Mystery woman found dead in New Hampshire finally identified after more than 50 years
By Neal Riley
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New Hampshire (WBZ) — A woman found dead more than 50 years ago in the woods of Marlborough, New Hampshire, has finally been identified. Now investigators want to know exactly what happened to Nancy Gale Erickson.
The previously unidentified body was discovered in a wooded area off Route 124 on April 16, 1974. Detectives believed the mystery woman had died in the late fall of 1973.
New Hampshire authorities said Wednesday that forensic testing helped them to identify the young woman as Erickson.
“After years of work on this case, putting a name to Nancy Gale Erickson is incredibly meaningful. It’s more than solving a mystery — it’s restoring her identity and honoring the life she lived. She was never forgotten,” New Hampshire State Police Detective Sgt. Kelly LaPointe said in a statement. “We’re deeply grateful to everyone whose efforts made this possible. Now the focus turns to understanding how and why she died.”
Erickson was 21 years old when she disappeared. Attorney General John Formella’s office said she was born and raised in New York but moved to Tampa, Florida, to be with her mother and siblings. She was working as a nurse at a hospital there but suddenly left the state in 1973 with only a duffel bag, and her siblings said that her disappearance may have been due to “the emotional toll of her nursing work.”
Investigators say Erickson was then arrested in Bellows Fall, Vermont, for stealing a car. On Oct. 30, 1973, she abruptly left her job at the Brattleboro Retreat and was never heard from again.
Authorities are now asking anyone who might have known Erickson to contact them. They are looking to speak with former employees of the Brattleboro Retreat, people who lived at the Community House in 1973, students who attended Corning Community College in New York between 1971 and 1972, and staff members at Tampa General Hospital.
Anyone with information can call the New Hampshire cold case unit tip line at (800) 525-5555 or submit a tip via this link.
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