neighboring homes under mysterious circumstances (food was left on the kitchen tables, and no cars or extra clothing were taken). Linda’s remains were found in the Gunnison River on September 26, 1975 (roughly 18 to 25 miles southeast of Grand Junction) and Patricia was discovered on October 2, 1975; the following day, the bodies of Chad and Troy were also found in the river. They had been weighted down with pieces of railroad iron tied with coaxial cable and thrown from a bridge: the women had been asphyxiated, and the two young boys had been shot. Patricia’s husband, Kenneth H. Botham Jr., was arrested and charged with the murders and in 1976, a Mesa County jury convicted him of first-degree murder for his wife’s death and second-degree murder for the deaths of Linda, Troy, and Chad. Though his first conviction was overturned by the Colorado Supreme Court, he was retried, convicted again in 1982, and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Teree Becker (found on December 6, 1975, Brighton): the twenty-year-old went missing after leaving home on December 4, 1975 to go visit her boyfriend, who was incarcerated at the Adams County Detention Center; two days later two men out riding motorcycles found her remains in a Westminster field located at approximately 100th Avenue and Lowell Boulevard; she was partially clothed, had been raped and asphyxiated. In 2024, DNA technology officially identified her killer as Thomas Martin Elliot, a career criminal who died by suicide in 1991.

Deborah Kathleen Tomlinson (December 27, 1975, Grand Junction): Tomlinson was found in her apartment (located at 1029 Belford Avenue) lying partially clothed in a bathtub. She had been sexually assaulted, bound and strangled, and a gash on her forehead suggests she may have fought with her attacker; authorities have no evidence that a weapon was used. The manager of the apartment complex found Tomlinson’s body around 6:00 PM after she used a pass key to enter her locked unit when she grew worried that repeated phone calls were not answered, the bedroom window was left open, and the toilet was left running.

Billie E. Harris (May 29, 1976, Denver): on the afternoon of May 29, 1976, members of the Denver Police Department responded to a home located in the Baker neighborhood on a report of a shooting. Once inside the residence, the officers found fifty-six-year-old Billie E. Harris shot to death along with her roommate, Cecil Richards.

Gayle Noelle Page (September 5, 1976, Brighton): on September 5, 1976, Page was found near 100th Avenue and Highway 2 just west of the railroad tracks; she was last seen on August 26, 1976.

Doris Evon McKinley (September 7, 1976, Denver): on the evening of September 7, 1976, thirty-four-year-old McKinley was visiting friends on the 3000 block of Welton Street in Denver’s Five Points Neighborhood. While they were listening and dancing to music, an unknown suspect fired a shot into the residence; she was struck by the round and immediately collapsed. Police and emergency medical personnel responded and transported her to a local hospital, but she died from the gunshot wound she sustained.

Rebecca Ann Kellison (disappeared on June 19, 1976, Denver): Kellison left her sister’s residence in Denver and it’s possible that she may have been hitchhiking home to Aurora. On December 26, 1977, some of her shoes, some clothes, her blue shoulder purse, and her Armed Forces Dependent ID card were found buried in a rural farmer’s field in Adams County, Colorado.

Mary DeLaughter-Panzan (June 27, 1976, Denver): at the time of her murder Mary was a runaway from out of state and lived at various places around the Capitol Hill area; she went by both Mary Panzan or Mary DeLauther. On June 27, 1976, police officers in the parking lot across the street from The White Spot Diner heard what sounded like a gunshot; upon investigating they found the body of twenty-three-year-old DeLaughter, who had suffered from a gunshot wound. Further investigation found Mary and a friend were walking by the diner when multiple men in a car pulled up and told them to get in, and when they refused, the driver pulled out a gun and shot her.

Sharon Marie Copp (August 16, 1976, Pueblo): on August 16, 1976, a fisherman discovered a plastic bag on the banks of the Pueblo Reservoir that contained human remains; hours later, another plastic bag was found containing more remains approximately twenty miles away on Pueblo’s east side. The investigation quickly identified the victim as Sharon Marie Copp, a thirty-four-year-old mother of three girls. Copp had been beaten and sexually assaulted, and it was determined that she died from blunt force trauma.

