Woman, 20, found naked with throat slashed after 'horrifying' scream in a field

Irish Daily Mirror

4 days ago

A 20-year-old woman from Minnesota in the US was found dead in a cornfield, naked with her throat slashed and multiple stab wounds, less than a quarter of a mile from the party she had left for a late-night walk.
In the summer of 1985, Kristin O'Connell ignored her mother's advice and travelled to Ovid, New York, to visit James Vermeersch, a man she had met on holiday in Florida earlier that year and had been corresponding with ever since. However, the trip took an unpleasant turn when Kristin discovered that James had a secret girlfriend in New York.
Kristin was excited about her trip to the Finger Lakes region, planning her journey for August 12. Her mother Phyllis told NBC's Dateline that despite their concerns, she and Kristin's father decided that their daughter was an adult and deserved independence, according to the Morbid Podcast.
Kristin's father Michael discovered in August that James had another girlfriend and planned to tell Kristin when she arrived - likely causing her to cut her visit short.
"She was so bright with excitement," Phyllis said. Unexpectedly, just a day into the trip, Phyllis received a worrying call from a payphone in Ovid, with Kristin saying she would be coming home the next day, reports the Mirror US.
"Something wasn't right in her voice," Phyllis told Dateline.
In a shocking turn of events, a young woman named Kristin was found brutally murdered just hours after she went missing. Despite a thorough investigation, law enforcement has been unable to identify her killer even 40 years later.
Kristin, who was studying hotel-motel management, had only a few weeks left before the start of her junior year in September 1985.
On the night of her disappearance, Kristin was at a trailer on James' family property with his friends. James claimed he was going out to get a pizza, and Kristin said she was going for a late-night walk, something she often did at home.
However, when James returned, Kristin was nowhere to be found, and the partygoers went out to search for her but found no trace.
The next day, James reported Kristin missing to the Ovid police, stating she was last seen between 11 pm and 11:30 pm, leaving the trailer barefoot and without her purse. Despite the search efforts, Kristin remained missing.
James' friend, 17 year old David Chamberlain, corroborated James' story, dismissing any suggestions of quarrels during the party. "She just went for a walk and didn't come back," he said.
A massive search effort involving around 80 firemen and police officers was launched to find Kristin, but it was all in vain. The gruesome truth was discovered on August 16, 1985, when searchers stumbled upon a horrific scene.
Tragically, Kristin's body was discovered in a cornfield half a mile from where she was last seen. She'd suffered multiple stab wounds and her throat had been cut. Neighbours reported a "horrifying" scream at the time of her murder, although there was no evidence of sexual assault.
Detectives suggested she may have been killed resisting an attack, and New York State Police quickly zeroed in on possible suspects with access to the crime scene.
The road by the cornfield was known to be used by Seneca Army Depot workers and campers en route to Golden Buck, a bar near James' trailer.
With accounts placing Kristin on County Road 139 late that night, speculation arose about her departure, possibly due to drug use at the party she attended.
As summer went on, leads grew more disturbing – including sightings of suspicious cars near Kristin the night she vanished.
State Police Sgt Thomas Warren made an urgent plea for more information to locate these vehicles, hoping other witnesses might come forward with crucial details.
Sensational new leads have emerged in the Kristin O'Connell murder mystery, including tales of potential stalkers on the night in question and a puzzling pillowcase from a local mental health institution found close to where the incident occurred.
Adding to the intrigue, an eerily mysterious phone call shook investigators mere days after the murder as an anxious voice instructed police to seek key evidence within the boot of a green Chevy parked on Main Street in Waterloo. The jittery informer said, "I'm getting out of town because I told him not to do it. I told him not to do it. I'm heading out of town," before abruptly ending the conversation.
With no trace of the vehicle mentioned, the case takes on a more perplexing angle. Despite official opinions framing this tragedy as a spur-of-the-moment crime, community whispers suggest local bigwigs might harbour secrets regarding what truly happened to Kristin back in 1985.
At that time, authorities said: "Everybody at this party came from well to families in the community they are respected in this area."
In a further twist, chatter on social media has thrown a spotlight on Donald 'Nutsy' Chamberlain, who not only owned the trailer where Kristin resided shortly before her untimely death but also runs the previously mentioned Golden Buck eatery, famously displaying a sign on-site exiling anyone daring to discuss the O'Connell case.
