NH Jaclynne Snyder, 22, Murdered Portsmouth, NH 4 Sept 1977

[Richard]

Visiting College Student from West Coast Mysteriously Murdered

September 4, 1977, Jaclynne Snyder was visiting Portsmouth, New Hampshire with her father on a trip.

The twenty-two year old was a graduate of the University of Washington and had decided to venture off in the city alone. She disappeared at around 4pm in the Strawbery Banke area on a Sunday afternoon. She was found murdered off of Route 155 in the town of Lee, New Hampshire, ten days later in a wooded area.

For nearly four decades her murder has been shrouded in mystery and no suspects have been publicly identified in the death of the resident of Spokane, Washington. An autopsy was never able to determine the cause of death but police labelled it a homicide.

After graduation, Snyder was going to travel to New York City and pursue employment with the United Nations. Her dreams though, were cut short by a killer.

Additional information can be found at the New Hampshire Cold Case website

Jaclynne Snyder | Cold Case Unit | NH Department of Justice

If you have any information about this case, please contact the Attorney General’s Office at (603) 271-3658.

 

[Marilynilpa]

I wonder if these two cases might be connected:

NH - NH - Laura Kempton, 23, & Tammy Little, 20, Portsmouth, Sept 1981 & Oct 1982

 

[Marilynilpa]

I found another case that is similar. Judy Lord, 22, from Concord, NH. On May 30, 1975. She was found dead in her home. She was suffocated and strangled.

I couldn’t find an individual WS thread for her, but she does appear on this thread:

NH - NH - Missing young women in NH

I haven’t read that thread but I plan to.

 

[mrrobot787]

I'm sad to see that this case had not received as much attention. I was drawn to it as a Durham, NH (same zip code as Lee) native and Also because I'd had the same thought that this may be related to the Portsmouth Beauty School murders.

Possible similarities:

All three victims were of a similar age and were all female.
The deaths occurred within five years of each other.
The location of this disappearance and the crime scene from the first beauty school murder is close, even for a small city like Portsmouth.


Some flaws with my theory, however:

The victim was from out of town, not the usual local beauty school girl.
The victim's body was disposed of or moved from the crime, or taken from Portsmouth to the crime scene.
No easily identifiable cause of death was determined, but it would be interesting to learn of any suspicions from the examiner.
The date does not match the current suspects for the other two murders.

Portsmouth was not the shockingly safe city it is now, when these crimes occured. It's very possible that this crime especially, may either have been related to the background crime in the area or just someone passing through. I want to get organized in trying to solve this crime and the other murders. The time has come for justice.