Identified! NH - Marlborough, Rt 124, UnkFem 19-30, UP15863, ring, clothes, chap stick, Salem cigs, Apr'74 - Nancy Gale Erickson

[Beekarina]

Where do you get Bellow Falls from?
All I've read is that she was arrested in VT on her way to visit friends in WRJ.
After her arrest she was obviously brought to Vermont Superior Court which is in Brattleboro and remained there while on probation, community housing and a said job at the Brat Retreat.

It says in this old news article from the Reformer that she was picked up by the Bellows Falls police, so until I went back and reread, I had processed as she stole the car in BF. If you're familiar with the area too, don't you think it is pretty weird she just found a parked car and stole it in Putney? I'm curious where it was...Like knowing sort of narrows down her movements a lot since it is so small.

Nancy Gale Erickson 1973 VT

Clipping found in The Brattleboro Reformer published in Brattleboro, Vermont on 10/5/1973. Nancy Gale Erickson 1973 VT

www.newspapers.com

 

[Beekarina]

OK I have reread again and I see now she apparently knew the WRJ friends PRIOR to coming to Vermont from Tampa. I apologize for adding any confusion. I thought she was working IN Brattleboro first, and then put in the halfway house.

The timeline for everything is MUCH tighter than I understood it to be.

 

[Andreee]

She stole the car because her own car ( that she drove from Florida to Vermont) had run out of gas and she didn't have the money to get gas for it. She only had 6 cents on her. She said she was on her way to visit friends in Vermont, nearby to where she was arrested, when her car ran out of gas, and she did not know where she was, having gotten lost. She tried to hitchhike, but must not have been successful. It was a rainy night (in October). She was finally arrested, in the car, near Bellows Falls according to another old newspaper article not posted on Websleuths (I reposted someone's post of one of the 2 old newspaper articles above). She had just left her mother's/family home in Tampa abruptly. She was from New York state originally. Her family said they had no idea what friends she had in Vermont. The articles about her identification/being missing cover this.

Her behavior was rather odd, in the context of what we know about the time just before her death. Perhaps if we had more info, (and her family did), everything would make more sense. Her family said they thought her issues started after she worked in nursing. Her whole journey to Vermont, which led to her stealing the car, seemed strange to her family. It seems obvious that her stealing the car was an act of desperation/ not rational thinking.

I agree that the stealing of the car was an act of desperation/not rational thinking. Perhaps she intended to seek help for herself and her car, not thinking through the consequences. Or waiting for the owner of the car to return and seek a ride with them. Her past action of leaving Florida abruptly indicates an impulsive way of dealing with things. Poor gal!

 

[Izzylizzy]

It says in this old news article from the Reformer that she was picked up by the Bellows Falls police, so until I went back and reread, I had processed as she stole the car in BF. If you're familiar with the area too, don't you think it is pretty weird she just found a parked car and stole it in Putney? I'm curious where it was...Like knowing sort of narrows down her movements a lot since it is so small.

Nancy Gale Erickson 1973 VT

Clipping found in The Brattleboro Reformer published in Brattleboro, Vermont on 10/5/1973. Nancy Gale Erickson 1973 VT

www.newspapers.com

Thanks so much for the original Reformer article.

Nancy Gale Erickson 1973 VT

Clipping found in The Brattleboro Reformer published in Brattleboro, Vermont on 10/5/1973. Nancy Gale Erickson 1973 VT

www.newspapers.com

I'm now thinking that since she wasn't a local and was on probation for only 2 months she was a case of "out of sight out of mind".
Had she been a local female who disappeared, and while on probation I think there was more of a chance that her family and/or LE would have looked into the woman that was found in NH.
That said what I still find mindboggeling is the claim by LE that they followed all leads and yet not one person looked into unclaimed bodies found in the area.

 

[Izzylizzy]

OK I have reread again and I see now she apparently knew the WRJ friends PRIOR to coming to Vermont from Tampa. I apologize for adding any confusion. I thought she was working IN Brattleboro first, and then put in the halfway house.

The timeline for everything is MUCH tighter than I understood it to be.

It's not you.
Shoddy police work and now bad reporting ,
imo

 

[Beekarina]

Apologies again for serial posting. (When I pulled up the old articles earlier, I realized only part of the image loaded, so I did not see the entire article and was missing info.)

I guess the Bellows Falls police were probably tipped off about the stolen car? So maybe Nancy was arrested when she reached BF on her way back towards WRJ? If the car was running, it was raining and the owner was really running an errand, it seems very probably people saw what she did. And even more bizarre that she did not simply as for help, given the era and the surroundings.

I really DO want to know what happened to Nancy's car. Can we assume when she was arrested her car was towed somewhere? Would she have gotten it back when she went to the halfway house in Brattleboro? Was she allowed to have the car without valid identification? Did she have a vehicle when she disappeared from Brattleboro?

