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

[summergirl1]

Since she had been reported missing in Florida, I think the dots would probably be connected today, even without DNA? Of course, many people reporting a missing relative would give DNA today.

 

[Friday Fan]

Oops...wrong thread!

 

[The4TierBridge]

State reduces number of missing in Central Texas flooding from 161 to 101

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the number of people now believed to be missing in catastrophic flooding near Kerr County is 97.

www.nbcdfw.com

The total number of people missing includes 97 people from the greater Kerrville area and four others from flooding elsewhere in the state. Officials have not released the names of those reported to be missing.---grhh...

I think you may have posted this on the wrong thread.

 

[dotr]

Cold Case Unit identifies remains from 1974 as Vermont woman

CONCORD — Investigators with the New Hampshire Cold Case Unit and assisting agencies recently identified the remains of a woman discovered in Marlborough in 1974. Investigation into her manner of

www.laconiadailysun.com

• Jul 14, 2025
• “After years of work on this case, putting a name to Nancy Gale Erickson is incredibly meaningful. It’s more than solving a mystery — it’s restoring her identity and honoring the life she lived. She was never forgotten,” said State Police Det. Sgt. Kelly LaPointe. “We’re deeply grateful to everyone whose efforts made this possible. Now the focus turns to understanding how and why she died''
• ''.With this identification, investigators are seeking the public’s help looking into Erickson’s death. They are interested in hearing from anyone who knew Erickson or had contact with her. This includes former employees of the Brattleboro Retreat or residents of the Community House in 1973, students at Corning Community College (1971–72), and staff at Tampa General Hospital (1972–73)''.
  

 

[nhmemorymaker]

I've read about many Doe cases, and the victim doesn't always have issues with their family or is into things the family might want to distance themselves from, or even a free spirit who traveled a lot and sometimes didn't keep in contact, or a runaway, etc. Sometimes families don't follow up on a loved one's disappearence for other reasons than thinking they are out living their life somewhere, although Nancy's family kept that in their mind as a possibility, judging from the article about her being missing. Individuals and families respond differently to different things, and in ways which might not make sense to outsiders.

They did report her missing in Florida, which is more than some families did, or were able to do, given LE's attitudes towards missing people back in the day. It could just be the siblings were busy with their lives and it was only as they got older or maybe read something or heard something about DNA identifying people nowadays that they decided to take more action. Or they simply decided it had been long enough and wanted to address it better. I wonder if her original missing report included dental records? That was before DNA.

They did report her missing in Florida, which is more than some families did, or were able to do, given LE's attitudes towards missing people back in the day. It could just be the siblings were busy with their lives and it was only as they got older or maybe read something or heard something about DNA identifying people nowadays that they decided to take more action.

I really do believe that the above is closer to the truth, as we hopefully will get closer to.
The family probably thought about it all the time, but just did not know what to do.

Back then, NOT being in touch for great lengths of time was just the norm. I taught at a private boys' school in NYS in the early 70s. We would have students "disappear" at times, and really just did not do much about it. Obviously calls to parents would be a given.... but not much beyond that. Usually they came back to the school.... but people did not question the absence.

BUT this confuses me:
Sister recalls her leaving with a duffel bag with some tall man.
They file a Missing Persons report in Florida.
Do we assume that the family had no idea she was heading North? And, they only learned this when they got the call about her stealing a car.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

re: Sadly she didn't know she was in the land of pan-handling and very likely could have explained her situation and gotten a few dollars which would have gotten her the gas she needed.

Yeah, this is what struck me initially as so strange though, especially as she was from Long Island, and then Elmira...and being a young girl. Seems she should have figured out she could ask for help in rural VT? As we see from the way the judge behaved, they were inclined to help her even AFTER she did something criminal and crazy.....

I had not realized until you pointed it out that the car she stole also belonged to another young person. You have to wonder then why she didn't just ask him for help?

This is why I'm mulling over Nancy wanting to disappear, and maybe that is what she was attempting again when she left the halfway house?

As you said about thinking of her while driving over the bridge, it gets you when you can really picture someone moving around locally. I hope LE eventually learns more about her motivation for coming to VT and what happened to her.

As you said about thinking of her while driving over the bridge, it gets you when you can really picture someone moving around locally.
So very true.... this is my stomping grounds... the whole area of eastern NY -NH and all states around.

It is just something about the New England states... You ALWAYS know folks from other places, and you often know exactly where these geographic areas are, when mentioned in a crime... I have travelled all the bridges that cross over the Connecticut river. This happens a lot with me.

