Naked woman's horrifying scream before she was found dead with throat slashed

KRISTIN O'CONNELL, 20, TRAVELLED TO OVID, NEW YORK, TO VISIT JAMES VERMEERSCH, WHOM SHE HAD BEEN EXCHANGING LETTERS WITH, BEFORE SHE WAS HORRIFICALLY MURDERED IN AUGUST 1985 10:00, 29

May 2025 In a shocking discovery, a 20-year-old Minnesota woman was found brutally murdered after leaving a party in the early hours of the morning in rural New York state. Stripped bare and

slain with savage cuts to her throat and multiple stab wounds, Kristin O'Connell's body lay abandoned in a cornfield just shy of a quarter-mile from where she'd gone out for

a late night wander. Back in the scorching summer of '85, Kristin O'Connell jetted off to Ovid, New York on an adventure her mother Phyllishad warned her against. Kirsten had met

James Vermeersch on Spring Break and was keen to visit him, unaware he had a girlfriend in New York. With bags packed for August 12, Kristin was thrilled to take in the sights of Finger

Lakes, yet her trip soon soured when it emerged James was seeing another woman. Phyllis told NBC's Dateline, as versed by the Morbid Podcast, that despite parental nerves, she and

Kirsten's father recognised she was old enough to venture away on her own. Herfather Michael had realised James had another girlfriend and was planning to tell Kirsten when she arrived

in the hope she would return home early. "She was so bright with excitement," Phyllis said. But in a stark twist, within a day, a distressing call jangled from an Ovid

payphone—Kristin's troubled voice hinted at an early return home, reports the Mirror US. "Something wasn't right in her voice," Phyllis confided to Dateline. Just hours

after Kristin vanished, the case took a sinister twist when she was found savagely killed – and even four decades on, the police are no closer to finding her murderer. Kristin, studying for

a degree in hotel-motel management, was just weeks away from her junior year start in September 1985. Kristin was at a trailer on James' family land with his friends when James popped

out to fetch a pizza, while Kristin wanted to go for a late-night stroll – a regular activity she did back at her place. But when James got back and Kristin was nowhere on the scene – the

party set out to search for her – yet she had vanished without a trace. The following afternoon, on 15 August 1985, James reported Kristin missing to the Ovid authorities. He noted she was

last spotted around 11 to 11:30 pm, exiting the trailer in her bare feet and leaving her handbag behind. Despite the search attempt at half one in the morning by the revellers, Kristin was

nowhere to be found. James' pal, 17 year old David Chamberlain, backed up Jim's tale and knocked down any talk of bad feeling during the party. "She just went for a walk and

didn't come back," he said. A massive manhunt involving near 80 firefighters and plod came together to swoop for Kristin, all fruitless. The grim discovery happened on 16 August

1985 when the search party stumbled upon a horrifying crime scene. The body of young Kristin was heartbreakingly found in a cornfield, chillingly close to where she was last seen. She had

suffered numerous vicious stab wounds and her throat had been cruelly slit. Terrified neighbours later reported a "horrifying" scream that pierced the night at the time Kristin was

believed to have been savagely murdered. Although there were no signs of sexual assault, detectives put forward a chilling theory that Kristin might have been viciously slain while fighting

off an attempted attack. The New York State Police wasted no time in scouring for clues to track down any scoundrel who dared harm the innocent woman. Officials observed that the lane by

the cornfield was known to be travelled by workers from the local Seneca Army Depot and campers making their way to the Golden Buck, a buzzing hotspot not far from James' trailer.

Credible sources confirmed sightings of Kristin on County Road 139 within the critical window of 11.50pm to 12.10am, which matched the story told by James. Phyllis surmised that Kristin may

have felt compelled to leave the party due to her disdain for drug use, particularly if marijuana was being consumed. As summer wore on, the investigation turned up some daunting leads—one

bone-chilling tip indicated that witnesses spotted a blue or green car pull alongside Kristin on the road with another vehicle in the mix. State Police Sgt Thomas Warren made a public call

for more details, desperate to trace these cars and hoping others might have witnessed this suspicious activity. Hints likewise emerged that two might might've followed Kristin that

fateful night. Plus, a pillowcase from a nearby mental health facility was discovered close to the road, adding to the mystery. Yet, the most bewildering twist came with an incognito phone

call to the police days after the murder. The frantic caller insisted officers look in the boot of a green Chevy parked on Main Street in Waterloo for vital clues regarding Kristin's

death. "I'm getting out of town because I told him not to do it. I told him not to do it. I'm heading out of town," the voice blurted before cutting the line. No such car