 

[Izzylizzy]

Isn't one of the first things LE does when a deceased person's body is found is check their files on those who are locally missing?
Nancy was on probation when she suddenly left Brattleboro so was a warrant issued for her arrest?
Everyone and every agency who knew her and dealt with her knew she was missing from Brattleboro.


“After years of work on this case, putting a name to Nancy Gale Erickson is incredibly meaningful,” New Hampshire State Police Detective Sgt. Kelly LaPointe said in a news release.. “It’s more than solving a mystery — it’s restoring her identity and honoring the life she lived.”

She was last seen 51 years ago. Her remains have finally been found and identified.

Nancy Erickson was just 21 when she was last heard from in October 1973. Her cause and manner of death are still unknown.

www.yahoo.com

 

[Izzylizzy]

Her family may have originally thought she was safe in this part of Vermont. I grew up in this area, and in the 70s, Bellows Falls would have been a lot of WW2 and older settled down families, and their Baby Boomer children having kids and so on, Putney and Bratt would have had a "hippie" back to the land thing going on too, so maybe that attracted her if she had known someone from college who was a Vermonter? It is not unusual at all for people with ties to New York to romanticize Vermont, so it might have even just been something like that.

White River Junction is just up the road from Brattleboro, so she could have easily met friends who lived there.

I'm curious about her death. IF she was murdered, and not a suicide/something else....

I can never keep straight the exact dates in 1973 and 1974 that Rodney Alcala was in jail, but I personally would not put it past him to have returned to New Hampshire. It still gives me the absolute shivers knowing he was hiding out in Georges Mills. People in that part of New Hampshire are still so "small town" now, I cannot even begin to imagine when he was playing camp counselor, just OMG!

And then the "Connecticut Valley Killer(s)" stuff....She fits the profile of many of the victims in terms of profession and appearance.

WRJ is about 1 hr by car from Brattleboro taking 1-91N.

If she was alone when she took off she may have immediately headed over the bridge to NH and hitchhiked on Rt 9.
Where she was found was off of Rt 9 in Marlborough, only about 30 mins by car from Brattleboro.
We don't know how she died and nothing has been reported about drugs so foul play seems very probable.

 

[DD Byrd]

sn't one of the first things LE does when a deceased person's body is found is check their files on those who are locally missing?
Nancy was on probation when she suddenly left Brattleboro so was a warrant issued for her arrest?
Everyone and every agency who knew her and dealt with her knew she was missing from Brattleboro.

Yes and yes. Although a warrant in SmallTown, USA wouldn't necessarily be acted upon with any gusto, esp in this case of a likely passing-through, nonviolent girl. Then compounded by likely being deemed inconsequential in the early 70s.

But LE 101 is matching UIDs with anythng wonky in/around the jurisdition, let alone an actual missing person. Meanwhile, only months had transpired and in THAT case the two should've been connected just by common sense before any details were considered. But maybe they were....so whether this is intentionally unpursued or the obliviousness of LE should be considered.

 

[Izzylizzy]

IIRC:
I read that that Nancy died in the fall or late fall of 1973, I assume from the medical examiner?

She disappeared from Brattleboro on Oct 30,1973.
Is there a NH news article from when her body was found in April 1974?

 

[Izzylizzy]

Yes and yes. Although a warrant in SmallTown, USA wouldn't necessarily be acted upon with any gusto, esp in this case of a likely passing-through, nonviolent girl. Then compounded by likely being deemed inconsequential in the early 70s.

But LE 101 is matching UIDs with anythng wonky in/around the jurisdition, let alone an actual missing person. Meanwhile, only months had transpired and in THAT case the two should've been connected just by common sense before any details were considered. But maybe they were....so whether this is intentionally unpursued or the obliviousness of LE should be considered.

Not so much that a warrant for her would have been acted on, or even issued, just that many people knew who she was, she was homeless and on probation and that she disappeared and when she disappeared.

"common sense"..winner! winner!

 

[Izzylizzy]

1486UFNH - Unidentified Female​

Reconstructions of the decedent.

Date of Discovery: April 16, 1974
Location of Discovery: Marlborough, Cheshire County, New Hampshire
Estimated Date of Death: Up to 12 months prior
State of Remains: Not recognizable - Near complete or complete skeleton
Cause of Death: Unknown

cont

1486UFNH

 

[Izzylizzy]

• Medical ConditionsErickson has a history of depression and was previously hospitalized for her condition.
• Distinguishing CharacteristicsCaucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes.

Details of Disappearance​

Erickson was last seen in Brattleboro, Vermont on October 3, 1973. She had come up to Vermont from Florida, and was arrested for stealing a car. She told the police she had only six cents in cash on her and had been on her way to visit friends in the White River Junction area when her car ran out of gas.

Erickson was placed on probation for the auto theft and sent to live in a halfway house in Brattleboro. Her family mailed her some clothes, but they were returned, and they contacted the halfway house to find out why. This was when they found out she had checked out on October 3 and never came back. She has never been heard from again.

