MD MD - Kathy Beatty, 15, Aspen Hill, 24 July 1975

[Backwoods]

A very interesting case -- I've just read through the thread.

It really does "seem" as though this case should have been solved...but, alas, I know it doesn't always work that way.

RIP Kathy Lynn. I hope answers are coming for those who loved you, and soon.

 

[SMartian]

Brown thinks that it may not have been meant to end the way it did. "We're still working on that. We still have some investigative techniques to apply," he said. "I have always felt that someone should come forward on that case."


Kathy had been sexually assaulted but not raped. More specifically than that, police will not say. "I have a feeling that the person or persons who did it didn't intend to kill her," said Brown. "It's highly possible that she ran from her assailant and fell against a blunt object. I've always felt the result wasn't intended, and that would be mitigating, if a person came forward to ease his or her conscience," he said.

I am very curious to know where the boys who were supposed to be camping, were at when the father went to look for them? Apparently, the boy did not return the call to Kathy's mother until 7:00 AM the next morning. Information regarding their whereabouts would be helpful. The "youngsters" who allegedly saw Kathy walking by herself near the school shortly before she was attacked, who refused polygraphs, are also suspicious. I would think rounding up this same group of kids, who are now adults, might see at least one who wants to come clean about what they know in order to clear a conscious and some pressure from LE might be all it would take. I would also guess that it was their parents who actually refused the polygraph and not the "youngsters" themselves.

Another thing that just doesn't sit right with me is the witness who saw two boys carrying a girl around the time of the attack. Did this not look odd to that witness? Would we not find it suspicious to see two teenage boys carrying a girl down the street? Did she appear to be alert? I doubt if this was prior to the attack, Kathy would want to be carried rather than walk by herself. Was she unconscious? Had the attack already happened and they were headed to dump her body? So many unanswered questions. It seems this case could be solved and it would be nice if we knew these same kids have been interviewed again as adults and what if anything about their stories still holds true.

 

[Lorelilly]

I am very curious to know where the boys who were supposed to be camping, were at when the father went to look for them? Apparently, the boy did not return the call to Kathy's mother until 7:00 AM the next morning. Information regarding their whereabouts would be helpful. The "youngsters" who allegedly saw Kathy walking by herself near the school shortly before she was attacked, who refused polygraphs, are also suspicious. I would think rounding up this same group of kids, who are now adults, might see at least one who wants to come clean about what they know in order to clear a conscious and some pressure from LE might be all it would take. I would also guess that it was their parents who actually refused the polygraph and not the "youngsters" themselves.

Another thing that just doesn't sit right with me is the witness who saw two boys carrying a girl around the time of the attack. Did this not look odd to that witness? Would we not find it suspicious to see two teenage boys carrying a girl down the street? Did she appear to be alert? I doubt if this was prior to the attack, Kathy would want to be carried rather than walk by herself. Was she unconscious? Had the attack already happened and they were headed to dump her body? So many unanswered questions. It seems this case could be solved and it would be nice if we knew these same kids have been interviewed again as adults and what if anything about their stories still holds true.

BBM
Exactly! If this witness was found credible by police I would assume the 2 Boys, one of whom Kathy "liked", would have been questioned fully.

Did this witness come forward immediately after the attack so the police honed in on the boys and them missing from the camper that night?

And the keys...the cold case site said the leather attached to the keys looked like a "school project". My fear is the Police know exactly who did this and both of them have gotten away with murder. Even the DNA may be too degraded by this point to help.

I pray someone who knows what happened to Kathy will come forward and deliver justice for her and a sense of closure for her family. So sad.

 

[Richard]

Bumping case up due to recent interest and mention on another thread.

 

[Richard]

There is a new facebook page for Kathy and an effort to distribute posters asking for assistance in her 39 year-old case...

