It took the police 45 years to discover the identity of the woman whose body was found on the side of the road in Massachusetts.
Thanks to advances in DNA technology, after 45 years, the identity of the woman who was found dead in 1978 was revealed in the American state of Massachusetts. Patricia Ann Tucker, then 28, was known for decades only as the Granby Girl, after the small town where her body was found.
Experts were able to identify Tucker using DNA samples from her son, who was five years old when she disappeared. After her death, her body was buried in a grave above which for decades stood the inscription “unknown person”. “Thank you for not giving up. After 44 years, at least I have some answers,” said her son Matthew Dale, as reported by the BBC. Ann Tucker’s body has been found buried under leaves on the road in the town of Granby on November 15, 1978. She was shot in the temple and her death was ruled a homicide.
The autopsy found that it was killed a few months before the body was found and that she was between 19 and 27 years old at the time of her death. But her identity remained a mystery. About two years ago, authorities obtained her DNA profile through a forensics lab and identified a woman in Maryland who was possibly related to her.
Her husband did not report her missing
A relative told police that her aunt disappeared in the 1970s and gave police the names of two of her sons. One of them, Matthew Dale, he confirmed to the police that his mother Patriša Tucker disappeared in 1978. A comparison of his DNA with the DNA of the body found resulted in a 100% match.
“Although we are pleased to finally know who the Granby girl really was, the investigation is not over. We need to find her killer“, Assistant District Attorney Steven Gagne said. Investigators discovered that Taker was at the time married Gerald Coleman but never reported her missing. Kolman was convicted of rape and assault in 1995, and died in prison in 1996.
(WORLD)