The Alphabet Murders: 20 Horrifying Facts About The Unsolved Mystery

The Alphabet Murders: 20 Horrifying Facts About The Unsolved Mystery

It is always awful when a child dies, yet it is almost impossible to imagine how a youngster may be killed. Sadly, a number of well-known homicides have had children as victims. Some of the murdered children were murdered by someone they knew, while others were massacred by complete strangers.

Between 1971 and 1973, a series of child murders known as The Alphabet Murders occurred in Rochester, New York. All three victims, who were young girls in their tens or elevens, had surnames that began with the same letter as their given names. The three teenage girls were strangled and killed in Upstate New York after being raped. Despite the fact that many hundred persons have been questioned, no one has ever been found guilty of the crimes.

Each victim had been sexually abused, and strangled—either manually or with a ligature—before her body was dumped in or close to a Rochester town or hamlet whose name began with the same letter as the victim’s.

Let’s learn more about this shocking incident;

1. The Alphabet Victims were Preadolescent Females

Preadolescent girls, all three victims were found dead in adjacent towns after going missing in Rochester early in the afternoon on days when it rained lightly or heavily. All three victims were girls aged ten or eleven.

2. The Bodies of Each Girl had been Discovered either Fully Clothed or Partially-clothed

Los Angeles Police Department, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Each victim’s body had been found either completely or partially dressed, close to a motorway, in a place that was generally accessible by car. It was clear that each victim had been tossed from or transported from a car to the place where her body had been dumped.

 3. Carmen Colón was the First Victim of the Rochester Alphabet Murders

A 10-year-old Puerto Rican girl named Carmen Colón vanished on her way home from a run in Rochester, New York, at about 4:20 in the afternoon on November 16, 1971. Eyewitnesses said that Colón went to the West Main Street drugstore her grandma had asked her to visit. However, he fled after realising the prescription she was supposed to pick up had not been filled. At 7:50 p.m., Colón was reported missing to Rochester police.

4. The First Victim’s Partially Nude Body was Discovered in a Gully

Colton Cotton, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

About fifty minutes after Colón left the pharmacy, a number of drivers saw the child running from what they believed to be a dark-coloured Ford Pinto hatchback. The girl was completely naked from the waist down. She was frantically waving her arms and shouting as she did so in an effort to flag down a passing car. One of these witnesses, if not all of them, saw Colón’s kidnapper leading her back to this car in a subservient manner.

Two days later, two adolescent guys in the community of Churchville came upon Colón’s half-naked body in a gully. Three hundred feet away from her body, her coat was found in a culvert; however, her trousers were not discovered until 30 November near the service road, where multiple drivers had seen her attempting to flee her captor.

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5. The Child had Suffered a Fracture to her Skull and One of her Vertebrae

The youngster was found to have been manually strangled to death after being raped. Moreover, Colón’s skull and one of her vertebrae were fractured, according to an autopsy. Additionally, her torso had several fingernail scratches.

6. Intense Public Outrage was Caused by the fact that no One Tried to Free from her Kidnapper after Seeking Help

Intense public indignation was sparked by both Colón’s murder and the fact that no one tried to save the kidnapped girl when they saw her trying to escape along Interstate 490. For information that would result in the capture and conviction of her killer, two New York newspapers, the Times Union and the Democrat and Chronicle, initially offered a combined reward of $2,500. All information was forwarded to authorities by each newspaper.

Private contributions from other local businesses and citizens increased the prize money, eventually raising it to more than $6,000.Although police questioned a number of potential suspects in the months after Colón’s murder, all were found to be innocent.

7. Colón’s Uncle was Considered by Investigators to be a Prime Suspect in her Murder

Rainerzufall1234, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Miguel Colón, Carmen Colón’s uncle, was viewed by authorities as a prime suspect in her slaying. Miguel was her paternal uncle. The uncle had developed a bond with her mother, Guillermina after Carmen’s parents had split up.

The uncle bought a car closely matching the vehicle seen by eyewitnesses prior to her abduction and murder. When this car was searched by investigators shortly after Colón was killed, they found that both the interior and exterior had been thoroughly cleaned, and the trunk had been thoroughly cleaned with a potent cleaning solution.

Additionally, a child’s doll was discovered in his car. This was despite Colón’s relatives telling police she frequently rode in Miguel’s car and might have left the toy there. In addition, a buddy claimed that Miguel told him he planned to leave the nation two days after his niece passed away because he had “done something wrong in Rochester.” Four days after his niece’s murder, he moved from Rochester to Puerto Rico.

No physical evidence linking Miguel to the murder was discovered at the scene of the crime or inside his vehicle. This was despite the fact that there was significant circumstantial evidence that he was guilty.

8. 11-year-old Wanda Walkowicz Disappeared from the East Side of Rochester

On April 2, 1973, at around 5:00 p.m., 17 months after the first incident, 11-year-old Wanda Walkowicz vanished. She was returning home from an errand on Rochester’s east side.

The youngster had bought the items she was supposed to buy at about 5:15 p.m., according to the proprietor of the delicatessen Walkowicz had been directed to visit before she started wandering by herself down Conkey Avenue. At 8:00 p.m., Walkowicz’s mother Joyce reported her missing.

9. An Intense Search to Locate the Second Victim was Launched by Police

Photo by Faruk Tokluoğlu: Pexels

The police started looking hard right away to find Walkowicz. Nearly fifty detectives combed many square kilometres of her neighbourhood, the deli, and places where she had been known to play along the Genesee River.

Despite other neighbourhood residents recalling seeing Walkowicz trying to hold the grocery bag as she walked just north of Avenue B, these searches came up empty. She braced the bag against a fence to help her grip it better as a brown car drove by; three students explicitly saw her do this.

