Author Topic: GRANBY JANE DOE: F, 19-26, found in Hampshire County, MA - 15 November 1978  (Read 467 times)

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The victim was found on Amherst Street, about an 1/8 mile off Amherst Road and about 1/2 mile south of Route 116 in Granby. She had been shot in the temple and buried in a shallow grave under a log. A brown leather belt was found around her neck, and reportedly used to drag her body to the burial site.

Inquiries were made at local colleges, as Route 116 is and was often used by college students hitchhiking or traveling between Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley and Amherst-area colleges, but no women were reported missing.

She was laid to rest in West Ceremony, the simple white wooden cross reading "Unknown Girl" replaced with a headstone purchased by the citizens of Granby.

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http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/720ufma.html

Case File: 720UFMA
The Doe Network




Unidentified Female
Date of Discovery: November 15, 1978
Location of Discovery: Granby, Hampshire County, Massachusetts
Estimated Date of Death: 3-12 months prior
State of Remains: Unknown
Cause of Death: Homicide by gunshot

Physical Description
** Listed information is approximate

Estimated Age: 19-26 years old
Race: Unknown
Gender: Female
Height: Unknown
Weight: Unknown
Hair Color: Light blonde or light brown, long.
Eye Color: Unknown

Distinguishing Marks/Features: Chunky build.

Dentals: Unknown. Her front teeth had noticeable decay.
Fingerprints: Unknown.
DNA: Unknown.
Clothing & Personal Items
Clothing: A short sleeved shirt with a green collar and green swan on the front (size 14-16). There were no labels or other identifying markers on it.

Jewelry: Unknown

Additional Personal Items: Unknown

Case History
The victim was found on Amherst Street, about an 1/8 mile off Amherst Road and about 1/2 mile south of Route 116 in Granby. She had been shot in the temple and buried in a shallow grave under a log. A brown leather belt was found around her neck, and reportedly used to drag her body to the burial site.

Inquiries were made at local colleges, as Route 116 is and was often used by college students hitchhiking or traveling between Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley and Amherst-area colleges, but no women were reported missing.

She was laid to rest in West Ceremony, the simple white wooden cross reading "Unknown Girl" replaced with a headstone purchased by the citizens of Granby.

Investigating Agency(s)
If you have any information about this case please contact;

Agency Name: Granby Police Department
Agency Contact Person: Chief Alan Wishart
Agency Phone Number: 413-467-9222
E-Mail
Agency Name: Northwest District Attorney's Office
Agency Contact Person: N/A
Agency Phone Number: 413-586-5150

Agency Case Number: case nbr here
NCIC Case Number: N/A
NamUs Case Number: Not listed
Former Hot Case Number: 1624
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Information Source(s)

Granby Police Department
The Republican News Archive
Gazettenet.com News Archive

Akoya

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http://z10.invisionfree.com/usedtobedoe/ar/t66882.htm

On September 26, 1998 over two dozen citizens in Granby, MA came to a grave in West Cemetery to celebrate the life of a woman none of them ever knew.

Nearly twenty years earlier on November 15, 1978, the body of a woman was discovered in a shallow grave just off of Route 116. Police estimate that she was between 19-26 with blonde or light brown hair and a tooth decay problem. Although the body had decayed, evidence suggested she was around a size 14/16. She had been shot in the temple and then dragged with a brown leather belt tied around her neck to a burial site a half a mile south of Route 116 near Amherst Rd. She had been buried under a log for 3 months to a year before being found.

Initially police believed it was possible that she was a college student-- The University of Massachusetts, Amherst College, Hampshire College, and Mount Holyoke College are all on the same road as the burial site. At the time it was especially common for women from the all-female Mount Holyoke College to hitchhike on the road to get to Amherst. However, inquiries about missing female students proved fruitless.

Although it is not a spot that only locals would know about, this portion of Route 116 is far enough from the highway that it seems likely that the woman, or her killer, were somehow affiliated with the area.

