Post by Joanna on Aug 12, 2014 0:44:46 GMT -5
Reward Offered in 1982 Unsolved Murder of New York Woman
Authorities are offering a reward for information in the 1982 unsolved murder of 40-year-old Patricia Shea (above), a physician’s assistant, who was found strangled in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park July 26, 1982. Her body was fully clothed and she had been strangled with a length of nylon rope. A man’s shirt was found nearby. She was last seen around 11 p.m. Monday, July 25, when she told friends she needed to visit an elderly parent who lived in an apartment adjacent to her own. Shea's murder was one of five similar homicides in New York City at the time.
Just eight days later, on the morning of August 3, 1982, a fisherman discovered the nude body of a woman floating off the 69th Street Pier in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn. She had been sexually assaulted, beaten and strangled and an electrical cord was tied around her neck and lashed around her hands behind her. The woman was not immediately identified and was described as between 18 and 25, 5'6" tall and weighing 123 pounds. The medical examiner noted she had been beaten about the head and body and there were ligature marks on her ankles.
The murders began March 18, 1982, when the nude body of Sheryl Guida, 22, was found near Coney Island Creek in Brooklyn. She had been strangled with a stocking and apparently dumped from a moving car. However, because she was a known prostitute, investigation of her death was minimal.
On July 15, the body of Rita Nixon, 21, of Portsmouth, Va., was found at the rear of a school building located at 80 Catherine Street, near Chinatown. She had been wrapped in a blanket that was tied with an electrical cord. The cord was not of the same type as that found on the body of the unknown woman.
Just four days later, on July 19, Gloria DeLeon, 32, was discovered strangled on Water Street, between Market Slip and Mechanic's Alley, near the Manhattan Bridge, a few blocks from where Nixon's body was found. Police said she had been arrested previously for prostitution. The ligatures used to strangle Nixon and DeLeon were not found at the scene.
In Nassau County, the nude body of a woman was discovered around 2 a.m., August 3, 1982, in a parking lot at the Green Acres shopping mall in Valley Stream, Long Island. The unidentified woman had no teeth and was described as around 40-years-of age, 5'4" tall and weighing 123 pounds.
While police never established a link between Patricia Shea’s murder and that of the other women, they also never ruled out the possibility a serial killer was responsible.
Anyone with information should contact the 79th Precinct at (718) 636-6611.
Sources: FoxNews and The New York Times.
