Unsolved: 1964 Murder Of Mary Theresa Simpson

[Chris 2,162]

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ELMIRA, N.Y. — Police are continuing their investigation of a murder involving a 12-year-old girl who disappeared 50 years ago — on March 15, 1964 — and whose body was found four days later. Work on the case has been ongoing through the years, Police Chief Michael Robertson said. The case has drawn renewed attention because of the half-century mark this year, he said. “As a law enforcement agency, we strive to solve every crime, and that certainly is magnified when it’s a homicide. It’s even more magnified when it’s a 12-year-old kid that never had a chance,” he said. “We would certainly love to solve it.”

About 3 p.m. on the Sunday that she vanished, Mary Theresa Simpson had left the apartment on North Main Street where she lived with her father, Ellsworth Simpson. She told him she was going to visit a cousin, but she instead went to see her mother, Rose Simpson, who was separated from her father and lived on Dewitt Avenue. After about an hour, she left and went to her grandfather’s house on Cieri Street and played with her cousins. She was last seen heading home at about 6:30 p.m. at the corner of East Market and Harriet streets. Her father reported her missing at 10:30 p.m.

Police had not ruled out foul play as they searched for Mary in vacant buildings, abandoned homes, junkyards, excavations and used car lots.

On March 19, 1964, her frozen, fully clothed body was discovered in a wooded section of Southport under twigs, branches, leaves, dirt and four heavy stones — the largest weighing more than 100 pounds — by a man who was hiking with his two sons a quarter-mile east of Combs Hill Road. Only part of her hand and a sneaker were visible. Her mouth had been stuffed with dirt and twigs. Eugene Golden, the police chief at the time, said he was thoroughly convinced she was murdered in the vicinity of where her body was found but did not elaborate further. According to the Chemung County medical examiner, she had been either choked and/or strangled. Officials later revealed there was evidence of sexual molestation.

Family members, teachers, neighbors and others interviewed by the Star-Gazette in 1964 described Mary as a sweet, quiet, polite girl who was shy with strangers. She had moved a lot — five times in six years — and didn’t make friends easily, but when she did, the friendships lasted. She was a Girl Scout, belonged to the YWCA and had won a trophy for cooking. She made her first communion at St. Patrick’s Church in Elmira in May 1959. She attended St. Patrick’s School in Elmira until June 1963, when she completed the fifth grade. She entered the sixth grade at Curtiss Elementary after moving with her father to Hammondsport. The family subsequently returned to Elmira and Mary was enrolled in sixth grade at Booth School. She disappeared a week later.

As the investigation of her murder continued over the years, hundreds of people have been interviewed, including more than a dozen Chemung County residents who were given lie-detector tests. At one time, the Star-Gazette offered a reward that had grown to $5,000 for information leading to the conviction of her killer. Various tips had come in through the years, and Mary’s case was reactivated several times, then-District Attorney John Trice said in 2007.

At that time, Trice had sought help from a team of Project Alert investigators from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The team gathered evidence and prepared it for DNA testing at a laboratory in Texas. Nothing very useful came from the Texas lab, Robertson said, noting that a DNA sample was developed by the New York State Police lab. “We will be using them for anything from here on out,” he said.

To this day, the police department continues to search for any new lead in the case, Robertson said. “I think, to a man, we can almost all say that we’d like to solve that.”

Source: Ray Finger, The Star-Gazette, March 17, 2014.

I stumbled on a website recently with a really long string of chat about this still unresolved case. You can find it here.

Some of the things posted are pretty sketchy, but I think there's good discussion about this tragic case. One person claims their mother confessed on her deathbed she knew who did it, but when this was reported to police they didn't follow up on it. 

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...my mom was last person to see her alive as she was told to walk her halfway home,mom spoke of this day a lot and her friend mary.sadly my mom was diagnosed and died from cancer after her 48th birthday,she asked one thing of me just 1 thing to tell the truth of who did this to her friend...it was my grandfather..moms dad.my grandfather sexually assaulted my mother her entire child hood was a violent man and an alcoholic,brutal is best term.mom held many secrets that in last 6 months of her life she revealed to me horrific cruel brutal heartbreaking words cannot tell you.

Another person most recently posted they saw a strange guy in a truck where Mary Theresa was last seen. 

Ever since I first heard about it I've continued to hope it gets solved, and I think it deserves to remain on the forefront of local issues. 

[MsKreed 1,182]

It always makes me sad to see cold cases getting colder as time passes. 😢

[Ann 264]

I remember this as an almost 10 year old who lived on East Water Street at the time.  I remember the fear that was pervasive throughout the neighborhoods and how we kids were not allowed to leave our own yards.  I also remember how around that time someone was prowling around the homes in the neighborhood.  We lived in a duplex that had a second story back porch where the bedrooms were located.  One night Dad and the neighbor covered the porch with flour and the next day there were footprints on the porch by the windows.  I’m not sure what happened after that but I remember the flour.