NJ NJ - Sandra Wood, 16, Hunterdon Co, 16 Sep 1975

[Fede]

Here is a homicide case I haven´t read about before.
"Forty-four years ago, 16-year-old Sandra Wood's beaten and strangled body was found propped up against a barbed-wire fence by a man walking his dog in a wooded area off Baptist Church Road in Union Township.
She was wearing only red bikini panties, a white bra, a sweater pulled over her head and blue socks. Detectives at the time believed her death was sex related, although it was later determined she had not been raped, but there were signs of a sexual attack.
Police also determined she may have been killed somewhere else before her body was dumped along the roadway because there was no sign of a struggle at the site. It is believed she had been dead for at least two days.
Here is the complete article on Sandra´s murder: NJ cold case: 16-year-old girl found beaten and strangled in Hunterdon County 44 years ago

 

[SAMS]

The break up with the boyfriend is concerning but she apparently was hitchhiking that day and most likely picked up by a perp. Wonder what other similar cases in this area around this time?

 

[Betty P]

She went missing on Sept 16, when she was walking home from girl friend's house. She was walking along Washington Valley Rd, west of Mt. Bethel Rd in Warren, NJ.

From the link above:

A Sept. 26, 1975 Home News report indicates two men told police they gave Wood rides shortly before she disappeared on Sept. 16, 1975 and she was safe when they dropped her off. One man said he picked Wood up on Washington Valley Road in Warren and dropped her off about a quarter mile down the road. A second man told police he picked Wood up on Washington Valley Road near Newmans Lane and drove her to Crim Lane where she was last seen, according to the Home News story.

While her family and LE think she may have been picked up by a third man, possibly her killer, I wondered why someone would pick up a hitchhiker only to give them a ride for barely a quarter mile? Is it possible that man picked Sandra up, but then she insisted on getting out after a quarter - mile. Perhaps he followed her after the other driver picked her up and dropped her off.

 

[Richard]

Sandra Wood, age 16
Murdered 16 September 1975
Hunterdon County, NJ
-------------------------
NJ cold case: 16-year-old girl found beaten and strangled in Hunterdon County 44 years ago
Article by Suzanne Russell (24 Sept 2019)
Courier News and Home News Tribune

HUNTERDON COUNTY – Forty-four years ago, 16-year-old Sandra Wood's beaten and strangled body was found propped up against a barbed-wire fence by a man walking his dog in a wooded area off Baptist Church Road in Union Township.

She was wearing only red bikini panties, a white bra, a sweater pulled over her head and blue socks. Detectives at the time believed her death was sex related, although it was later determined she had not been raped, but there were signs of a sexual attack.

Police also determined she may have been killed somewhere else before her body was dumped along the roadway because there was no sign of a struggle at the site. It is believed she had been dead for at least two days...

LINKS:

NJ cold case: Sandra Wood found beaten, strangled in Hunterdon in 1975

Sandra J. Wood (1958-1975) - Find A Grave...

 

[Beccalicious]

Bumping

 

[acutename]

confused where she actually lived.... in Hunterdon Co? Washington Valley Rd/Crim Rd are not super close to where she was found. Also IMO people did not hitch hike that much in the 70's at least in the northeast- was already considered "not that safe" unless it was some one you knew IMO.

• 

39 min (32.7 mi) via I-78 W and Pittstown Rd

 

[Aegon_the_Conqueror]

confused where she actually lived.... in Hunterdon Co? Washington Valley Rd/Crim Rd are not super close to where she was found. Also IMO people did not hitch hike that much in the 70's at least in the northeast- was already considered "not that safe" unless it was some one you knew IMO.

• View attachment 557241

39 min (32.7 mi) via I-78 W and Pittstown Rd

She didn't live in Hunterdon County. She lived in Basking Ridge/Bernards Twp, in Somerset County. It's on the north side of the I-78/I-287 intersection. Warren is the next township east, on the south side of I-78. So she went east a little bit, then west out to the sticks, where it's mostly woods and farms.

 

[Aegon_the_Conqueror]

The break up with the boyfriend is concerning but she apparently was hitchhiking that day and most likely picked up by a perp. Wonder what other similar cases in this area around this time?

None that I'm aware of. There's a good chance that this one was an anomaly.

 

[Aegon_the_Conqueror]

The break up with the boyfriend is concerning but she apparently was hitchhiking that day and most likely picked up by a perp. Wonder what other similar cases in this area around this time?

Well, correction. There's a guy doing 2 life sentences in Trenton named John Korman. He was convicted in 2000 of murders in 1995 and 1998. In 1975 he lived 3 miles away from where Sandra was last seen in Warren. He has a criminal record dating back to an assault in 1973. In 1977 he was convicted of carnal abuse; in 1984 he was given 5 years probation for assaulting a 13-year-old female. In 1989 he was banned from volunteering with the Boy Scouts.