Pamela Jean Bluemel (disappeared on December 11, 1976, Lakewood): on the evening of Saturday, December 11, 1976, Pamela Jean Bluemel was last seen attending the joint wedding reception of two sisters and two brothers at the VFW Hall located in the City of Lakewood. On August 18, 1977, her body was located near Balsam and West Colfax Avenue, in Lakewood; her cause of death is unknown.

Tina Grant (December 26, 1976, Denver): during the early morning hours of December 26, 1976, a passer-by noticed the body of twenty-two-year-old Grant lying on a dirt field just off the road near West 7th Avenue and Alcott Street.

Lillian Hurtado (July 8, 1976, Denver): on July 8, 1976, the Denver Police and Fire Departments responded to the Connection Bar at the intersection of Alameda Avenue and South Zuni Street to a structure fire; twenty-two-year-old waitress Lillian Hurtado was one of two people that died due to smoke inhalation, and her death was being investigated as an arson-related homicide due to its suspicious nature.

Maria Loraine Honzell (February 7, 1977, Colorado Springs): fourteen-year-old Maria Honzell was found stabbed to death on February 7, 1977 at the Suncrest Apartments, where she was babysitting: the woman who had hired her to watch her children made the discovery when she returned home, and she notified the Colorado Springs Police Department that she’d found Maria dead of stab wounds on the floor.

Beverly Jean McCool (February 7, 1977, Lakewood): on February 6, 1977 at approximately 9:00 PM, Beverly McCool left her residence on West Warren Drive to go for a walk; she has not been seen or heard from since.

Zdenka Kalendovsky (February 7, 1977, Denver): forty-year-old Zdenka Kalendovsky was a physician at a medical clinic located near the intersection of East Colfax Avenue and Washington Street; on the day she was killed after she finished work, she walked across the clinic’s parking lot to her vehicle, and it was at this point that an unknown suspect wielding a firearm confronted her: he shot Dr. Kalendovsky, and then immediately fled the area. The victim was transported to a local hospital but died because of her injuries.

Patricia Bowden (June 7, 1977, Sedalia): on June 7th, 1977, forty-one-year-old Patricia Bowden and her husband, Roy Bowden, were found dead in their home; there was no sign of forced entry into their house and it’s assumed that they were familiar with their killer.

Christine Michelle Jones (September 1, 1977, Boulder): at about 1:00 PM on September 1, 1977, Boulder County Sheriff Deputies responded to a reported drowning in Left Hand Creek, one and one half miles above Buckingham Park in Left Hand Canyon: the body of Christine Jones had been found face down in the creek by her family, who went to find her after she did not return home from washing her car at the creek. She was suffered from a single gunshot wound to the back of her head.

Carol Lynn Scott (September 19, 1977, Colorado Springs): on December 19, 1977 the body of eighteen-year-old Carol Scott was found near the City of Colorado Springs Municipal Service Center on its access road; she may have been kidnapped from a phone booth while making a call on December 18, 1977, as a friend of hers reported being on the phone with her when they heard a verbal argument between Carol and an unknown male. Further investigation led police to believe there was a struggle at the phone booth.

Irene Cruz (November 2, 1977, Denver): the twenty-eight-year-old rented a room at the Bean Hotel, which was located on the 2100 block of Arapahoe Street; on November 3, 1977 housekeeping staff found her deceased in her room, and it was determined that she had been strangled.

Maria Abbatiello-Smith (November 20, 1977, Denver): six days after thirty-year-old Smith was reported missing, her body was discovered in a vacant field close to the 700 block of Mariposa Street.

Katherine Sue Barnum (February 19, 1978, Aurora): twenty-four-year-old Barnum resided in an apartment near the 900 block of South Salem Street with Randal Francis Arnold; the two had been living together for approximately two months at the time she went missing. When he was questioned, Arnold speculated that she went to California with an unknown male and joined the ‘Hare Krishna’s'(which is a mystical, monotheistic sect of Hinduism formally and is a Western branch of Gaudiya Vaishnavismy). She was reported missing by her sister, Bonnie Buckley the following year, and a DEA informant provided information that her body may be somewhere a mine shaft near Central City.