10. Walkowicz’s Fully Clothed Body was Found by a Police Officer

A police officer discovered Walkowicz’s fully dressed body the following morning at 10:15 a.m. Her body was tumbling down the embankment, suggesting that she had most likely been thrown from a moving car. 

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11. The Second Victim Had been Strangled from behind with a Ligature

Hippolyte Louis Emile Pauquet (1797–1863 ou 1871), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

An autopsy found she had been raped before being ligatured behind with something, most likely a belt. Walkowicz had battled her killer, as shown by several defensive wounds. Her body had also been clothed after death. The child’s body had signs of pubic hair and semen, according to the autopsy. Several strands of white cat fur were also discovered on her clothing, despite the Walkowicz family not owning a pet with white fur.

12. Two Eyewitness Witnessed the Kidnapping of the Second Alphabet Victim

 Police investigations led to the identification of a witness who told authorities that he had seen the youngster standing next to the passenger door of a huge brown vehicle and talking to the driver on the evening of April 2. Even though the site of this encounter was about two-tenths of a mile from the Walkowicz residence, the eyewitness was unable to clearly see the car.

Another person contacted the police and reported seeing a man shoving a red-haired girl who matched Walkowicz’s description into a light-coloured Dodge Dart on Conkey Avenue between 5:30 and 6:00 the night of her disappearance.

13. Michelle Maenza failed to Return Home from School

Michelle was the third victim of the Alphabet murders. When 11-year-old Michelle Maenza failed to come home from school on the evening of November 26, 1973, her mother Carolyn reported her missing seven months later. Maenza was last seen by her classmates at around 3:20 p.m. She was travelling alone to a shopping centre adjacent to her school with the purpose of recovering a pocketbook. Her mother had left the book inside a store within the centre earlier that day, according to later investigations.

14. A Witness Observed Maenza Sitting in the Passenger Seat of a Tan Vehicle

Nenad Stojkovic, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

A witness saw Maenza seated in the passenger seat of a beige or tan car heading into Webster Avenue from Ackerman Street at a high rate of speed. This witness reported that the child had been sobbing.

In the town of Walworth, a driver saw a man holding a female by the wrist who he was positive was Michelle Maenza around 5:30 p.m. on November 26. The man was standing beside a sizable beige or tan vehicle with a flat tyre.

The person had purposefully grabbed the girl and shoved her behind his back when the motorist had stopped to offer assistance. Moreover, the kidnapper hid his licence plate from view and glared at him with a threatening expression that made the driver feel compelled to drive away.

15. Maenza’s Fully Clothed Body was Discovered in a Ditch

Unfortunately, after her missing incident, she was discovered murdered. The body was fully clothed and was discovered face down in a ditch. Her body was discovered on November 28 at 10;30 a.m.

16. Maenza was Strangled to Death From Behind with a Ligature

Photo by Cottonbro Studio: Pexels

Maenza’s autopsy found that in addition to suffering severe blunt force injuries, she had also been raped before being strangled to death from behind using a ligature, possibly a thin rope.

She was found to have numerous strands of white cat fur all over her clothing. Moreover, leaf samples from one of her clenched hands matched the flora where her body was located. This indicated that she had most likely been strangled there or nearby.

17. Traces of Semen were Found on her Body and Undergarments

A portion of her palm print was found on her neck, and traces of semen were found on her body and undergarments. It was found from a forensic examination of the semen samples that she had been raped only once.

18. The Alphabet Murders Generated Intense Public Outrage

Each of the three kid killings sparked a great deal of public outcry and gained a lot of media attention. Investigators presented a composite image of the person seen with the child by many witnesses to the media after Michelle Maenza was killed. Additionally, they set up a phone line dedicated just to the pursuit of the murderer, who they had strong suspicions had been responsible for all three killings.

A reward was once more given for any information leading to the capture and conviction of the offender, and anonymity was once more granted to any caller providing information. Despite several calls from the public in response to these attempts, no reliable suspect was found.

19. Investigators Interrogated more than 800 Potential Suspects

Even though more than 800 probable suspects were questioned by investigators in regard to the Alphabet murders, no one was ever apprehended, and the case is still unresolved.

20. The Case had Three Prime Suspects

Office of Public Affairs from Washinton DC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

One person thought to be a leading suspect in the Alphabet murders is Dennis Termini, a 25-year-old Rochester firefighter. Between 1971 and 1973, Termini, a notorious serial offender known as the “Garage Rapist”, committed at least fourteen known rapes on teenage girls and young women. He is also known to have driven a beige car that resembled the one seen by multiple witnesses to the kidnappings.

In order to compare Termini’s DNA sample with the semen samples found on Walkowicz’s remains, his body was excavated in January 2007. This test’s findings proved that Termini was not the one who killed her. But there is no tangible evidence taken from Colón or Maenza’s bodies to compare with Termini’s DNA.

Serial killer Kenneth Bianchi, who was an ice cream vendor in Rochester at the time of the killings, was a prime suspect in the Alphabet murders. He is known to have held a business at places near the first two crime scenes. Bianchi has adamantly denied any responsibility for the murders and was never charged in connection with them. He has made numerous attempts to have investigators formally exonerate him. He is known to have driven a car that was the same colour and model as one seen close to one of the abduction sites while living in Rochester, though.

The third main suspect in this case was Joseph Naso. Prior to being sentenced to death for the murder of six women, including four with double initials, he spent time in Rochester. However, there was no proof linking him to the Rochester Alphabet Murders.

Even after the intense investigations and arrest of key suspects, the Alphabet Murders remain one of the most hurting unsolved murders in the US. However, the families of the victims still hope that justice might be served.