Post by Scumhunter on Sept 16, 2017 19:23:35 GMT -5
(Above photo credit: masslive.com)
From masslive.com:
Kerry Gilpin looked to the side and became distant. Her eyes began to fill with tears. As Gilpin spoke about the unsolved murder of her 15-year-old sister, Tracy Gilpin, it was almost as if she was brought back in time to 30 years ago.
There was Gilpin's family, her mother, standing in front of her giving the young woman the heart-wrenching news. Tracy's body was found. Gilpin's family met her at Blue Cross Blue Shield where she worked at the time.
"I can see my mother in the lobby. It's like a moment in time," she said. "I can still feel what it felt like. I can see my mother's face."
There are still moments when Gilpin, 47, feels like she is back in 1986, mostly when she talks about her younger sister.
Through all of the years, Gilpin still holds out hope Tracy's killing will be solved. As a major for the Massachusetts State Police, Gilpin knows science and technology have advanced and even older cases have a chance.
"In the last 30 years, science has gotten to the point where it is incredible," Gilpin said. "Technology is incredible and they move forward every day. It gives my family hope."
The middle child, Tracy, and her family moved from the seaside village of Manomet in Plymouth, Massachusetts, to the Rocky Nook neighborhood of Kingston, Massachusetts, before the teen disappeared.
Tracy's mother, Kathleen, and her father, Richard, had divorced and Kathleen moved to the close-knit neighborhood to be closer to the children's grandparents.
Rocky Nook had one road in and the community was close. Sometimes people shared clothing and Tracy was known to sleep at friend's homes often.
Tracy spent her free time babysitting or going out with friends.
The night she disappeared Tracy had done both. The teen babysat at a home a couple of streets away from her house on Oct. 1, 1986. She was excited after getting paid.
Tracy came home and talked to her sister and mother. She was going to a party two streets away.
Around 10:30 p.m., Tracy left the party and walked with two friends. She ended up separating from her friends and headed to the Cumberland Farms on Route 3A.
Tracy bought a pack of cigarettes and used the payphone. She called the woman having the party and asked for a ride home. The woman couldn't leave the party.
"That is the last time anyone saw her," Gilpin said.
The following morning the phone began ringing at the Gilpin home. It was always ringing. Tracy had many friends and they called often.
But these calls were different. Friends weren't calling to set up plans to go out with Tracy, they were wondering if her family saw her.
There were days Tracy wouldn't come home. There were days she wouldn't even call.
"There were days of no call, no show," Gilpin said. "So it wasn't out of the realm of possibility that she was over somebody's house."
As evening crept in, Tracy's family and friends began searching the area. Panic began to set in. Tracy's mother called Kingston Police, but it wasn't the first time they heard Tracy's name.
Police didn't take it seriously, at first, Gilpin said. Some thought Tracy might have went back to Manomet, but she wasn't there either.
Days turned to weeks. Tracy was still missing.
Searches around the nearby shoreline and beach and the missing person fliers placed in the area yielded no results.
Three weeks after Tracy disappeared, her badly decomposed body was found in the Myles Standish State Forest on the Plymouth side. A woman picking flowers at the park made the discovery. Dental records later confirmed the body was Tracy's, her sister said.
The location of Tracy's body was roughly 11 miles away from where she was last seen.
There were no witnesses. Gilpin said there was little forensic evidence. Authorities determined the cause of Tracy's death was severe blunt force trauma to the head.
A car had to be involved in order to move Tracy to the park, but Gilpin believes her sister would never get into a car if she didn't know the person inside. It is one of the reasons she believes Tracy knew her killer.
"You only go down there (Rocky Nook) if you lived there or were going to a party. You knew everybody. That's why it is tough to think it didn't happen by somebody she knew," Gilpin said. "She was a fighter. She wasn't going to get into a car with someone she didn't know. She wasn't like that."
Most homicides are not random, says Gilpin, who during her career worked crime scenes for the State Police.
After being told Tracy's body was found, she took a drive with a family member. They ended up at a nearby gas station. Tracy's missing persons flier was on the wall.
Gilpin asked the clerk for it back. He asked why.
"I told him he didn't need it," she said.
Tracy's father Richard moved back in with her mother after the killing. The couple already had one son together, Rich, and following her death Tracy's parents had another son, Shane.
Shane never met Tracy, but the two have similar mannerisms, Gilpin said. Their smiles are very alike.
"Tracy had a quirky smile, it was almost sarcastic. One side of her face would go up, the other side of her face would go down," Gilpin recalled. "You could see that little mischievous twinkle in her eyes and you knew she was up to something."
More than 30 years later, Tracy's mother still lives in the same home. She refuses to leave, partly because it holds memories of the teen.
The family continues to hope one person has information that can push the case forward. The family still thinks about Tracy and Gilpin created a Facebook page to help spread information.
A $25,000 reward is being offered by the family for any information that leads to the arrest and prosecution of Tracy's killer. Anyone with information on Tracy's case is asked to call Massachusetts State Police investigators at 508-894-2584.
www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/09/she_went_to_a_party_and_disapp.html
Thoughts?
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