This is why I'm mulling over Nancy wanting to disappear

I am also thinking this to be true. Assuming she was just not in a good place, mentally, and so alone, and feeling she "just had to get away", I can truly see her aimlessly heading 'away" but only got as far as NH.

Back then, families also were a source of major guilt. We just had to live through that. And the way so many people would deal with that..........was to distance. Factually and Figuratively.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

There was also a flurry of LE activity at the house of the guy people locally refer to as the "Kellyville Killer" about a year ago. I do not think anything came of it in the end, at least not anything made public, but it was all over the news and caused QUITE the stir in the Newport/Claremont area while it was happening. (There should be articles linked in that thread, I remember following along when it was going on.)

I don't know what I think about all of it personally. As far as I know, that man was never arrested or anything. I think LE may have removed a few objects from the property, but again, it is a year later and I have not seen any updates.

Definitely good if the Cold Cases are all getting more attention and new people are working on them. I know with the Connecticut Valley Killer stuff, many feel it may have been a police officer.

i remember that too.
I think people were thinking they might have had a clue with the Maura Murray case .... but i think it did highlight a different case, which I am certainly forgetting at the moment!!

 

[nhmemorymaker]

I don't believe there was much effort identify Does back then.
Get dentals.
Check missing persons' files. (In this case, she probably wasn't in their database).

They didn't do much research beyond what was "on hand". They probably searched a bit harder if they felt fowl play was involved. But if they didn't have too many resources available.

They just didn't have the resources back then, so they didn't try that hard.

I agree. They did what "was expected" for the times. There were triggers in a case that would encourage/demand more... but it was usually emotional heat from the public. This would just not be the case with nancy.

 

[Izzylizzy]

This post, from her missing thread, says she tried to hitchhike earlier in Oct of 1973. Maybe she tried to hitchike again, to bad results. I wonder if she had decided Vermont wasn't for her and that she was going back to Florida before it got to be winter..

We don't know and most likely will never know if she was alone when she left Brat and as you said she could have hitchhiked, either from Brat or when she hit the bridge along Rt. 9 .
I'm curious just how much effort went into her autopsy and was it investigated in NH right away as a possible homicide?
NH had communes and I would think that her nursing degree would be a plus yet we have no idea of her mental state and why she couldn't serve out her 2 month probation.
So sad and so avoidable with all the help she had surrounding her.
imo

 

[Izzylizzy]

There was also a flurry of LE activity at the house of the guy people locally refer to as the "Kellyville Killer" about a year ago. I do not think anything came of it in the end, at least not anything made public, but it was all over the news and caused QUITE the stir in the Newport/Claremont area while it was happening. (There should be articles linked in that thread, I remember following along when it was going on.)

I don't know what I think about all of it personally. As far as I know, that man was never arrested or anything. I think LE may have removed a few objects from the property, but again, it is a year later and I have not seen any updates.

Definitely good if the Cold Cases are all getting more attention and new people are working on them. I know with the Connecticut Valley Killer stuff, many feel it may have been a police officer.

May 2024

Newport evidence search related to cases linked to so-called Connecticut River Valley serial killer

The search for physical evidence underway Tuesday in Newport is related to the investigation into multiple cold cases popularly linked to the so-called Connecticut River Valley serial killer, News 9 Investigates has learned.

www.wmur.com

snip:

"Julie Murray, the sister of Maura Murray, the Massachusetts college student who went missing in New Hampshire in 2004, told WMUR her family was aware of the search and said they are in close contact with investigators. Maura Murray’s case has not typically been connected to the unsolved Connecticut River Valley killings of decades prior, but in 2023, Julie Murray helped lead a group of victims’ families in demanding change in how all cold cases are investigated by the state.

“And we did a big rally last summer for this because there hasn't been a whole lot of movement in these cases. And evidently, the rally may have (led) them to move forward with these cases, start reinvestigating them and looking into them and not forgetting about them,” said Jane Boroski, who was seven months pregnant when she was stabbed 27 times in 1988 in Swanzey.

 

[Izzylizzy]

I don't believe there was much effort identify Does back then.
Get dentals.
Check missing persons' files. (In this case, she probably wasn't in their database).

They didn't do much research beyond what was "on hand". They probably searched a bit harder if they felt fowl play was involved. But if they didn't have too many resources available.

They just didn't have the resources back then, so they didn't try that hard.

Not many unidentified women who are found dead in the woods left a recent legal, paper/personal trail 20 miles away.