Then-District Attorney Donna Cathy implicated an individual named Gary Harris, as reported by the Democrat and Chronicle in 1995. Cathy pointed out that hairs from an African American were found at the crime scene, highlighting that Harris was the only black male in Ovid at the time.
Acting Seneca County Judge W Patrick Falvey called for DNA analysis on hair and blood evidence gathered in 1985 to crack the case; however, these attempts hit a wall due to a lack of sufficient probable cause to tie Harris to the crime.
Harris's defence lawyer argued vehemently: "Being in the community or being black in the community does not meet the requisite proof."
Officials have stressed that Harris is merely "one of many" individuals of interest in the ongoing investigation. A closer look at the forensic details of this murder case uncovers complexities.
For instance, Kristin's bloodied clothes were found neatly placed next to her in the cornfield following her death, with officers conceding that heavy rain that night might have washed away some evidence.
Yet, there's still a mountain of physical evidence - a whopping 318 items linked to the brutal murder, including the victim's fingernails, a blood-drenched sweater, the pillowcase, and potentially hundreds of hairs. Despite this trove of evidence and technological progress, no fresh forensic testing is underway.
In 2009, a leading Dutch lab offered to analyse evidence from Kristin's case, but the New York State Health Department turned down the offer due to the facility not being certified in New York.
District Attorney Richard Swineheart didn't hold back when speaking to the Ithaca Journal, expressing his frustration: "We feel this is our last, best effort to solve this case. We are very frustrated with the bureaucracy of the Department of Health."
Despite efforts by Kirsten's mum, Phyllis, and a Minnesota senator, attempts to get the Amsterdam lab certified have hit a bureaucratic wall.
The O'Connell family has taken action by starting a petition on Change.org, demanding DNA testing to push the investigation forward. In a shocking twist in 2010, the New York Inspector General informed Phyllis that a forensic expert who may have been involved in Kristin's case was previously accused of fabricating evidence.
Gerry Veeder was caught up in a scandal known as "dry-labbing", where tests are faked to produce quick lab results.
Phyllis shared her dismay, recounting Veeder's involvement with the initial evidence in 1985: "In 1985 he did the initial evidence. I don't know how many items but anything to do with cloth because that's what he handled. I mean, my God - this is an important job they're doing there and how could they allow this and not be supervised properly?".
In a revelation that seems almost too remarkable, just last year it surfaced that an elite cold case unit, headed by the former chief of the FBI's Violent Criminal Apprehension Program, had proposed utilising a New York State-recognised forensics lab to scrutinise all the physical evidence from Kristin's murder case for free.
This was intended to be part of a documentary on the unsolved homicide being crafted by two-time Oscar winner Bill Guttentag, which could bypass issues encountered previously with a Dutch lab over a decade ago.
But the offer was snubbed by New York State Police, who stood firm against participating in the scheme. Mark O'Donnell, a spokesperson for New York State Police Troop, said that involving outside forces in a live murder investigation goes against their policy.
The State Police maintained: "As in all cases, the State Police does not share critical information, evidence or the techniques used in solving cases. By sharing such information, it could jeopardize the integrity of the investigation."
Despite seemingly strong evidence related to Kristin's killing, it has continued to baffle authorities. A $10,000 (£7,800) incentive was announced in 2010 for details leading to her murderer's conviction and in 2015, it was announced that police had followed up on over 1,900 leads, all to no avail.
Phyllis is adamantly pressing the police to employ modern forensic techniques to re-examine the evidence or to close the case, which would enable her to lodge a Freedom of Information request to review the evidence herself.
Moreover, Phyllis is calling for a legal amendment that would mandate every police force to establish dedicated cold case squads, avoiding situations where cases like Kristin's shuffle between different detectives over time.
On the matter, she expressed: "I think there are people up there who know what happened but are afraid to come forward. I believe people are scared. I know I can't bring her back. But I can't rest until I find out who did this to her."
The Mirror has reached out to Seneca County Police for their input. The authorities continue their appeal for information pertinent to Kristin O'Connell's murder and encourage anyone with insights to get in touch with the New York State Police Major Crimes Unit on [phone].