NJ NJ - Susan Davis & Elizabeth Perry, both 19, murdered, Somers Point, 30 May 1969

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I clicked on the first link about the story and it took me to a dead page - not surprising that the link was added in 2009.

Is there a link to the story from 1969?
It must be somewhere in local newspaper archives.
 
I read that Gerald Stano confessed to these murders. Later he failed in showing the details to LE.
I wonder if there is some kind of evidence left from this case. Something such as fluids or anything to obtain DNA to compare
 
Fede said:
I read that Gerald Stano confessed to these murders. Later he failed in showing the details to LE.
I wonder if there is some kind of evidence left from this case. Something such as fluids or anything to obtain DNA to compare
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Though you are correct in that his "admissions" were somewhat dubious, and arguably coached, Gerald IMO is still an extremely viable person of interest in this case
 
VespaElf said:
Im a Philly girl myself & have heard of them to but I beg to differ about Ted Bundy.
No way were these girls murdered by Bundy. He killed in Washington,Idaho,Colorado,Utah & Florida.He was never on the East Coast............in all the years & all the research this is just coming out now??? Im not buying it & sadly think trying to tie to something 'infamous'takes away from a real investigation.
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Bundy made several remarks which were far too coincidental to be dismissed by authorities. He was living outside Philadelphia at the time of the murders
 
Apparently one of the phycologists that interviewed Bundy’s while he was awaiting trial was intrigued by Bundy’s claim that it was during a road trip he took after completing the semester at Temple University (in Philadelphia) that he decided to start killing women. Bundy denied killing anyone on that trip, which included a day or two at the Jersey Shore, but he claimed that it was during that trip that his murderous intentions began.

The psychologist did some checking and found out about the two girls. Their murders seemed to have occurred during the time of that road trip but there are no accurate records of his whereabouts at any particular time.

The two girls left the rooming house they were staying at very early that morning. They stopped for breakfast at a local diner and then headed of on the Parkway. Their car was found on the roadside in perfect operating order a few miles up the road near the Somers Point. Their bodies were found nearby in the woods. A security guard reported that the girls gave a ride to a clean cut young man as they were leaving the diner. It is unclear if he was a hitchhiker they just happened to pick up or someone they recognized and offered a ride. It is noteworthy that the perpetrator left on foot rather than getting back in the car and using it as a getaway vehicle. He either lived in or near the area or had his own vehicle nearby.

One possible scenario is that the perpetrator met the girls earlier and knew they would be driving by that spot early that morning.

The crime itself did not bare any obvious similarities to any other crimes in the area or any of Bundy’s known crimes. There was no signs of sexual assault but murder by stabbing of a young woman, when there is no other obvious motive, often has sexual undertones, particularly when the perpetrator is young or inexperienced.

There is no obvious reason to believe Bundy was involved but it is certainly possible. Since Bundy is dead and there was no DNA or forensic evidence, we will probably never know.
 
kemo said:
Apparently one of the phycologists that interviewed Bundy’s while he was awaiting trial was intrigued by Bundy’s claim that it was during a road trip he took after completing the semester at Temple University (in Philadelphia) that he decided to start killing women. Bundy denied killing anyone on that trip, which included a day or two at the Jersey Shore, but he claimed that it was during that trip that his murderous intentions began.

The psychologist did some checking and found out about the two girls. Their murders seemed to have occurred during the time of that road trip but there are no accurate records of his whereabouts at any particular time.

The two girls left the rooming house they were staying at very early that morning. They stopped for breakfast at a local diner and then headed of on the Parkway. Their car was found on the roadside in perfect operating order a few miles up the road near the Somers Point. Their bodies were found nearby in the woods. A security guard reported that the girls gave a ride to a clean cut young man as they were leaving the diner. It is unclear if he was a hitchhiker they just happened to pick up or someone they recognized and offered a ride. It is noteworthy that the perpetrator left on foot rather than getting back in the car and using it as a getaway vehicle. He either lived in or near the area or had his own vehicle nearby.

One possible scenario is that the perpetrator met the girls earlier and knew they would be driving by that spot early that morning.

The crime itself did not bare any obvious similarities to any other crimes in the area or any of Bundy’s known crimes. There was no signs of sexual assault but murder by stabbing of a young woman, when there is no other obvious motive, often has sexual undertones, particularly when the perpetrator is young or inexperienced.

There is no obvious reason to believe Bundy was involved but it is certainly possible. Since Bundy is dead and there was no DNA or forensic evidence, we will probably never know.
Click to expand...
All of this is true
 
kemo said:
Apparently one of the phycologists that interviewed Bundy’s while he was awaiting trial was intrigued by Bundy’s claim that it was during a road trip he took after completing the semester at Temple University (in Philadelphia) that he decided to start killing women. Bundy denied killing anyone on that trip, which included a day or two at the Jersey Shore, but he claimed that it was during that trip that his murderous intentions began.