For twenty years, the burial site of the woman was simply marked by a white cross reading "Unknown Girl". Then in 1998, as the twenty year anniversary of the woman's death approached, citizens of the small Massachusetts town where she was found raised funds for a proper grave stone in West Ceremony and had a service in her honor promising that although her identity was not known, her memory would never be forgotten.

If you have any information that may lead to the identity of this Jane Doe please call Louis Berry of the Granby Police at 413-467-9222.
http://newenglandunsolved.blogspot.com/200...-granby-ma.html

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http://z10.invisionfree.com/usedtobedoe/ar/t66882.htm

Body believed homicide victim

By Robert Perkins
Union Staff

GRANBY Hampshire-Franklin District Attorney John Callahan said Thursday a decomposed body discovered off Route 116 here Wednesday afternoon was an apparent homicide victim.

Callahan said there were signs of injury to the body which was discovered by a person cutting wood.

Dr. William Dean, medical examiner, and a state pathologist were scheduled to perform an autopsy to determine the cause of death and identity of the victim.

Granby Police Chief John R. Kirchhof siad Thursday the body was discovered about one-eighth of a mile from Amherst Road, one-half mile south of Route 116.

Clothing discovered with the body indicated it was a female. However, the body was so decomposed that "about the only thing left is a skeleton," Kirchhof said.

He said no identification was found on the body or clothing and that police were hoping the autopsy would help identify the person.

Kirchhof declined to comment on Callahan's statemen that the District Attorney's office is viewing the death as a homicide.

The body was discovered about 5 p.m. Wednesday afternoon near a gravel pit in a heavily wooded area of this Hampshire County community.

The area where the body was found is about half way between Five Corners in Granby and the Route 116 "Notch" leading into Amherst.

The body was removed to the Ryder Funeral Home in South Hadley Falls, where the autopsy was to be performed.

Granby police said they had no reports of missing persons from their community who would fit the sketchy information they had about the remains.

Kirchof said that no pocketbook, wallet or other material that would give a clue to the identity of the dead person was found.

The chief said the death is being investigated by both Granby police and Callahan's office.

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http://z10.invisionfree.com/usedtobedoe/ar/t66882.htm


Daily Hampshire Gazette (Northampton, MA)
June 17, 1998
Section: News
Page: 11

A final resting place, 20-year-old murder case goes unsolved;
Granby tries to raise funds for grave marker


GRANBY - The grave of an unidentified murder victim found in Granby nearly 20 years ago is marked by a white wooden cross that simply reads: Unknown Girl.
Now the Commissioners of Burial Grounds in Granby want to mark her final resting place with something more permanent, more poignant.
Her initial resting place off Amherst Street near the intersection with Route 116 was a grisly scene. She was shot in the temple, shoved under a log and left to rot. Her decomposed body was found Nov. 15, 1978, by loggers working in the area.
Police never learned her name, never identified her killer. State police refused to release records of the case because, according to their lawyer, it is still an open and ongoing case. The officer who investigated the case retired several years ago.
"She probably was not from the area," said Granby police detective David Trompke. "Otherwise, I'm sure she would have been identified."
She was wearing jeans and a short-sleeve, polka-dot blouse with a swan embroidered on the back, Trompke said, which are among the few clues to her identity.
According to newspaper reports from that time, state police said an autopsy revealed that the woman had been dead three to 12 months, was white, with long brown hair, and between 19 and 26 years old.
She had a "chunky build," size 14-16, and her front teeth were noticeably decayed.
In addition to the swan blouse, according to newspapers, she was wearing vinyl wedgie-style shoes, a blue tank top and a black windbreaker. A brown leather belt found around her neck was used to drag the body to its original shallow grave.
Inquiries were made at local colleges, papers reported, as Route 116 is and was often used by college students hitchhiking or traveling between Mount Holyoke College, in South Hadley and Amherst-area colleges, but no women were reported missing.
Police asked for the public's help in the first week of January, 1979, after the lone lead in the case did not pan out, newspapers said. A motel operator had reported that a woman answering the description stayed at his establishment in early 1978 but she was located alive and well.
DNA tests would not be useful, Trompke said, because scientists need to compare the results to another sample, perhaps of a direct relative, and police have no idea where to look.
Tony Regan found out about the unmarked grave when he became a cemetery commissioner five years ago. He made the white cross that stands at her West Street Cemetery grave and decorates it each Christmas and spring. Others people occasionally leave flowers, he said, but he does not know who.
Now Regan and fellow commissioner Robert Kingsley are trying to raise money to place a permanent stone marker there.
It will cost about $300, Regan said. If they raise enough money they might have the stone inscribed with an epitaph, he said, or a poem, to remind those who see it that that life, no matter how short or anonymous, is precious.
"So she isn't completely forgotten," Regan said. "She had a mother and father."

