SOLVED MA - Jane Britton, 22, Harvard student, Cambridge, 7 Jan 1969

[reedus23]

Just seems to me like there are enough things there to draw interest. Fair or unfair, the fact it involves Harvard would draw attention. You have the Boston Strangler case that was on the periphery that would add interest. The archaeology aspect with the possible "burial rites" aspect would draw interest. The connection of an alleged international drug dealer would add interest. I think it has the makings for a documentary or even an HBO type movie that they did with the WM3, though the inaccuracies in some of those give pause for concern. The point is, it would get people talking again. Following up with witnesses. Shake LE's leg a little bit. Maybe shake more information loose from them.

 

[Rhino-Esq]

Wanted to jump in out of lurkdom to say I have been fascinated by this case and thread over the past couple of days and have finally caught up. Thank you so much Professor Mitchell for helping us!

I have contacted the Cambridge PD to request the status of the case, and if they are not the agency in charge, to direct me to the correct agency. If it is Mass. PD, their website is confusing and I am not sure who to contact to check the status, but will keep looking. I will let you all know if and when I hear back from Cambridge! In the meantime, has anyone put in a FOIA request? Have we determined if that would be helpful (is it just federal information)?

ETA: Was the FBI ever involved? FOIA might get us FBI records?

 

[Ausgirl]

Cheers, Rhino!!!!

What's so annoying about some of these very old unsolveds is - if they're still "open" cases the police won't give out much info. But then, they sit on the case another 40 yrs....

As for FOIA - I am happy to contribute to any paperwork costs. Just let me know if a contribution is needed.

 

[Pink Panther]

Don - From what you've shared, I gather that you corresponded with Lt. Joyce up to the mid 70's. Would you be willing to share some of those letters with us??? Maybe, just maybe, there's something in those exchanges that means something?

If you're not comfortable doing so, no worries of course…

ETA - I never understood the references to the "Solomon Island" poster described in the hall leading to Jane's apartment…It's nice to have a little tiny piece of the puzzle to fit! (LOL - Believe it or not, I looked up the Solomon Islands and spent a fair amount of time researching them&#8230

 

[DonMitchell]

Don - From what you've shared, I gather that you corresponded with Lt. Joyce up to the mid 70's. Would you be willing to share some of those letters with us??? Maybe, just maybe, there's something in those exchanges that means something?

If you're not comfortable doing so, no worries of course…

ETA - I never understood the references to the "Solomon Island" poster described in the hall leading to Jane's apartment…It's nice to have a little tiny piece of the puzzle to fit! (LOL - Believe it or not, I looked up the Solomon Islands and spent a fair amount of time researching them&#8230

The Solomon Islands thing is very simple. In summer 1968, there was a biomedical expedition to Malaita Island (Lau Lagoon and Baegu), which was at that time part of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate (that is, a colony). Previous expeditions had gone to Kwaio (Malaita) and Nasioi (Bougainville, part of Papua New Guinea) in 1968. Subsequently, the HSIP worked on Bougainville (Nagovisi and Aita, PNG) in 1970 and then in a few other places at two-year intervals until at least 1974.

For 1968, I was the main equipment manager, photographer, anthropometrist, and general technical support guy. The shipping containers were my responsibility and they had to be marked. As I remember, Jane made the stencil, and we probably worked together in Cambridge to stencil the cases.

Although it may be TMI, six years ago I wrote a creative non-fiction piece about the HSIP 1968 and 1970 expeditions plus my return to Nagovisi in 2001 and my mother's death in 2003, and when I read it in Buffalo the venue staff videotaped it. It's multi-media and I think it works pretty well. The video was for archival purposes only but it might amuse some of you. I put it up on youtube a few months ago because a modified version of what I read became the final chapter of my story collection -- I mention this because it was ausgirl's posting about the book's website that drew me here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cAo5vfCk5E

As for Lt Joyce's letters, there's nothing in them that I haven't divulged, except for the person of interest's name, and the name of the person writing the book (the book that was never published, so far as I know).

 

[Ausgirl]

Don, do you recall if there was ever a fire in your building?

 

[Pink Panther]

Don - A few more questions...

Did JH attend the funeral? Did he sit with you and Jane's parents? Did you speak to him at all? Who else was with your group? Apparently the funeral was filmed by police. Were you guys aware of this?

Lt. Joyce's name never appears in newspaper articles about Jane. I suspect he was one of the ones actually doing investigative work (as opposed to talking about it)…Do you know who he reported to? Do you remember the names of any other investigators/police officers that you spoke with?

Thanks for sharing your youtube link. You write, and speak beautifully.