------------------------------------------------
Social media may thaw local cold case - WTOP.com

Kathy Beatty of Aspen Hill was 15 when she went out to party and never came home. Her sister found her severely beaten in a wooded area. She died a few days later and death remains a mystery. (Courtesy of Steve Kerpelman)

Former classmate thinks social media is yielding new clues

WTOP's Kate Ryan reports

WASHINGTON --

It was the summer of 1975 when 15-year-old Kathy Lynn Beatty disappeared. The next day, it was her own sister, just a few years older, who discovered the seriously wounded Kathy in a wooded area not far from their Aspen Hill, Md., home. Police say she'd been sexually assaulted, and her skull crushed. She died days later.

Now, nearly 40 years later, Kathy Beatty's memory is still very much alive for Steve Kerpelman.

A retired Prince George's County Police officer-turned-private- investigator, Kerpelman says Beatty's case "Is one of these things that you never forgot". That's because Kerpelman was a classmate of Kathy Beatty's. She even signed his yearbook. He remembers Kathy's red hair and sweet nature. "She was quiet, smiled a lot." she was, he says, " just easy to get along with."

That night, in July of 1975, 15-year-old Kathy left her Aspen Hill, Md., home headed to a friend's house. Her mother says Kathy had left a note, saying she'd gone to a party and that she'd be back by 10 p.m. "That was unusual for her," says her mom, adding that the rules were Kathy was to be home by the time it got dark.

Her mother, now 80, remembers that on the night that Kathy went missing, there was a violent thunderstorm. It pains her to think of her injured daughter, left helpless in the storm. "She must have been terrified. It's a terrible thing to be laying there, and you can't get away and you can't do anything." Her thin voice trails off on the phone line. "Oh, if I just could have been there that night..."

Kerpelman has been on this case for six years, and he's hoping that new appeals on social media may generate the information that might lead to a break in the cold case. He urges people to call him (1-240-304-8633), even if they think what they have to tell him is insignificant. "Over the last couple of month we've received a lot of information" and he attributes that to new outreach on a Facebook page dedicated to Kathy Beatty.

Kathy's mom shares Kerpelman's sense of encouragement, saying, "this time, I have more hope than I've ever had before. I really think that we're going to get answers to this". She's grateful for Kerpelman's doggedness. "I just pray with my whole heart that this will be solved before I leave this world".

See the investigators' video here:

LINK:

http://www.wtop.com/41/3631895/Social-media-may-thaw-local-cold-case

 

[Richard]

WJLA interview with Pat Halberman, mother of Kathy Lynn Beatty

31 May 2014

ROCKVILLE, Md. (WJLA) - Pat Haberman believes somebody knows who killed her daughter in July of 1975. She hopes that Facebook will help her find some answers.

Kathy Beatty was 15 the night she was murdered. She had left a note for her mom saying that she was going to a friend's party and that she'd be back by 10. She never came home and was found fatally injured behind a K-Mart in Rockville, Md. Police said she'd been sexually assaulted and her skull had been crushed. She slipped into a coma and died a few days later.

"There's always been suspects, but never enough evidence to go to the Grand Jury," Haberman said.

Steve Kerpelman is a private investigator and was a classmate of Beatty's. On the desk where he works on her case, he keeps the yearbook that features their pictures and her signature. It was Kerpelman who created the Facebook page, which has been shared almost a thousand times.

"There would be no great satisfaction for me than to be able to tell her mother that we solved this, we know what happened," Kerpelman said....

Link:

http://www.wjla.com/articles/2014/05...rs-103669.html

 

[Richard]

Kathy went missing on the evening of Thursday, 24 July 1975. She was found after 7AM the following morning by her sister in a trash strewn field adjacent to the KMart Parking lot, still alive, but badly injured.

Kathy was taken to Suburban Hospital where she remained in a coma for 12 days. She died on Tuesday, 5 August 1975, 12 days after the attack without ever regaining conciousness.

 

[Richard]

Given Coffey's employment within a couple of hundred yards of where she was found, the timing of his extremely sudden movement from the area (when she was found alive), and his status as a serial killer, it seems awfully likely he's the culprit.