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Daily Hampshire Gazette (Northampton, MA)
September 26, 1998
Section: News
Page: 16

Stone, service in Granby honor unknown victim

GRANBY - A memorial service was held Thursday to mark the placement of a stone at the grave of a murder victim, dead for 20 years and never identified.
More than two-dozen people attended the service at the West Street Cemetery for the woman, said to be in her 20s. The stone was paid for with donations.
The ceremony was led by the Rev. Merrilyn Holcomb, pastor of the Granby United Church of Christ.
"I knew there were compassionate people in this town," Holcomb said to those assembled. "Your presence, these flowers, this stone attest to that."
"A stone has been tenderly placed before us today," Holcomb said. "It is beautiful and sturdy, an everlasting symbol of this community's care for an unnamed woman whose hopes and dreams, troubles and anxieties, are not known to us."
"We do not know the tragedy of her death and we do not know about her life, but we can honor her as a person and hope she is in God's care," she said.
Cemetery commissioners Robert Kingsley and Anthony Regan decided earlier this year to put a stone at the grave and began collecting money in May. Once the story was publicized, Regan said, they received more donations than they needed.
"I thought it might be kind of a chore, but people were really kind," Kingsley said.
"I had three people who wanted to buy me any stone we wanted, but I said no, because we already had so many donations we had to turn people away," Regan said. They collected a total of $700.
The pink granite stone that reads "Unknown; Nov. 18, 1978; In God's Care," was received from the Amherst Monument Co, in Hadley, for about $500.
"They wanted to give it to me, but I said no," Regan said.
"We're saving the rest of the money to buy her some flowers occasionally," he said.
The date on the stone marks the woman's interment. She is thought to have died three to 12 months earlier.
Her body was found by loggers in November 1978. She had been shot in the temple and shoved under a log off Amherst Street. State Police searched for clues to her identity and that of her killer, but never really had any solid leads, according to newspaper reports at the time.
Police asked for the public's help in January 1979 and described the victim as 19 to 26 years old, white, with long brown hair and a chunky build. State Police refused to discuss the case earlier this year, calling it an open and ongoing investigation.

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https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=55589771

Girl Unknown

Birth: unknown
Death: 1978
[​IMG]
On September 26, 1998 over two dozen citizens in Granby, MA came to a grave in West Cemetery to celebrate the life of a woman none of them ever knew.

Nearly twenty years earlier on November 15, 1978, the body of a woman was discovered in a shallow grave just off of Route 116. Police estimate that she was between 19-26 with blonde or light brown hair and a tooth decay problem. Although the body had decayed, evidence suggested she was around a size 14/16. She had been shot in the temple and then dragged with a brown leather belt tied around her neck to a burial site a half a mile south of Route 116 near Amherst Rd. She had been buried under a log for 3 months to a year before being found.