 

[Pink Panther]

OFF TOPIC

I have been here a long time but unfortunately, I have not yet learned how to organize my pm's and am always struggling to clear out/copy old ones so that I can free space for new ones. Can anyone here direct me to a tutorial/discussion about how to do this???

 

[Ausgirl]

PP - on each page, I:

1. select all.
2. download as TXT
3. select all again
4. Delete

Rinse, repeat. You'll then have a pile of date stamped notepad files. (if there's an easier way to do this, I don't know it )

 

[DonMitchell]

Don - A few more questions...

Did JH attend the funeral? Did he sit with you and Jane's parents? Did you speak to him at all? Who else was with your group? Apparently the funeral was filmed by police. Were you guys aware of this?

Lt. Joyce's name never appears in newspaper articles about Jane. I suspect he was one of the ones actually doing investigative work (as opposed to talking about it)…Do you know who he reported to? Do you remember the names of any other investigators/police officers that you spoke with?

Thanks for sharing your youtube link. You write, and speak beautifully.

I feel sure that JH was at the funeral, and that we all sat near each other, but I have no clear memory of him. My wife's sister Sally was with us, and yes, everybody was aware that filming would be done. There were TV crews there also, I'm almost certain.

Lt Joyce's business card in 1979 read

Frank J. Joyce
State Police Detective Lieutenant
District Attorney's Office
72 Belmont St
Brockton, Mass

but in the letter he said that he had been assigned to the DA, Plymouth County. Previously it would have been Middlesex County. I have an old card of his that gives an address of 1010 Commonwealth Ave, Boston. That sounds like the address where we went to be interviewed by him.

I'm sure there were other State guys, but I can't remember their names.

I'm glad you liked the reading. I waited 30 years to start writing.

 

[DonMitchell]

Don, do you recall if there was ever a fire in your building?

I feel certain that during my time there (Fall 66-Spring 69, then Fall 70-to the end of 71) there was no fire in the 6 University Road entrance. But I have a vague memory of a fire somewhere else. I don't think it could have been a serious one, though.

 

[Pink Panther]

Februrary 25, 1969 - Radcliffe Sophomore stabbed:

https://www.google.com/url?q=http:/...ds-cse&usg=AFQjCNFt54FNxivwav3-Hsy_hcZQXjez1A

February 28, 1969 - Five Fires Set on Linnaean Street:

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1969/2/28/five-fires-set-on-linnaean-st/

March 5, 1969 - Insecurity at the Cliffe:

https://www.google.com/url?q=http:/...ds-cse&usg=AFQjCNHtUiqdMvTkNdPVASjXy-vyHVP_FA

 

[Pink Panther]

Don,

Do you think that it's possible to close Jane's case? Or do you think that the evidence there is not sufficient to be able to do so conclusively? What I mean is, are we all just grasping at straws here or do you think that there might just be a possibility of solving this? Would it help if we try to contact Cambridge/Harvard police for more information/access to their files? I strongly suspect that the FBI has files on her case (given other circumstances that took place at Harvard at the same time as her murder) which might be available now given the time that has elapsed. Do you think that this is worth pursuing?

You've shared so much with us here that we would have never known had you not come on board and participated in our discussions! Are you resigned to the fact that this might never be solved or do you hold out hope that perhaps it might find a way to conclusion?

Oh…On another note - A few more questions….

ETA - How long did you know Jane? How did you meet her? Was she well-liked? Who did she "hang around" with? How did you guys come to be neighbors?

 

[Donamena]

Don,

Do you think that it's possible to close Jane's case? Or do you think that the evidence there is not sufficient to be able to do so conclusively? What I mean is, are we all just grasping at straws here or do you think that there might just be a possibility of solving this? Would it help if we try to contact Cambridge/Harvard police for more information/access to their files? I strongly suspect that the FBI has files on her case (given other circumstances that took place at Harvard at the same time as her murder) which might be available now given the time that has elapsed. Do you think that this is worth

You've shared so much with us here that we would have never known had you not come on board and participated in our discussions! Are you resigned to the fact that this might never be solved or do you hold out hope that perhaps it might find a way to conclusion?

Oh…On another note - A few more questions….

ETA - How long did you know Jane? How did you meet her? Was she well-liked? Who did she "hang around" with? How did you guys come to be neighbors?

Perhaps either you or Ausgirl could pursue the FOIA angle. On the Christine Jessup cold case
in Canada, Deadpanman quotes a cold case writer as saying the evidence is in the box...i.e., the killer is in the box. Who has the box: Cambridge or Middlesex?