The only thing that seems to weigh against that is his age preference. He seemed to go younger otherwise.

The girl's mother and police seemed to focus on neighborhood teenagers. I'm curious whether that belief held once the information on Coffey came out? Do they still think it was likely someone else?

-------------------

I cannot speak for either the Police or the family in regard to who they might think attacked and killed Kathy. At the time of her attack and death, the only potential suspects and witnesses were neighborhood kids.

I would like to address the comments made regarding Fred Coffey in the quoted post.

Coffey first came to the attention of MCP investigators in late 1986, when he was on trial for molesting three children and charged with the murder of another in North Carolina.

One cannot really say exactly what Coffey's "preferences" were concerning victims. Simply because we do not know the entire extent of his crimes against children.

The age range of his KNOWN victims is between 3 years and 15 years old. And he is known to have molested and murdered both boys and girls.

Coffey raped a young girl age 13 in Virginia Beach, VA sometime prior to September 1974. In October 1975, he was back in Virginia Beach where he was charged with "contributing to the delinquency of a minor" with a girl age 15.

Since Kathy's attack and murder took place between the two known incidents, one must consider the possible connection.

Fred Coffey worked at the Old Vitro Laboratories building located midway between Kathy's house/neighborhood and the K-Mart where she was found on the morning of 25 July 1975. A study of the area indicates that "choke points" between her house and the K-Mart exist by two parking lots of the Vitro Building. A common walking path between the neighborhood and K-Mart included the parking lots and driveway of Vitro.

Coffey is known to have been in the area and working for Vitro since April 1975 and he suddenly left town without notifying his employer immediately after the newspaper story came out indicating that Kathy had been attacked and was still alive in Suburban Hospital.

If Kathy had actually been found dead, would Coffey have left town?

After it was announced in the newspaper that Kathy had died without regaining consciousness, Coffey wrote to Vitro requesting his last paycheck and explaining his sudden departure by saying that his wife and daughter had been in an automobile accident in Kentucky. That story was false.

Fred Coffey is currently incarcerated in the North Carolina Prison system for the murder of a 10-year-old girl, Amanda Ray. He comes up for Parole every 3 years with his next hearing July 2015.

He is also considered to be the prime suspect in the murders of Neely Smith, age 5 and Travis Shane King, age 8.

In 1986, he confessed to molesting in excess of 100 children, and was charged with other offenses against children in several different jurisdictions.

 

[helpfulcharlie]

https://www..com/justice-for-kathy

Posted today in the facebook group:[h=5]You know you grew up in Montgomery County, Maryland if you.
[/h]

 

[Richard]

Here is a link to a memorial page for Kathy:


https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/28686147

 

[Richard]

The facebook article mentioned above states that over 100 interviews were conducted by a private investigator working the case for the family, but that no solid suspects have been developed. I wonder if Fred Coffey has ever been interviewed by either the private investigator - or for that matter by the Montgomery County Police. I have heard from different MCP investigators that they had NOT questioned him.

Also, a posting on the facebook site mentions that no DNA matches have been made to any suspect. I believe that is misleading because there might be no DNA to match them with. I have never heard that any DNA was obtained.

DNA matching was unknown to police investigators in 1975. If any evidence from the crime scene does still exist today, it is also possible that comparisons have not been made.

 

[Richard]

Fred Coffey (see earlier posts this thread) is up for Parole 1 November 2018. Please take the time to communicate your thoughts on him to the North Carolina Parole Board.

LINK:

NC DPS Offender Public Information

 

[Richard]

Kathy Lynn Beatty murdered July 1975

 

[helpfulcharlie]

Has anyone written to Fred recently to ask about her? Any chance of him admitting it once he realizes he will never be a free man in this lifetime?

 

[Richard]

Fred Coffey is a serial offender who thinks only of himself at all times. Compassion for others is not something that would ever occur to him. Some might go so far as to call him a sociopath.

The North Carolina Parole board knows him well and have turned down his requests for parole every time - for good reason. He is at home in prison now, with his biggest thrill looking forward to green Jello on Wednesday nights.