Initially police believed it was possible that she was a college student-- The University of Massachusetts, Amherst College, Hampshire College, and Mount Holyoke College are all on the same road as the burial site. At the time it was especially common for women from the all-female Mount Holyoke College to hitchhike on the road to get to Amherst. However, inquiries about missing female students proved fruitless.

Although it is not a spot that only locals would know about, this portion of Route 116 is far enough from the highway that it seems likely that the woman, or her killer, were somehow affiliated with the area.

For twenty years, the burial site of the woman was simply marked by a white cross reading "Unknown Girl". Then in 1998, as the twenty year anniversary of the woman's death approached, citizens of the small Massachusetts town where she was found raised funds for a proper grave stone in West Ceremony and had a service in her honor promising that although her identity was not known, her memory would never be forgotten.

If you have any information that may lead to the identity of this Jane Doe please call Louis Berry of the Granby Police at 413-467-9222.

Inscription:
Unknown // Nov 18 1978 // In God's Care

Burial:
West Street Cemetery
Granby
Hampshire County
Massachusetts, USA

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http://www.wcvb.com/article/woman-works-to-identify-shooting-victim-in-1978-case/8226301

Woman works to identify shooting victim in 1978 case

By PATRICK JOHNSON, The Republican of Springfield

Updated: 7:50 AM EDT Sep 5, 2015



The grave stone in Granby's West Street Cemetery, where the remains of an unidentified woman have been buried since 1978. Originally the grave was marked with a wooden cross, but in 1998 people in Granby donated a permanent marker.
SOURCE: Patrick Johnson | pjohnson@repub.com

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. —

For about two years, Kelly Dillon has been preoccupied by thoughts of a young woman she calls G.G. - short for "Granby Girl" - but who is known by just about everyone else as "Jane Doe."

"I find it appalling she has never been identified," said Dillon, of Springfield. "It's been 37 years. Someone knows where this girl is from or who she was. Someone somewhere knows something."

The young woman's body, or what was left of it, was found in a shallow grave in Granby on Nov. 15, 1978. She had been shot in the head, most likely months earlier, and then buried off Amherst Road near Route 116. Her killer was never found, and neither has her identity.

Since then, all that she ever was and all that she is has been reduced to the words etched onto her grave marker in Granby's West Cemetery: "Unknown, Nov. 15, 1978. In God's care."

That is not good enough for Dillon.

Since learning of the case two years ago by chance, Dillon, 47, who works as financial administrative assistant for the state of Connecticut, has spent much of her free time trying to track down information that could lead to the discovery of Granby Girl's identity.

Though she has no training or experience in criminal investigations, Dillon over the last two years has reached out to Granby police, Springfield police and the Massachusetts State Police about the case. She has pored through various missing persons databases, scoured the Internet and filed Freedom of Information Act requests for information with the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles and the federal Social Security information.

More recently, she contacted The Republican / MassLive about writing a story about it, if for no other reason than to trigger people's memories and possibly bring new information forward.

"I have just taken it upon myself that I'd like to see her identified, that I'd try to get her identified," she said. "For whatever reason."

During a recent interview, she used that phrase - "for whatever reason" - repeatedly.

She said she used it a lot because she is not altogether clear on why she set out to tackle this mystery. All she knows, she said, is that she must do something.

"I don't know what drives me on this," she said. "I was just 10 years old when they found her."

As far as she knows, she has no connection to Granby Girl. She does not know anyone from Granby, has never been to Granby, and isn't totally sure how she would get there if she ever wanted to go to the southern Hampshire County town.

She does not know anyone who has gone missing, nor does she know anyone who knows anyone who has gone missing.

All she knows is that from the first time she read of the case of the body of an unidentified woman found long ago in an unmarked grave in the woods of Granby, it just kind of pulled at her and refused to let go.

Granby Girl was found buried under a log in a wooded section of Granby, off Amherst Road and south of Route 116, on Nov. 15, 1978.