was in the records. Despite police suggesting the murder was a spur-of-the-moment act, gossip remains rife in Ovid and elsewhere that some know what happened to Kristin in 1985. At the

time, the authorities said: "Everybody at this party came from well to families in the community they are respected in this area." Another oddity thrown into the mix by social

media buffs is that a local, Donald 'Nutsy' Chamberlain, owned the caravan where Kristin slept less than a day before she was killed. Nutsy also ran the Golden Buck eatery and has

a sign on-site declaring that any talk about the O'Connell murder will get visitors thrown out. Back in 1995, the Democrat and Chronicle reported that then-District Attorney Donna Cathy

pointed the finger at a named Gary Harris. Cathy mentioned that some African American hair was found at the crime scene, and highlighted that Harris was the only black man in Ovid at the

time. Acting Seneca County Judge W Patrick Falvey was all for getting DNA tests done on the hair and blood evidence from 1985 to crack the case, but hit a wall because there wasn't

enough probable cause to tie Harris to the crime. Harris's brief said: "Being in the community or being black in the community does not meet the requisite proof." The police

have stressed Harris is just "one of many" suspects they're eyeing up in their ongoing investigation. The forensics in this murder case are a real issue Take Kristin's

bloodied clothes, for instance; they were found all neat and tidy next to her in the cornfield where she met her end. The police believe a downpour that night might've washed away some

clues. However, there is still a mountain of physical evidence - 318 items linked to the savage killing - from the victim's fingernails and a blood-drenched jumper to the pillowcase and

maybe hundreds of hairs. Despite this treasure trove of evidence no fresh forensic testing is on the cards. In a baffling move back in 2009, despite an offer from a top Dutch lab to analyse

evidence from Kristin's case, the New York State Health Department knocked it back due to the facility not being certified in New York. District Attorney Richard Swineheart didn't

mince his words when he told the Ithaca Journal: "We feel this is our last, best effort to solve this case. We are very frustrated with the bureaucracy of the Department of

Health." Kirsten's mum, Phyllis, along with a Minnesota senator, hit a brick wall trying to get the Amsterdam lab to seek certification, their efforts seemingly going nowhere. The

O'Connell family aren't sitting on their hands though; they've launched a petition on Change.org demanding DNA testing to push the investigation forward. But in a gutting

twist in 2010, the New York Inspector General dropped a bombshell on Phyllis, revealing that a forensics bod who might have had his fingers in Kristin's case was previously caught up in

faking evidence. Gerry Veeder was named and shamed for "dry-labbing", which is basically faking test results without doing the actual work, all to save a bit of time and elbow

grease. "In 1985 he did the initial evidence. I don't know how many items but anything to do with cloth because that's what he handled. I mean, my God - this is an important

job they're doing there and how could they allow this and not be supervised properly?" Phyllis said. And if that wasn't shocking enough, it came to light last year that a cold

case team, headed by the former chief of the FBI's Violent Criminal Apprehension Program, had put forward a New York State-accredited forensics lab's services on the house to sift

through all the solid evidence in Kristin's case. The proposed forensic deep-dive was meant to be part of a documentary about the murder helmed by two-time Oscar winner Bill Guttentag,

potentially sidestepping the snags that cropped up over 10 years back with the Dutch lab. But the New York State Police refused to back the project. A spokesperson for New York State Police

Troop, Mark O'Donnell, mentioned that bringing in outsiders on an open murder probe was against policy. The State Police weighed in, stating: "As in all cases, the State Police

does not share critical information, evidence or the techniques used in solving cases. By sharing such information, it could jeopardize the integrity of the investigation." Despite

seemingly abundant evidence in Kristin's killing, the whodunnit remains a mystery. Back in 2010, a $10,000 bounty was put up for the scoop leading to the slammer for her murderer, and

as of 2015, the fuzz said they'd chased down over 1,900 leads to no avail. Phyllis is pushing hard for the police to either get their act together and look at the evidence with

today's forensics or call it quits on the case—which would let her put in a Freedom of Information request to get the evidence herself. Article continues below Moreover, Phyllis is

lobbying for a shift in the law that'd force every police department to set up permanent cold case squads so sad tales like Kristin's don't keep bouncing between detectives

year after year. She revealed: "I think there are people up there who know what happened but are afraid to come forward. I believe people are scared. I know I can't bring her back.

But I can't rest until I find out who did this to her." The Mirror's reached out to Seneca County Police for a natter. Meanwhile, the boys in blue are still hunting for clues

in Kristin O'Connell's murder case and they're all ears if you've got the goods—ring the New York State Police Major Crimes Unit at (585) 398–4100.