The psychologist did some checking and found out about the two girls. Their murders seemed to have occurred during the time of that road trip but there are no accurate records of his whereabouts at any particular time.

The two girls left the rooming house they were staying at very early that morning. They stopped for breakfast at a local diner and then headed of on the Parkway. Their car was found on the roadside in perfect operating order a few miles up the road near the Somers Point. Their bodies were found nearby in the woods. A security guard reported that the girls gave a ride to a clean cut young man as they were leaving the diner. It is unclear if he was a hitchhiker they just happened to pick up or someone they recognized and offered a ride. It is noteworthy that the perpetrator left on foot rather than getting back in the car and using it as a getaway vehicle. He either lived in or near the area or had his own vehicle nearby.

One possible scenario is that the perpetrator met the girls earlier and knew they would be driving by that spot early that morning.

The crime itself did not bare any obvious similarities to any other crimes in the area or any of Bundy’s known crimes. There was no signs of sexual assault but murder by stabbing of a young woman, when there is no other obvious motive, often has sexual undertones, particularly when the perpetrator is young or inexperienced.

There is no obvious reason to believe Bundy was involved but it is certainly possible. Since Bundy is dead and there was no DNA or forensic evidence, we will probably never know.
Click to expand...
We don't know if the perpetrator left on foot. One of the most amazing things is, How in the world did the three boys in the Mustang, parked nearby Susan's Chevy Impala at the time of the murders, not hear any screams coming from the woods 50 yards from where they were parked?
 
Darby O' Gill said:
We don't know if the perpetrator left on foot. One of the most amazing things is, How in the world did the three boys in the Mustang, parked nearby Susan's Chevy Impala at the time of the murders, not hear any screams coming from the woods 50 yards from where they were parked?
Click to expand...

Were these three boys completely cleared or are they suspects?
 
  • davis.jpeg

    Susan Davis, 1968
  • img_0566.jpg
  • Elizabeth Perry, 1968
On Friday, May 30, 1969, Susan Davis and Elizabeth Perry, both 19, were stabbed to death by an unknown assailant near Somers Point, New Jersey. The young women had been staying in Ocean City on vacation since the Tuesday before. At 4:30 a.m. they were headed back to Pennsylvania in hopes of beating the traffic, but stopped to have breakfast at Somers Point Diner. After leaving the diner about an hour later, the sequence of events leading to their deaths is uncertain.

A state trooper found their powder-blue 1966 Chevrolet convertible abandoned by the Parkway around noon that day, and had it removed.

Three days later at about 1:30 p.m., the bodies of the two young women were found hidden under piles of leaves in dense woods, 200 yards from the Garden State Parkway and about 150 yards from the abandoned car. Davis was nude, and her clothes were found in a pile near her, including her jacket and purse. Perry was clothed except for her underwear, which was missing. Contemporaneous news reports vary on whether the victims were sexually assaulted. Some state that Perry had not been raped, while no determination could be made for Davis. Other reports indicated that both bodies were too decomposed to make a determination, and still others said there was “some evidence of sexual assault” but did not elaborate on what that was. Later news articles stated that neither woman had been raped.

The coroner did find they had eaten breakfast about an hour before they were murdered, and gave the time of death to be approximately 6 a.m. One of the victims had been tied to a tree with her hair—an “unusual method of restraint.”

Both had been stabbed to death with a small knife, possibly a penknife or pocketknife, though the murder weapon was never found. Perry died of a penetrating stab wound to her right lung; she also had three stab wounds in her abdomen and side of her neck. Davis died of a wound in her neck that cut her larynx; she also had four wounds on the left side of her abdomen and a non-fatal wound on right side of her neck. Due to the neck wounds, an investigator said he theorized the killer was at some point in the backseat of the convertible, jabbing at Davis as she drove in order to force her to pull over.

Police found a men’s diver-style watch without a wristband near the scene, believed to belong to the murderer. The car keys were found ten days later, tossed to the side of the road a short distance away from the bodies. Robbery was an unlikely motive as the victims’ purses still had money in them and their suitcases were not disturbed.

Investigators noted some similarity to several cases in Ann Arbor, Michigan around that same time frame.

See below link for much more information:

The Unconfirmed Cases: Susan Davis and Elizabeth Perry, 1969
 
Hi Richard

Thanks for your post and reviving interest in this sad and troubling cold case. Just a quick factual correction-neither of the girls were tied to a tree with their hair. This was erroneously reported in a 1993 Philadelphia Inquirer article. Again, thank you
 
I just finished reading Barth's book: The Golden State Parkway Murders . . . Barth provides a number of potential suspects. The victims' blue Chevrolet Impala convertible was found at mile marker 31.9 north on the Garden State Parkway. Barth also provides an image of the area in the woods where the murders took place.

The women spent the 1969 Memorial Day holiday in Ocean City, then crossed into Somers Point at about 4 AM and ate breakfast. From there it was less than 5 minutes to mile marker 31.9 on the Parkway. Police believe 1 person committed the murders.
 
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