The first story of the discovery appeared in the Morning Union, a predecessor of today's The Republican, three days later. To give an idea how long ago that was, the story appeared on the front page alongside news stories about stalled peace negotiations between Israel and Egypt, USSR President Leonid Brezhnev boasting the Soviet Union had developed a neutron bomb and President Jimmy Carter hosting a White House party in celebration of the 50th birthday of Mickey Mouse.

That first story contained many of the elements of the case that have not changed over the years:

The body was that of an unknown woman found under a log by some people out gathering wood. She was approximately 5 feet, 4 inches tall, estimated to be between the ages of 19 and 27, and had dirty blond hair.

An autopsy determined she had been shot in the left temple.

The body was heavily decomposed from being in the woods anywhere from three months to a year before discovery.

The case is unsolved. While no one knows who the Granby Girl is, no one knows who killed her either. The case remains open, according to the office of Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan.

Little information about the status of the investigation was available, but First Assistant District Attorney Steven E. Gagne did say the DA's office is midway through developing new protocols to review longstanding unsolved cases.

He said he does not have any problem with an amateur sleuth like Dillion looking into old cases.

"The office always welcomes the submission of any information that could lead to the resolution of cases," he said.

Dillon, in a recent interview at her Springfield home, admitted that her exposure to and her interest in the Granby Girl case was one of total happenstance.

Home sick in bed with pneumonia, she was engaged in some free-flowing Web surfing when she happened upon a site called The Doe Network, which is an online database for missing and unidentified persons cases across the United States.

The site lets you search for open cases by geography, and she did what anyone from the area would do: She clicked on the tab for "Massachusetts." A dozen or so Jane and John Doe cases popped up on her screen, but only one was from Western Massachusetts: Granby Girl.

She said that as she read the file, she felt drawn to the unknown woman and was left with a feeling that she needed to do something.

"I just wanted to know," she said.

Dillon said several times during an interview that part of what drives her is that it bothers her that someone could be so alone in the world that no one would notice her missing.

Although she is trained to track down spending receipts, financial records and fiscal data, Dillion has no experience in police investigations, evidence processing or forensics. Despite that, she has plodded along, trying to think of every way she can for finding avenues that could lead to identifying Granby Girl.

She has spoken to Granby police and been referred to the Massachusetts State Police. She said she had repeated conversations with the state police lieutenant in charge of the investigation, but she has since retired. She has started talking with the new detective assigned to the case.

She has spoken with Springfield police about possible connections with a similar but solved murder involving a Springfield girl one month before the Granby body was found,

"Surprisingly, they are all a very suspicious lot. They wanted to know what my interest was," she said.

She has sent Freedom of Information requests to U.S. Social Security asking for records of women who were between 19 and 26 in 1978 who ceased having any Security Activity but for whom there was no death notification. They replied they were unable to process the request.

She has filed a similar request with the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, asking for a list of all women between the ages of 19 and 26 and a certain height with blond hair who failed to renew their driver's license in the four years after 1978. The registry keeps track of people by height, age, hair and eye color.

After initially telling her they could not do it, the registry replied that it could. The search turned up a list of 300 names that were forwarded, as Dillon had requested, to the state police.

Everything she finds, she turns over to the state police. The case is an open investigation and she said she does not want to get accused of stepping on toes.

"I'm not trying to solve the murder As far as I'm concerned that's deep-ocean swimming, and I will leave the state police to it," she said. "I just want to know who this girl is - or was."

It's for that reason she does not want any of her personal contact information - no phone, no email - attached to this article. The last thing she wants is someone else with an interest in the case knocking on her front door, she said.

If anyone has information, they should contact the state police by way of the Northwestern District Attorney's office at (413) 586-9225.

Dillon says she is hoping that someone will come forward to say they remember. But until that happens, she will continue plodding along trying to find her identity.

As she gives an interview under the shelter of a beach umbrella in her backyard, she sifts through the sheets and sheets of paper that she has stuffed into a manila folder. There are newspaper clips, articles from missing persons websites and printouts of correspondences with the state police, different state agencies and anyone else she thinks can help.

