Schenectady

Detectives have new leads in the disappearance and death of Denise Hart, the 43-year-old group home worker whose dismembered remains were found months after she vanished after work in 2007.

Police said they are looking for the public's help as they search for new clues that could lead to an arrest in the case.

Hart was last seen at about 7 a.m. Nov. 11, 2007, after leaving her job as a licensed practical nurse at a group home for developmentally disabled adults on Keyes Avenue in Schenectady. Her remains were found April 1, 2008, in the village of Menands.

Police said Hart vanished from her apartment at 15 Lafayette St. Her remains were identified through DNA tests performed using blood recovered from the Wade Lupe Townhouses in Schenectady, where she lived alone. Investigators also discovered her mattress was missing from the apartment.

"We believe she was murdered in Schenectady," Schenectady County District Attorney Robert Carney said after her body was found.

Police and prosecutors have declined to comment on potential suspects.

Hart had two children, a grown son and a daughter who was 8 at the time.

"My daughter loved her mother, and I hope that if it's within God's power that she gets to know that her daughter loved her," Hart's estranged husband, Robert, told the Times Union in 2008. "I think this is a sick world, a cruel place, and my message to whoever did this, is that God is going to judge them, and judge them hard."

Hart said he hoped police would find the killer.

"I'm taking it one day at a time, and I pray to God that she didn't suffer, and they find whoever did this to her; that's the best I can do," Hart said.

Anyone with information can call Schenectady police at 518-788-6566. Police said the information will be kept confidential.