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Kathleen, a student at Ponus Ridge Middle School, was last seen shortly after school was released on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 1986, by a couple of fellow students who saw her walking toward a path that leads to Hunters Lane and then to Fillow Street, police said.
The young student was reported missing by her mother after she did not arrive home from school. When Kathleen did not arrive home by 3:15 p.m., her mother drove to the school to look for her daughter and checked the surrounding neighborhoods but was unable to locate her.
According to police, Kathleen normally walked home from school using the path. Several of Kathleen’s friends were contacted and one or two last saw her walking towards the beginning of the path by the tennis courts a few minutes after school ended.
An extensive search was initiated with teams contacting Kathleen's friends while other teams began to search the woods on both sides of the path. Eventually, her body was discovered in a secluded wooded area over 100 feet from the path.
Police said Kathleen had been sexually assaulted and strangled.
The murder of Kathleen is an active investigation and is currently being evaluated with recent advancements in DNA technology.
Over the years, numerous tips have been provided for possible suspects, some vague descriptions and some as a hunch, according to police. Some descriptions were also fabricated thinking it would help the investigation, police said.
A flyer was produced at one time with composite sketches of three white males with long dirty hair operating a green vehicle with New York plates. There is a possibility that the car was not involved in the case but was rather a group of teenagers that borrowed the car and were on school grounds and took off when a teacher leaving the school approached the vehicle, police said.
Anybody with information is asked to contact Lt. Art Weisgerber at (203) 854-3028 or aweisgerber@norwalkct.org. Anonymous Internet tips can be sent through the Norwalk police website at www.norwalkpd.com. Anonymous text tips can be submitted by typing “NPD” into the text field, followed by the message and sending it to CRIMES (274637).
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