MD MD - Kathy Beatty, 15, Aspen Hill, 24 July 1975
- Thread starter Richard
- Start date
Kathy Lynn Beatty, age 14,
Unsolved Murder July 1975, Aspen Hill, Maryland
Kathy was very badly beaten and left for dead in a rock strewn field near the Aspen Hill K Mart Parking lot.
In April 2021, that K Mart - the last one in Maryland - closed. The link below shows the store just before and just after it closed:
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I have followed Kathy Beatty's case all of my life. I just happened upon a podcast about her today called Wicked Deeds on Apple Podcasts. They did a good job. They kept mentioning the neighbor boys, who were supposed to be camping but were not there when Kathy's mom was looking for her, that first night she went missing. I am trying to figure out who the boys were and were they the same boy who brought her a shirt from Ocean City or was that someone else? I am certain local (Aspen Hill) people know who did this to Kathy. Are they afraid to come forward? What do you think? I cannot think of any other reason they would not do the right thing unless they are afraid. My understanding is that it is known around town who did it they just need evidence to charge that person. I see her thread is bumped.
The boy she gave a t shirt to lived next door to her. He was not one of the boys supposedly camping in a different back yard. I have never seen their names printed in news reports.
I started this thread on Kathy in October 2006, but had started an earlier one on her in the featured case of the missing Lyon Sisters. There is much information on Kathy's case there.
It is evident that Kathy was abducted from the vicinity of her Aspen Hill, Maryland neighborhood on the evening of 24 July 1975, violently attacked, and left for dead with a fractured skull in a littered field adjacent to a K Mart parking lot.
The K Mart was within easy walking distance from Kathy's home.
Kathy's mother had left her at home alone when she drove to Baltimore, planning to return home by 9 pm. She had given Kathy permission to ride her bicycle in the neighborhood but told her to be back home by 8:30 pm.
A young boy who lived next door came to Kathy's house to give her a t-shirt he had gotten for her in Ocean City. This was between 6:30 and 7:00 pm.
Some other (unnamed in reports) kids claimed to have seen her near Parkland Middle School, about a block from her house around 8:30 pm.
When her mother returned home at 11 pm, she found a note from Kathy saying that she was going to visit a girlfriend in the neighborhood and would be home by 10 pm. Subsequent investigation revealed that she never went to her girlfriend's house that evening.
Her mother thought that Kathy might have gone to the neighborhood home of a boy she knew, and she drove there to ask. The boy's father said that his son and a buddy were sleeping in a camping trailer in the backyard, but when they checked, the boys were not there. Later, the next day when questioned by police, the boy said they had not seen Kathy.
It wasn't until early the next morning, after a frantic search, that Kathy's sister Theresa found her, unconcious, near K Mart.
Kathy died 11 days later on 5 August 1975 in hospital, never having regained consciousness.
It is evident that Kathy was abducted from the vicinity of her Aspen Hill, Maryland neighborhood on the evening of 24 July 1975, violently attacked, and left for dead with a fractured skull in a littered field adjacent to a K Mart parking lot.
The K Mart was within easy walking distance from Kathy's home.
Kathy's mother had left her at home alone when she drove to Baltimore, planning to return home by 9 pm. She had given Kathy permission to ride her bicycle in the neighborhood but told her to be back home by 8:30 pm.
A young boy who lived next door came to Kathy's house to give her a t-shirt he had gotten for her in Ocean City. This was between 6:30 and 7:00 pm.
Some other (unnamed in reports) kids claimed to have seen her near Parkland Middle School, about a block from her house around 8:30 pm.
When her mother returned home at 11 pm, she found a note from Kathy saying that she was going to visit a girlfriend in the neighborhood and would be home by 10 pm. Subsequent investigation revealed that she never went to her girlfriend's house that evening.
Her mother thought that Kathy might have gone to the neighborhood home of a boy she knew, and she drove there to ask. The boy's father said that his son and a buddy were sleeping in a camping trailer in the backyard, but when they checked, the boys were not there. Later, the next day when questioned by police, the boy said they had not seen Kathy.
It wasn't until early the next morning, after a frantic search, that Kathy's sister Theresa found her, unconcious, near K Mart.
Kathy died 11 days later on 5 August 1975 in hospital, never having regained consciousness.
No suspects have ever been formally named or charged with Kathy's murder, and the case remains an open homicide, under investigation by the Montgomery County Police.
A number of theories have been suggested regarding potential suspects and scenarios. A prevailing one is that neighborhood kids were responsible.
The juvenile witnesses who claimed to have seen her, but were not "with her" at the school probably know more than they told investigators.
The two camping trailer boys also seem to be potential persons of interest. Who were they? Where were they that night and what do they know?
Probably the strongest potential suspect has to be convicted child molester and murderer (serial killer) Fred Howard Coffey, Jr. He worked at the Vitro Laboratories building which was between Kathy's neighborhood and the K Mart. IF Kathy was to walk from home to K Mart (which she often did), the nearest route would have taken her through the Vitro parking lots.
Coffey had resided in Virginia Beach, Virginia prior to and after his stay in Maryland. He had been kicked out of the Navy for raping a 13 year old daughter of another Navy man just prior to going to Maryland, and upon his return to Virginia, he was charged with "contributing to the delinquency of a minor" when caught with a 15 year old girl in his vehicle.
When news of the attack on Kathy in a local paper mentioned that she was still alive and in the hospital, Coffey immediately blew town without notice to his employer. It was only after a later news article reported that she had died without regaining consciousness that Coffey contacted Vitro to request his final pay check. He gave as his reason for leaving so suddenly a false story that his wife and daughter had been in an auto accident in Kentucky.
A number of theories have been suggested regarding potential suspects and scenarios. A prevailing one is that neighborhood kids were responsible.
The juvenile witnesses who claimed to have seen her, but were not "with her" at the school probably know more than they told investigators.
The two camping trailer boys also seem to be potential persons of interest. Who were they? Where were they that night and what do they know?
Probably the strongest potential suspect has to be convicted child molester and murderer (serial killer) Fred Howard Coffey, Jr. He worked at the Vitro Laboratories building which was between Kathy's neighborhood and the K Mart. IF Kathy was to walk from home to K Mart (which she often did), the nearest route would have taken her through the Vitro parking lots.
Coffey had resided in Virginia Beach, Virginia prior to and after his stay in Maryland. He had been kicked out of the Navy for raping a 13 year old daughter of another Navy man just prior to going to Maryland, and upon his return to Virginia, he was charged with "contributing to the delinquency of a minor" when caught with a 15 year old girl in his vehicle.
When news of the attack on Kathy in a local paper mentioned that she was still alive and in the hospital, Coffey immediately blew town without notice to his employer. It was only after a later news article reported that she had died without regaining consciousness that Coffey contacted Vitro to request his final pay check. He gave as his reason for leaving so suddenly a false story that his wife and daughter had been in an auto accident in Kentucky.
Thank you, Richard.
Great work, Richard, as always. I'm trying to remember if we knew where Coffey lived when he worked at Vitro Laboratories. Was he working a late shift that night? TIA He has always seemed like a strong suspect.
According to an article in Blueline Coffey stayed at a hotel in Gaithersburg.
Blue liner radio fails to credit their source for this story, but I recognize it as an article I wrote several years ago. Such is the way with many internet sites.
Coffey listed his place of residence on his 1974 Vitro job application as being The Holiday Motel (no connection with the Holiday Inn chain), located on Georgia Ave. Gaithersburg, Maryland. This was only a few miles north from Vitro and the Aspen Hill K Mart. The motel was demolished years ago and a public storage facility now occupies the site.