 

[DonMitchell]

Don,

Do you think that it's possible to close Jane's case? Or do you think that the evidence there is not sufficient to be able to do so conclusively? What I mean is, are we all just grasping at straws here or do you think that there might just be a possibility of solving this? Would it help if we try to contact Cambridge/Harvard police for more information/access to their files? I strongly suspect that the FBI has files on her case (given other circumstances that took place at Harvard at the same time as her murder) which might be available now given the time that has elapsed. Do you think that this is worth pursuing?

You've shared so much with us here that we would have never known had you not come on board and participated in our discussions! Are you resigned to the fact that this might never be solved or do you hold out hope that perhaps it might find a way to conclusion?

Oh…On another note - A few more questions….

ETA - How long did you know Jane? How did you meet her? Was she well-liked? Who did she "hang around" with? How did you guys come to be neighbors?

I don't think it's possible unless the murderer is someone completely outside of the suspect universe. That's possible but I don't think it's likely. I would so much like to know what Lt. Joyce was thinking at the end of his career, and whether he was able to go to the person of interest and interview him, and what he thought if he had. I don't see any way to move forward, absent some way to have a look at LE files that are probably never released to the public.

I don't think that the FBI would have much. I can't remember any FBI talk at the time, and Jane wasn't involved with the SDS or any other group, no matter how much she might have been on board with the rent strike thing.

I think my wife and I became friends with Jane when she was a senior. The undergraduate concentrators and grad students mingled freely (not to say they were all friends) in the Peabody Museum's "smoking room," and even non-smokers hung out there. Even faculty were regularly there. It was an important gathering place. So that's where we would have met.

The thing to understand is that people -- men and women -- loved Jane. There's been a lot of talk about her academic talents, but she was also a fine musician. She was an excellent pianist and played the organ at my wedding. I remember going down to a little church on the Cape, where the wedding would be held, and she went into the organ loft and busted out Bach's Toccata BWV 540, on an organ she'd never played before. I can't hear that piece without thinking of her.

She had women friends that she was close to. I can't remember their names, but at least one of them is quoted in the various news accounts.

We came to be neighbors because we knew that the tenant in the studio apartment next to ours would be moving out, we told her, and she was able to get it. Apartments in the complex rarely went on the market, because typically they were handed on from person to person. The Bankoffs, for example, lived in the other apartment on the 4th floor, and they got the place in the same way (via me). Then when we went to the field an archaeology grad student took our place and when we got back, we took over the Bankoff's place, passed it on to my wife's sister . . . .

I am resigned to the fact that this isn't going to be solved. I'm not resigned to the fact that nothing more will ever emerge, though, but I really do feel strongly that the murderer is dead. I'd love to be wrong.

 

[TtheBibliotaph83]

New to this topic, so forgive me while I read through the old posts to get up to date. Has anyone made a Freedom of Information Act request to the Harvard/Cambridge police or the FBI in an attempt to obtain records related to this case?

 

[Rhino-Esq]

New to this topic, so forgive me while I read through the old posts to get up to date. Has anyone made a Freedom of Information Act request to the Harvard/Cambridge police or the FBI in an attempt to obtain records related to this case?

Last week I contacted Cambridge PD and requested information about the case. I haven't heard back yet but will let you all know when I do! Unfortunately, if the case is still open, we may not get much information. I believe FOIA only applies to federal agencies, so I am unsure if it would be helpful here, unless FBI was involved, and I don't know if that was the case here.

 

[Ausgirl]

Hi there, T! Welcome to the thread. And nope... I think we're trying to establish whether there would be any FOIA info at all, as the FBI were not called in, as far as I am aware it was just local and state police. Who, as far as I know, are saying nothing much. Not to some chick from Australia, anyway... (though honestly, the "hello, I'm calling from Australia" thing has opened a few doors with American LE in the past, ha).

I honestly think the very best thing we could do at this point, aside from keeping the case 'alive' in general via discussion, is to contact people in the media with credibility -- or at least the capacity to think critically and present a good story -- and suggest that perhaps this would be a very interesting piece to cover for reasons A through Z.

And it can't be those places which require LE to request help - we all know that is highly unlikely to happen. So what does that leave us with? That is not cheesy and soundbite-ish.

 

[Ausgirl]

Oh whoops, sorry - I forgot Rhino! So yes --- what Rhino said. ropeller:

 

[dotr]

Generate public interest through popular shows like Dateline ect. ?
Sometimes they have luck at cutting through red tape to get to a story, but in the meantime, it is great to have insider info from Don Mitchell , maybe the right person will take note!