Baby Jane Infant (May 18, 1978, Greeley): little information is known about this case.

Jeanette Louise Baca (June 11, 1978, Conifer): Baca’s nude remains were found by two hikers at the bottom of a ten-foot embankment, roughly 6.7 miles south of US Hwy 285 on Foxton Road; it was suspected she had been deceased somewhere between five and ten days. On June 20, 1978, some of her personal belongings were found roughly a mile and a half from where her body was recovered, and some of them had been burned.

Alma Anderson (July 10, 1978, Denver): eighty-three-year-old Alma was the target of a violent purse-snatching incident in the 1300 block of South Federal Boulevard in Denver, outside a Skaggs Drug Store; she suffered severe injuries from the attack and tragically passed away three days later.

Pauline Uhl (August 4, 1978, Denver): the fifty-six-year-old was found unresponsive inside her Capitol Hill home located near the 800 block of East 11th Avenue; she had been strangled to death.

Barbara J. Bradley (August 30, 1978, Trinidad): Bradley was twenty-nine-years-old; little to no information is known about her case.

Vivian Christine Velarde (October 27, 1978, Denver): Velarde was found stabbed and lying in the street near a vehicle parked in the Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Madeleine Livaudais (December 7, 1978, Denver): thirty-three-year-old Livaudais was in her north east Denver home (located near the 1600 block of Poplar Street) when an unknown suspect came to her front door, forced his way inside, and stabbed her to death.

Christine Cashman (December 8, 1978, Denver): shortly after midnight on December 8, 1978 a call to Denver 911 was placed reporting gunshots in the area of West 7th Avenue and Klamath Street; the reporting officers found thirty-three-year-old Christine Cashman, who had been shot to death.

Peggy Sue Gaylord (found on December 12, 1978, Colorado Springs): eighteen-year-old Peggy was last seen hitchhiking south on Highway 115, south of Colorado Spring; her body was discovered along Barrett Road and it was later determined that she died of blunt force trauma.

Bonita Raye Morgan (March 27, 1979, Denver): Morgan was found strangled behind the Dewitt Hotel in the alley of the 1500 block at Glenarm and Tremont Streets; little to no information is known about her case.

Martha Ruth Brunhoff (June 3, 1979, Littleton): around 1:30 PM on Monday, June 4, 1979, a neighbor and friend of Brunhoff’s returned to her home on South Pearl Street to feed her cats while on her break from work, and when she walked past Martha’s apartment (which was located on the same block) she noticed that one of her windows was broken. After she attempted to contact her with no success, the friend ran returned to her apartment with her spare key, and when she opened the front door (which had a chain lock on the inside) she could see Brunhoff, slouched over on her sofa. She then ran to the back door, unlocked it and went inside, where she found Martha covered in blood with a gunshot wound to the head: she was sitting with her left leg crossed over her right with a half burnt cigarette in her left hand, and a television guide in her lap. Further investigation revealed that the gunshot penetrated the window from the outside in, and an analysis of the lead projectile obtained from the crime scene concluded that it came from either a .38 Special or 357 Magnum bullet; the weapon used most likely was a Colt revolver, or a Garate Anitua. Some residents that lived close to Brunhoff reported they heard a possible gunshot between 9:30 PM and 10:30 PM on June 3, 1979.

Sandra JoAnn Rushing (June 15 , 1979, Lakewood): Rushing was driving her sister’s vehicle when she was shot and killed; no suspects have ever been formally charged, and the true motive behind the shooting remains an unresolved mystery.

Kimberly J. Grabin (August 18, 1979, Centennial): on the morning of August 18, 1979, Arapahoe County Sheriff’s deputies were called to a field near Interstate-70 and Gun Club Road, where they discovered the remains of seventeen-year-old Kimberly Grabin: she had been beaten, strangled and left on the side of the road.