In 1985, eight years after Erickson's disappearance, her father died. He left her an inheritance estimated to be worth about $1,500 to $2,000, but she never collected it. Her mother died in 1986. Erickson's siblings are still alive, though, and hope for answers in her case. They do not know why she was in Vermont or who she planned to visit in White Junction when she was arrested.

She got a nursing degree at Corning Community College in New York, and worked as a registered nurse at Tampa General Hospital prior to going to Vermont. Her case remains unsolved.

Investigating Agency​

• Brattleboro Police Department 802-257-7950

Source Information​

• NamUs
• News 10

Updated 1 time since October 12, 2004. Last updated December 29, 2021; casefile added.

Nancy Gale Erickson – The Charley Project

 

[Izzylizzy]

???

"Updated 1 time since October 12, 2004. Last updated December 29, 2021; casefile added."

Nancy Gale Erickson – The Charley Project

 

[summergirl1]

This is a earlier newspaper article about the car theft. There were two articles, both from the Brattleboro paper.

 

[Beekarina]

WRJ is about 1 hr by car from Brattleboro taking 1-91N.

If she was alone when she took off she may have immediately headed over the bridge to NH and hitchhiked on Rt 9.
Where she was found was off of Rt 9 in Marlborough, only about 30 mins by car from Brattleboro.
We don't know how she died and nothing has been reported about drugs so foul play seems very probable.

I used to work in Brattleboro and lived in Keene, so yes I can picture all of this....

Do we have any idea where she was found aside from "in the woods,off of Route 9 in Marlborough"? Anything more specific? I agree about the possibility of her hitchhiking, but where her body was found seems possible someone maybe dumped her over there thinking it was far enough away she might not be identified. Even though I agree with you that now at least the media all considers the general area to be fairly local AND LE should have considered Nancy all those years ago. Sigh.

IF she was trying to get a ride south towards Florida, or even to New York, the other end of Brattleboro makes more sense.

I put in Winchester Rd just to get the beginning of Rte 9 to appear in a map for people not familiar with the area to maybe get a feel for how her journey MAY have started. Elliott Street is the red arrow. I wonder if she was trying to head to White River Junction again? Or maybe Keene?

I am troubled by Nancy having been a nurse with dark hair. While she was clearly suffering from depression/stress, she fits the "Connecticut Valley Killer" victim profile.

If Nancy had wanted to hitchhike South, 91 S isn't farm from Elliot Street. (see below) Second image shows how close Massachusetts is, and then you could be in New York, etc. Going up to the bridge to hitch a ride to Florida doesn't make sense to me....I think something else happened.

 

[summergirl1]

Maybe the friend/friends in Vermont where people she had met in community college in New York where she studied nursing? Or possibly even people she had known in high school in New York? She had graduated from high school there.

The Brattleboro Reformer article about her day in court seems to me to show that she wasn't doing well mentally/emotionally which would fit with what her siblings said of her state of mind and the way her life was going just before she left Tampa when working in nursing was hard on her mental health. The vast majority of people, of course, wouldn't react that way to working in nursing, but obviously she did. She doesn't seem to have been emotionally able to handle it, at least at the time. Unfortunately, she didn't realize that until after working in it. It doesn't seem like the courts in Vermont knew that. I wonder what her job was at The Brattleboro Retreat?

I hope people who knew her back then come forward if they are still alive or remember, and perhaps shed more light on what was going in her life, if they can. Her case reminds me of the well known Maura Murray case in NH in 2004, although Maura's body has never been found. My guess is she may not have gotten her car back being on probation, perhaps, and more importantly, apparently having no Driver's License or an expired one. She may have left it in Florida in her haste to leave, too, I guess.

 

[Beekarina]

Apologies again--she was found off Rte 124, although travel along Rte 9 would make the most sense, it is not the only way. I realized this lower route shown below in lighter blue is also possible, and it also makes more sense IF Nancy was hitchhiking home towards Florida or New York, and someone with bad intent picked her up. I have not driven along it in a very long time, but from my memory it was pretty rural. Look:

 

[summergirl1]

IIRC:
I read that that Nancy died in the fall or late fall of 1973, I assume from the medical examiner?

She disappeared from Brattleboro on Oct 30,1973.
Is there a NH news article from when her body was found in April 1974?

I believe the answer to 1, is yes. I couldn't find any NH newspaper (or any newspaper) articles from when her body was found. Maybe someone else can?

 

[Beekarina]

I do not want to get way ahead of myself, especially as we do not know Nancy;s cause of death, but if you follow 119 east from Brattleboro, it loops with Rte 10, which connects with Rte 12, which becomes 124 where Marlborough starts to meet up with Jaffrey. If you're looking at the map I put in above, Route 10 is the straight shot up to Keene. This is troubling me, because the this also goes right by the market (formerly Gomarlos, something else now) where Jane Boroski was attacked.

It seems as though where Nancy was found is within the "territory" of the Connecticut Valley killer. I wonder if they have any theories for her cause of death?