Putting aside the incompetent Brat/NH police and the possible lack of resources /investigators you have so many people in Brattleboro, professional and private who knew Nancy, knew what she looked like, knew she was missing and maybe even knew she smoked 'Salems" and not one person reading the articles about a woman's body found in the Brattleboro reformer and the NH Keene Sentinel thought it could be her?
There was a mug shot of her too.
I wouldn't be surprised Brat police were glad to get rid of another hippie from town who was costing them money and NH wasn't far behind looking into her death.
imo

 

[Izzylizzy]

They did report her missing in Florida, which is more than some families did, or were able to do, given LE's attitudes towards missing people back in the day. It could just be the siblings were busy with their lives and it was only as they got older or maybe read something or heard something about DNA identifying people nowadays that they decided to take more action.

I really do believe that the above is closer to the truth, as we hopefully will get closer to.
The family probably thought about it all the time, but just did not know what to do.

Back then, NOT being in touch for great lengths of time was just the norm. I taught at a private boys' school in NYS in the early 70s. We would have students "disappear" at times, and really just did not do much about it. Obviously calls to parents would be a given.... but not much beyond that. Usually they came back to the school.... but people did not question the absence.

BUT this confuses me:
Sister recalls her leaving with a duffel bag with some tall man.
They file a Missing Persons report in Florida.
Do we assume that the family had no idea she was heading North? And, they only learned this when they got the call about her stealing a car.

Is it being assumed that the missing person report was filed in Florida because I've yet to read a state mentioned.
Be it in Florida or elsewhere we don't know when it was filed, if it took the family over 45 yrs to contact Brattleboro which was the last place she was known to be for all we know the report could have been filed a few years ago.
imo

 

[summergirl1]

I've never read the state it was filed in-just that it was out of state. I'm not exactly sure what that means. Her family had no reason to think she was in NH, so she never would have been reported missing by them there. It doesn't sound like she was reported missing in Vermont by them, either, though.
According to these old newspaper articles, NH police didn't classify her death as suspicious or foul play at first.

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.

 

[Izzylizzy]

I'd like to hope that LE put the dots together before me

Like in 1974, eh?
imo

 

[Izzylizzy]

I'd like to hope that LE put the dots together before me

How did you connect the dot?
Great work.

 

[victoriarobinson642]

How did you connect the dot?
Great work.

I searched for unidentified decedents in neighboring states with similar descriptions to Nancy.

 

[Izzylizzy]

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. View attachment 601438 View attachment 601439

Nancy's body was found in a wooded area off of RT 124 Marlborough .
I couldn't find the article I had read that said 1/2 mile and wasn't clear.
But was it 1/2 mile from first entering Rt 124 or 1/2 mile into a wooded area that is off of Rt 124?

Nancy would have had to hitchhike from Western Ave up to the 91 N/S entrances and if she wasn't picked up on Western Ave by someone going her way she would have had to hitch from 91 entrance because you can't hitch on Rt 91.
If she did hitch I would think she'd want to get out of Vermont ASAP and NH was the closest and most traveled.

We don't even know exactly when she left Tampa except for family saying 1973 and we don't know if she had been hanging in the VT-NH area before being arrested and wasn't just traveling through and ran out of gas.

If she drove straight to Vt from Tampa and got arrested then most likely she would still have had her duffle bag with belongings in it.
Even if it somehow disappeared during her trip from Tampa to Vt after getting arrested she would have accumulated some clothes, toiletries, legal papers etc and I don't see her leaving the community house w/o her stuff.
Nothing was mentioned about a bag/belongings at the scene of her body so did she leave the community house on the 30th with all intention of returning?

Was their foul play by someone she knew that got her out of Brat or someone that picked her up hitching and her belongings were taken?
I didn't read anything about her clearing out her stuff at the community house, just that she disappeared.

imo

 

[summergirl1]

The article that mentions that is below:

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]

FWIW people did hitchhike in the 70s/80s on i-91 in Southern Vermont, especially near the on ramps and exits. I'm pretty sure you were not supposed to do it then either, but I don't think it was a priority to bust people for it. I remember seeing people doing it. It happened some in Massachusetts too but they were much more likely to enforce and had signage against it, etc.

I feel like there was a Welcome Center in Guilford prior to the nice one that is there now. I know that was built in the 90s, but I'm pretty sure there was something down that way or maybe closer to Brattleboro beforehand? I have a memory of stopping off it was much more rustic, but memory is failing me about where it was exactly? I know it was south of the Food Coop.

 

[LucyOso]

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
Thinking of submitting Nancy Gale Erickson as a match to Marlborough Jane Doe - I wish there was a photo of her, though.

Wow! Back in 2021, she was submitted by WSer.