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

[Izzylizzy]

This document is snipped so I have no idea if it contains a date of publication and if it was in local NH & VT newspapers?

 

[citizen_sleuth]

I was able to find some articles about the discovery of the remains back in April 1974.

"Skeleton Found In Marlborough," Keene Sentinel, 17 April 1974, pg. 2.
State and local authorities today are investigating a skeleton found Monday afternoon in a heavily-wooded section a half-mile off Route 124.

[The Cheshire County Attorney said officials] so far have been unable to determine the identity, age or sex of the remains [...]

O'Brien estimated that the body probably had been in the woods since last fall and said there was nothing to indicate foul play caused the victim's death.

[...]

The skeleton came from the frame of a small person and had no clothing on it at the time of discovery.

"Skeleton Found In Marlborough," Brattleboro Reformer, 17 April 1974, pg. 3.
Officials were trying to identify the remains of a man found Tuesday by a college student in a wooded area.

"Skeleton Was Woman About 25," Keene Sentinel, 19 April 1974, pg. 2.
According to new information released by the detective bureau of the N.H. State Police, the woman was about 25 years old, was about 5 feet 4 inches tall and had dark reddish-brown hair.

[...]

County Attorney Edward J. O'Brien repeated this morning that there is no indication foul play was involved in the woman's death.

 

[Beekarina]

If she didn't meet with foul play, the weather for October 30, 1973, shows overnight it was 0 F, so maybe she became hypothermic and removed all of her clothes?

Thank you for sharing those.

 

[Izzylizzy]

I was able to find some articles about the discovery of the remains back in April 1974.

"Skeleton Found In Marlborough," Keene Sentinel, 17 April 1974, pg. 2.
State and local authorities today are investigating a skeleton found Monday afternoon in a heavily-wooded section a half-mile off Route 124.

[The Cheshire County Attorney said officials] so far have been unable to determine the identity, age or sex of the remains [...]

O'Brien estimated that the body probably had been in the woods since last fall and said there was nothing to indicate foul play caused the victim's death.

[...]

The skeleton came from the frame of a small person and had no clothing on it at the time of discovery.

"Skeleton Found In Marlborough," Brattleboro Reformer, 17 April 1974, pg. 3.
Officials were trying to identify the remains of a man found Tuesday by a college student in a wooded area.

"Skeleton Was Woman About 25," Keene Sentinel, 19 April 1974, pg. 2.
According to new information released by the detective bureau of the N.H. State Police, the woman was about 25 years old, was about 5 feet 4 inches tall and had dark reddish-brown hair.

[...]

County Attorney Edward J. O'Brien repeated this morning that there is no indication foul play was involved in the woman's death.

Great sleuthing and much appreciated.

Of course the Brattleboro Reformer has the skeletal remains listed as a male. (facepalm).
The Keene Sentinel is sold in Brattleboro so NH info would have been available there.
The pack of Salem cigarettes should have caught eyes in Brat along with the hair color and length.
Back in the mid-70s smoking was acceptable so I gather that NGE was probably a known smoker to those who knew her whether when she was in Brattlboro Salems were her choice or not.
No clothes, animals could have gotten to her?
I don't get why LE was so fast to claim there was no foul play.
It was and remains a crime scene until proven otherwise!
Was all the evidence saved?
IMO

 

[Izzylizzy]

If she didn't meet with foul play, the weather for October 30, 1973, shows overnight it was 0 F, so maybe she became hypothermic and removed all of her clothes?

Thank you for sharing those.

Wow! I never heard of that, thanks.
My question though is before getting to the stage where this could have happened to her why did she remain where she was found?
Was she asleep and woke up to a very low body temp then in confusion removed her clothes or was she killed and left naked?
Was she addicted before she left Florida and were drugs involved with her death?
Was the medical examiner's report made available?
imo

"Paradoxical undressing" in fatal hypothermia - PubMed

The phenomenon called paradoxical undressing has been described from 33 cases of hypothermia collected from Swedish police reports. The cases were almost evenly distributed with regard to sex, age, and geographical distribution. The cases occurred more frequently in open land although cases from...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[Beekarina]

I thought of it since there were several mentions of "no signs of foul play", although I am also skeptical about the investigation and what may have been missed early on.

If she was in fact headed in that direction, maybe she knew someone at Keene State or she got the idea in her head to go to Mount Monadnock? I am a little confused about exactly when in October she disappeared--3rd vs the 30th--but maybe she wanted to go clear her head in nature, look at the fall foliage, that kind of thing, and it went wrong quickly? We do know she was acting impulsively and maybe suffering from mental illness.