You could write to him, I suppose, but if he answered it would only be for his own gratification, and he would no doubt deny or lie about any of his many crimes.

Fred was never charged with anything in regard to Kathy Lynn Beatty. His possible connection to the attack on her and her subsequent death is based only on circumstantial evidence and coincidence. Big coincidence.


FRED H COFFEY
Offender Number: 0081135
Inmate Status: ACTIVE
Gender: MALE
Race: WHITE
Ethnic Group: EUROPEAN/N.AM./AUSTR
Birth Date: 03/20/1945
Age: 74
Current Location: PENDER CI, Burgaw, NC

 

[helpfulcharlie]

After reading that Debardeleben spent a lot of his time in prison corresponding with other serial killers, I think I'll pass on contacting any of them, at least until I can construct a completely detached persona and safe barrier system for doing so. The last thing I want to do is involve myself in true name with a "network" of monsters.

Richard, you have been at this for a very long time. Do you know where the best centralized repository of information on Mr. Coffey would be? Whereabouts timelines, *home addresses*, the whole bit? I found your Coffey timeline in a Neely Smith thread from 13 years ago(!!!!!) but I was hoping to find more detailed information. Was that info never published?

Like you, I've been following these cases for a while. I grew up in the area and played in the same woods behind Kmart that Kathy was found in. I ogled the same minibikes, I remember Vitro. I remember the motorcycle shop on the same piece of property. I also used to play in the Gate of Heaven cemetery grounds across the street, and we would wander through the drainage tunnels back there.

 

[Richard]

.... Do you know where the best centralized repository of information on Mr. Coffey would be? Whereabouts timelines, *home addresses*, the whole bit? I found your Coffey timeline in a Neely Smith thread from 13 years ago(!!!!!) but I was hoping to find more detailed information. Was that info never published?....

Unfortunately, there is no centralized repository of all Coffey's travels, crimes, trials, etc. Each state and local jurisdiction has its own records, and do not always even know about crimes and charges in other jurisdictions.

Coffey has lived in Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland, and North Carolina, but likely traveled to other nearby states like Tennessee, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and others.

He was 12 years in the Navy and spent time in a number of different ports and countries, including a hitch in Vietnam.

 

[helpfulcharlie]

From a 1996 Washington Post article:

Montgomery County investigators, for example, recently went through their open murder cases, which dated to 1931, and found potentially usable evidence in only two of them.

Recently, the department issued a Crime Solvers bulletin in the 1975 Aspen Hill slaying and sexual assault of Kathy Beatty, 15.

Lt. Michael Garvey, commander of Montgomery's major crimes division, said unidentified hair stored in the Beatty file contained enough DNA to provide a match if they come up with possible suspects.
​

I wonder if they still have it. If so, maybe they should be talking with CeCe Moore and Parabon...

 

[Richard]

.... I grew up in the area and played in the same woods behind Kmart that Kathy was found in. I ogled the same minibikes, I remember Vitro. I remember the motorcycle shop on the same piece of property. I also used to play in the Gate of Heaven cemetery grounds across the street, and we would wander through the drainage tunnels back there.

The "Old VITRO" building complex, where Coffey worked, was at the site of the current Home Depot. None of those buildings still exist, but the roads and parking lots are pretty much the same.

If you look at a satellite over head view, you might be able to determine Kathy's possible route from the housing subdivision, into the VITRO property, which followed the current Home Depot perimeter road, and which would have passed the parking lot on her way to K-Mart, which was across Connecticut Ave from Old VITRO.

It was called "OLD" VITRO to differentiate it from a much newer building close by on Aspen Hill Road - obviously called "NEW" VITRO. That building was later used by BAE, which had bought out VITRO. The New VITRO building was vacated several years ago and the interior was gutted.

 

[Richard]

This Wednesday, 24 July 2019 marks the 44 year anniversary of the day Kathy Lynn Beatty was attacked. Her murder remains unsolved.