Wrong body dug up by police in Connecticut cemetery amid cold case investigation

Connecticut police dug up a body Wednesday hoping to close an unsolved murder case from the 1970s but soon discovered it was the wrong one.

Investigators in the East Haven Police Department are looking for an unidentified young woman who was found dead, wrapped in a tarp in a ditch behind a former department store in August 1975. 

Investigators pointed to the State Street Cemetery in Hamden as a potential key in solving the Jane Doe murder, as technology has advanced in the decades since the body was initially found and DNA analysis can be used to identify her remains, WTNH reported.

All they need now is the body.

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On Wednesday, police dug up a grave but did not find the young woman inside. Instead, they found a male corpse, WTNH reported.

“There was nothing on her that could identify who she was,” retired New Haven Police Officer Tony Griego told the outlet. Griego has dedicated his retirement years to assisting police with the investigation, WTNH reported.

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The young woman was believed to be about 5 feet 5 inches tall with brown hair, officials said.

“Unfortunately, it was not the girl we had hoped for,” Griego added, per the report.

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The police initially contacted the Hamden town clerk and search for the victim’s burial permit at State Street Cemetery and then went to dig up the body, but the cemetery’s own poor record-keeping stifled their efforts.

“The exact coordinates we were originally going off seem to be incorrect. So we do have more investigative leads to follow,” East Haven Police Captain Joseph Murgo said, WTNH reported.

 

He added: “They never marked the grave, and that’s part of the challenge as we try and locate her actual burial site.”

East Haven police are keeping the case open and are optimistic they will locate Jane Doe at the cemetery. There have been several suspects in the case but the girl remains unidentified.