Marie Ann Blee (November 22, 1979, Craig): fifteen-year-old Blee was last seen alive on November 21, 1979 at a party at a trailer in the Shadow Mountain Village Mobile Home Park; she told a friend that she had a ride home with an unidentified driver during sometime in the early morning hours and was last seen wearing a purple collared V-neck top, a brown velvet vest, jeans, and a leather rope necklace.

Evelyn Kay Day (November 27, 1979, Greeley): little to no information is known regarding this case.

Judy Hird (April 11, 1979, Greeley): little to no information is known regarding this case.

Jeanette Marie Jones (April 26, 1979, Aurora): the Aurora Police responded to a shooting in the 1500 block of Alton Street and found the victim in the stairway area with a single gunshot wound to the back; a suspect was seen fleeing from the scene.

Norma Jean Halford (August 24, 1979, Georgetown): twenty-one-year-old Halford was last seen on August 24, 1979 in Georgetown, Colorado. Her vehicle was found abandoned 6.4 miles up Guanella Pass Road on August 22, 1979; it had been tagged by the Colorado State Patrol.

Linda Ruth Hutchings (September 1, 1979, Golden): a family out picking cattails found the remains of seventeen-year-old Hutchings down an embankment, near Indiana and West 82nd Avenue; she had been reported missing to the Arvada Police Department on August 15, 1979 and was last seen at a friend’s apartment in Lakewood wearing white jeans, a white peasant-style top with embroidery, and tennis shoes (and possibly also a red coat). She left the residence in the early morning hours of August 15th and left a note telling them she was headed home; friends believed she had intended to hitchhike.

Roxanne ‘Dixie’ Valverde (December 18, 1979, Denver): on the evening of her death thirty-four-year-old Valverde met friends at some local bars to watch the Denver Broncos game; the following morning, her body was found near the roadway at East 46th Avenue and Glencoe Street. She had been strangled.

Rita Sellers (December 16, 1979, Golden): little to no information is known about this case.

Gary Leon Ridgway, Case Files: Part Three.

~ Another Bundy Blog.

Documents courtesy of the King County Sheriff’s Department.

01-1-10270-9Download
01-1-10270-9_ Adjudicated Victims ListDownload
03-263862_PressDownload
11-1-01287-1Download
86-000818_ PressDownload
1985 PRDownload
Justice and the Green River Killer_Reichart & MalengDownload
Maleng Statement on Ridgway PleaDownload
Plea Agreement AnnouncementDownload
Press Release_ 1Download
Press Release_ 2Download
Reichert Statement on Guilty PleasDownload

David Richard Berkowitz, Arraignment Details.

~ Another Bundy Blog.

David Berkowitz was arraigned in the Criminal Court of New York, County of Kings on August 11, 1977 on charges of murder in the second degree, attempted murder in the second degree, assault in the first degree, and criminal possession of a weapon, and was represented by attorneys Phillip Peltz and Leon Stern; the prosecution was represented by DA Eugene Gold and Assistant DA Ronnie Aiello. Berkowitz was charged with killing Stacey Moskowitz and injuring Robert Violante with a .44 caliber revolver on July 31, 1977. 

321987865-Son-of-Sam-Arraignment-MinutesDownload

Documents Related to Dennis Rader & Sedgwick County Court.

~ Another Bundy Blog.

Documents related to Dennis Rader/BTK post-arrest, courtesy of Murderpedia.

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Information Related to Bryan Kohberger Taking Back his Guilty Plea.

~ Another Bundy Blog.
Page one of the questionnaire related to the affidavit related to the retraction of Bryan Kohberger’s guilty plea.
Page two of the questionnaire related to the affidavit related to the retraction of Bryan Kohberger’s guilty plea.
Page three of the questionnaire related to the affidavit related to the retraction of Bryan Kohberger’s guilty plea.
Page four of the questionnaire related to the affidavit related to the retraction of Bryan Kohberger’s guilty plea.
Page one of the affidavit related to the retraction of Bryan Kohberger’s guilty plea.
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Page two of the affidavit related to the retraction of Bryan Kohberger’s guilty plea.
Page two of the affidavit.
The text of what the affidavit said.
The transcription of the handwritten affidavit.