It is also highly possible she could have previously spent time in northern New England while in college and her family had no idea. We do not know what her living arrangements were when she was studying to be a nurse, if she lived at home, or somewhere else.

I also think if the friends from WRJ were real, they were probably people she knew from nursing school, and she probably had it in her head that things would be better in Vermont. I wonder if they ever knew she made it there? If they did not have a phone, she may never have contacted them after her arrest. It is also possible they had no idea she was coming to see them in the first place.

I wonder if they are still alive, and still local. If they are, I hope they see the news and come forward.

 

[Beekarina]

Re:My question though is before getting to the stage where this could have happened to her why did she remain where she was found?

If I have the general area where she was found correct in my mind--it has been a few years since I have been out that way--I don't think there would have been much nearby in the way for her to go for help if she realized she was in trouble, especially late at night.

She may have also been despondent, suicidal, confused, etc. Given her odd behavior, it is hard to know if this impulsive move to Vermont was mental illness, a young person who had simply "had enough/wanted a fresh start", or if she needed to get away from something or someone else.

I'm personally wondering why she only had 6 cents to her name when she was arrested. She was living at home in Tampa and working as an RN. Even if she was helping out with household expenses, and knowing sure, nursing probably paid less then than it does now, she would have had a decent job and one would think she would have had some savings. I wonder how long she had been working there? That all seems strange to me as well, especially since she drove her car to Vermont. It doesn't take that long to drive from Florida to Vermont. Fuel wasn't terribly expensive, and she may have even slept in her car along the way. It is another thing in this case that doesn't add up to me.

 

[summergirl1]

She disappeared Oct 30. Oct 3 was her day in court for the car theft or around there. She spent almost a month at the halfway house after Oct 3..

 

[Izzylizzy]

I thought of it since there were several mentions of "no signs of foul play", although I am also skeptical about the investigation and what may have been missed early on.

If she was in fact headed in that direction, maybe she knew someone at Keene State or she got the idea in her head to go to Mount Monadnock? I am a little confused about exactly when in October she disappeared--3rd vs the 30th--but maybe she wanted to go clear her head in nature, look at the fall foliage, that kind of thing, and it went wrong quickly? We do know she was acting impulsively and maybe suffering from mental illness.

It is also highly possible she could have previously spent time in northern New England while in college and her family had no idea. We do not know what her living arrangements were when she was studying to be a nurse, if she lived at home, or somewhere else.

I also think if the friends from WRJ were real, they were probably people she knew from nursing school, and she probably had it in her head that things would be better in Vermont. I wonder if they ever knew she made it there? If they did not have a phone, she may never have contacted them after her arrest. It is also possible they had no idea she was coming to see them in the first place.

I wonder if they are still alive, and still local. If they are, I hope they see the news and come forward.

We don't know if she left Bratt on the 30th if it was in a car with someone or she walked away.
I don't see her bringing any unnecessary attention to herself if she left town and was walking along Putney Rd towards the bridge to NH-Route 9 and then started hitchhiking.
From the get-go to now foul play causing her death never appeared to be a priority by LE.
Another thing I thought of was in 1973-74 just about every household in VT & NH had a daily copy of either the Brattleboro Reformer or The Keene Sentinel in their home and still no one INCLUDING the police connected the dot that the body found may be that of NGE?
unbelievable.
IMO

 

[summergirl1]

It's not the only case I've read about where the dots didn't get connected as they should have. LE assumed she was voluntarily missing, avoiding her probation (and she did leave because she wanted to, whatever her motives may have been), and since she was from out of state, may have assumed she was no longer in the area/state. LE never contacted her family in Florida to see if that's where she had gone/if they knew where she was though, or maybe it wasn't very long after she left that the package was returned to her family, and LE didn't have time to check on that, or didn't think she would be back in Florida already . Or perhaps they tried to reach her family in Florida to see if she was there and couldn't reach anyone. There was no caller ID to see who had called and maybe they called when nobody was home. It doesn't seem like her leaving was followed up on, though. LE probably thought if she got into more trouble, they would hear about it. It's interesting she had no clothes on when her remains were found as all her clothes were found right by her..