Taped inside the folder is a handwritten note that turns out to be a passage from The Book of Alma, one of the volumes that make up The Book of Mormon:

"For the Lord suffereth the righteous to be slain that his justice and judgment may come upon the wicked; therefore ye need not suppose that the righteous are lost because they are slain; but behold, they do enter into the rest of the Lord their God."

Asked its significance, she shrugged and said it's a lost-lamb-gone-home type of thing.

"A friend wrote it out for me," she said.

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http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2015/08/in_search_of_granby_girl_sprin.html

In search of 'Granby Girl,' Springfield woman looks to find identity of victim in 1978 homicide case

Updated on August 30, 2015 at 6:33 AMPosted on August 30, 2015 at 6:30 AM



By Patrick Johnson

pjohnson@repub.com

In search of 'Granby Girl'

The grave stone in Granby's West Street Cemetery, where the remains of an unidentified woman have been buried since 1978. Originally the grave was marked with a wooden cross, but in 1998 people in Granby donated a permanent marker.

SPRINGFIELD — For about two years, Kelly Dillon has been preoccupied by thoughts of a young woman she calls G.G. – short for "Granby Girl" – but who is known by just about everyone else as "Jane Doe."

"I find it appalling she has never been identified," said Dillon, of Springfield. "It's been 37 years. Someone knows where this girl is from or who she was. Someone somewhere knows something."

The young woman's body, or what was left of it, was found in a shallow grave in Granby on Nov. 15, 1978. She had been shot in the head, most likely months earlier, and then buried off Amherst Road near Route 116. Her killer was never found, and neither has her identity.

Since then, all that she ever was and all that she is has been reduced to the words etched onto her grave marker in Granby's West Cemetery:

"Unknown, Nov. 15, 1978. In God's care."
That is not good enough for Dillon.

Since learning of the case two years ago by chance, Dillon, 47, who works as financial administrative assistant for the state of Connecticut, has spent much of her free time trying to track down information that could lead to the discovery of Granby Girl's identity.

Though she has no training or experience in criminal investigations, Dillon over the last two years has reached out to Granby police, Springfield police and the Massachusetts State Police about the case. She has pored through various missing persons databases, scoured the Internet and filed Freedom of Information Act requests for information with the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles and the federal Social Security information.


Granby Girl was found buried under a log in a wooded section of Granby, off Amherst Road and south of Route 116, on Nov. 15, 1978.

The first story of the discovery appeared in the Morning Union, a predecessor of today's The Republican, three days later. To give an idea how long ago that was, the story appeared on the front page alongside news stories about stalled peace negotiations between Israel and Egypt, USSR President Leonid Brezhnev boasting the Soviet Union had developed a neutron bomb and President Jimmy Carter hosting a White House party in celebration of the 50th birthday of Mickey Mouse.

That first story contained many of the elements of the case that have not changed over the years:

The body was that of an unknown woman found under a log by some people out gathering wood. She was approximately 5 feet, 4 inches tall, estimated to be between the ages of 19 and 27, and had dirty blond hair.
An autopsy determined she had been shot in the left temple.
The body was heavily decomposed from being in the woods anywhere from three months to a year before discovery.
The case is unsolved. While no one knows who the Granby Girl is, no one knows who killed her either. The case remains open, according to the office of Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan.

Little information about the status of the investigation was available, but First Assistant District Attorney Steven E. Gagne did say the DA's office is midway through developing new protocols to review longstanding unsolved cases.

He said he does not have any problem with an amateur sleuth like Dillion looking into old cases.


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MA-116, Granby, MA

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MA 63 is the only at-grade (signalized) intersection along the expressway part of MA 116, west of Amherst. There is an interchange to the south.




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Granby, Massachusetts

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'Granby Girl': A look back at the 1978 murder case | masslive.com




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230 Amherst St., Granby, Massachusetts


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