EAST HAVEN, Conn — There’s been a major break in a cold case Connecticut homicide. A ‘Jane Doe’ has been identified, and her family is speaking out to make sure other loved ones get the closure they seek.
We’ve all heard the adage don’t take your secrets to the grave, but for Patricia Newsom, she didn’t get the choice. She was murdered, her body was unidentified and eventually buried without a headstone.
Monday was all about giving ‘Jane’ her real name back. It is Patricia Meleady Newsom. “I can’t express my gratitude to the people of East Haven,” remarked her sister, Mary Ann Newsom Collette through tearful eyes. Mary Ann stood alongside her family, East Haven town officials and police investigators both current and retired.
After initially digging up the wrong body in the summer of 2022, Patricia’s resting place was eventually located with the help of ground penetrating radar and her remains were exhumed from the abandoned State Street Cemetery in Hamden. “What we found that day was even more shocking. We discovered about five times the number of caskets than originally anticipated,” remarked Capt. Joseph Murgo of the East Haven Police Department.
For 47 years, a secret which lay six feet below the surface was only uncovered thanks to the persistence of those six feet above. “It became obvious that we had an answer,” said Colleen Fitpatrick of Identifiers International, an expert DNA firm. It was advancements in DNA technology that was able to link Patricia to her surviving ancestors in a database. “Get your information out there. Don’t just sit on the couch. Don’t just cry,” said Mary Ann. There are thousands of other families across the United States who are seeking answers in cold cases. Databases like GEDMatch and NamUs can be a great resource.
Patricia was born in Idaho in 1957 before moving to the Northeast. She was 17 when she ran away from a boarding school in New York with a friend. She is believed to have been hitchhiking to Maine but was never seen again. “For me, this is a lot of closure,” remarked Mary Ann, “I always knew in my heart that she was gone.” Several years ago, Mary Ann started a Facebook page to help find Patricia.
While the knowledge of Patricia’s identity has unlocked a life story, someone still holds the key to her story of death. Patricia’s body was found bound, gagged, and tarped in the woods off Frontage Road in 1975 which at that time was behind a Bradlees Department store. “If you know who did it, anonymous tips. Something. Anything. Unburden yourself. Because it’s been a long time,” said Mary Ann.
Mary Ann told FOX61 her plan is to cremate Patricia’s remains, and after spending some time with them, eventually, spreading her ashes over their mother’s grave.
East Haven Police tell FOX61 they’ve come too far to quit now. They won’t rest until Patricia can, and that means an arrest.
Matt Caron is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at mcaron@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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