 

[Izzylizzy]

It's not the only case I've read about where the dots didn't get connected as they should have. LE assumed she was voluntarily missing, avoiding her probation (and she did leave because she wanted to, whatever her motives may have been), and since she was from out of state, may have assumed she was no longer in the area/state. LE never contacted her family in Florida to see if that's where she had gone/if they knew where she was though, or maybe it wasn't very long after she left that the package was returned to her family, and LE didn't have time to check on that, or didn't think she would be back in Florida already . Or perhaps they tried to reach her family in Florida to see if she was there and couldn't reach anyone. There was no caller ID to see who had called and maybe they called when nobody was home. It doesn't seem like her leaving was followed up on, though. LE probably thought if she got into more trouble, they would hear about it. It's interesting she had no clothes on when her remains were found as all her clothes were found right by her..

Another article has her clothed when found beginning with the description of the jacket she was wearing.

The elephant in the middle of the room is why didn't her parents contact Brattleboro police when the box of clothes they sent to her half-way house was returned?
She was still on probation so some kind of missing/looking for bulletin could have been circulated/published even if the parents waited awhile then called LE because they had not heard from her in awhile.
We don't know if after her arrest and during her probation in Bratt if she kept in touch with her family and what was the status with her mom/dad(?).

Her mother in Florida received her W2 from when she worked at the Brattleboro Retreat and no one in the family thought to try and find out through SS if she was working or had worked elsewhere since Oct. 30,1973?

Why would the family report her missing in "another state" which remained nameless when she was last seen in Vermont?
Who knows, maybe it was Vermont they reported her missing in and the current Bratt Chief didn't want to go back there to an incompetent investigation?

IIRC her dad died in 85' and her mom soon after so that's over 10 yrs the parents were still able to do something to find her.
Her dad still left her a minimum amount of money in his will so I gather he thought she was alive and if was much less then what he left his other children then it may have been to make it more difficult for her if she chose to contest the will then if he left her nothing?

Then came crickets from her siblings until 2021 when brother Michael walked into the Brattleboro Police Station.
From all we now know about family/LE I say it was the "perfect storm" for a young lady who was found dead in the woods to remain nameless for 50 years.
IMO

 

[Beekarina]

I asked someone I know who was around the same age and living in Bellows Falls when this happened if they remembered hearing about the car theft or the discovery of the remains in Marlborough, and she said no. She did tell me something interesting, however. She said in the late 1960s, early 70s, the police cautioned young women in the area to be very careful when out, not to be alone, etc as there as a "predator" locally. She said they thought he might have been in Walpole or Charlestown.

I assume this is in reference to Joanne Dunham:

NH Thread 'NH - Joanne Dunham, 15, Charlestown, 11 Jun 1968'

Jul 27, 2014

Couldn't find an existing thread on Joanne.

From the NH Dept. of Justice website:

"On June 11, 1968 at approximately 7:10 a.m., Joanne Dunham, age 15, was last seen while walking from her home at Raiche Mobile Homes in Charlestown, NH enroute to her bus stop on her way to school. She never got on the bus. Her body was found at approximately 4:15 p.m. the following day on a roped off dirt road on Quaker City Road in Unity NH approximately 5½ miles from where she was abducted. An autopsy determined that Joanne died of asphyxiation."

Does anyone know if this case has been investigated as...

• Pettibon Junction
• Replies: 26
• Forum: Cold Cases

• 

Personally, I would have thought the Bellows Falls police and others would have thought to give Nancy a heads up where she was hitchhiking and new to the area and generally having a hard time? Perhaps they did, but I think it could be something else to consider. That is, LE already knew there was a "problem" locally, so any missing young woman, even one from outside the area who was on probation really should have had a bit of a look when a body pops up dead in the woods....

 

[Beekarina]

This video has more information than the shorter article also from "Mystery in the Mountains"...apparently Nancy was with a tall man when her sister saw her packing her bags and leaving Florida? There is also more detail about the family, divorce, remarriage, etc. It is worth a listen.

 

[Izzylizzy]

Since NGE was on probation and was living in a Community-House on Elliot St. Terrace and working at the Brattleboro Retreat I'm going with the Community House was part of the Retreat and she was also in some type of therapy which would be part of the Retreat's program.
Another group of professionals who connected no dots when a unidentified young woman with the same color/length of hair and was a smoker was found dead 5 months later and not too far a distance.

We have no idea who was also living in the Community House and if they were interviewed by LE when she skipped town, were police told to be on the look-out for her around town?

It appears that she just up and left and the town she left behind didn't blink an eye.

imo

 

[Izzylizzy]

This video has more information than the shorter article also from "Mystery in the Mountains"...apparently Nancy was with a tall man when her sister saw her packing her bags and leaving Florida? There is also more detail about the family, divorce, remarriage, etc. It is worth a listen.

That was informative, thanks.
Looks like they do have some piece(s) of evidence that could be forensically tested?
I've been curious if the evidence was secured, stored and available.
I see the dad left all his kids equal amounts of money in his will in 85' so he wasn't assuming that his missing daughter was dead.
@ 4:20 Sgt. Evans looks quite puzzled himself when he said "it seems a little odd".
Betcha all the questions we have and the "why wasn't" such and such done by NH and Brattleboro LE etc. is what has been going through his mind too.
The reporter will have an update on the forensics of the case which was surprising news...hopefully she does it.
imo

 

[Izzylizzy]

I'd love to know in 2021 when NGE's brother Michael went to the Brattleboro police who in LE connected looking into the body found in 74' and that it could be Nancys?
We know Nancy's DNA is still available.

 

[Beekarina]

The video is 3 years old, so I'm not sure if the reporter ever followed up? If anyone is able to find anything, I'd love to watch.

Maybe this is when things started moving since the reporter mentions the Brattleboro police looking into advances with forensics and DNA? Would imagine he hit on Marlborough Jane Doe immediately, given the timeframe and other stats.

I also wonder about the clothing. It sounds like some of it was mens clothing. Clearly she could have worn it, not unusual but would be interesting to know if her DNA is the only DNA associated. For example 2 jackets may have been her attempt to stay warm, but I'm not totally sure from the information we have if she was wearing both, or anything, or just socks? There is so much confusion about the clothing and if she was nude or partially clothed or ?

If she had left and been hitchhiking, as a young woman even if she had not had much we know from her sister's report she had left Tampa with a duffle bag. So she probably would have had some other clothes. More underwear and things like that at least? Did she leave any belongings behind when she left?

Again, if her family ever stumbles on this thread and wants to share, I'd love to know what kind of car she had, and if anyone knows what happened to it? A lot of the articles I have found are very confusing about which car ran out of gas. They make it seem as if the one she stole in Putney ran out of gas, and I am pretty sure it was her own car she drove from Florida to Vermont which did, and that was her explanation for stealing the running parked car in Putney.

Cars don't just vanish. Once they established she was who she claimed to be, I cannot understand why they would have kept her car? It isn't even clear to me WHERE her car actually broke down? Why would she simply abandon it?

I remember seeing cars by the side of the road for days when I was young. Then they would get a sticker or something on them and be moved. It seems like she should have had some help getting the car back if it just ran out of gas?

All so odd, IMO.

 

[DD Byrd]

If the body found was indeed originally listed as male that would explain a crucial dot not being connected. Especially if that decisive of a 'fact' remained in the files, it'd likely be a full stop to investigating missing women all-together.

 

[summergirl1]

It may have been part of her probation that she didn't get the car back for awhile? She was from out of state and had stolen a car. It was also mentioned that she had no ID. They may not have given her car back to her right away if she had no Driver's License or it was expired and she wasn't supposed to be on the road in the first place. In that case, they would have waited until she did whatever paperwork and tests she needed to do to obtain a driver's license in Vermont.

 

[summergirl1]

Since NGE was on probation and was living in a Community-House on Elliot St. Terrace and working at the Brattleboro Retreat I'm going with the Community House was part of the Retreat and she was also in some type of therapy which would be part of the Retreat's program.
Another group of professionals who connected no dots when a unidentified young woman with the same color/length of hair and was a smoker was found dead 5 months later and not too far a distance.

We have no idea who was also living in the Community House and if they were interviewed by LE when she skipped town, were police told to be on the look-out for her around town?

It appears that she just up and left and the town she left behind didn't blink an eye.

imo

I don't think the Community House was part of the Retreat. They may have sent her to work there as a type of therapy/community service if she mentioned her past issues, and to get her employment. Or it could have been because of her background in nursing, which doesn't seem to be a good choice as she had issues with nursing work in the past (however, she may not have let them know that).

Or possibly that's where they sent everyone or people who chose it/were suitable at least, for their community service. They may have had some agreement with the Retreat about community service for those on probation/staying at the Community House. Or it could be a requirement of her probation was to find a job and given that she had a nursing background, and that was nearby, it was a logical choice.