By the time she reached the age of fourteen, Michelle Garvey was well known to local authorities in New London, Connecticut. The troubled young teen frequently ran away from home, so when she vanished two days before her fifteenth birthday on June 1, 1982 there was little reaction from her family at first. It was presumed that red-haired Michelle was planning on starting a new life back in her birth state of New Jersey: something she often talked about.

As time went on and there was no contact from Michelle, her family reported the disappearance to the authorities and some appeals for information were put out. However, with little information as to where she had gone – and given that she was prone to disappearing – there was not much to be done. Michelle’s family presumed that she was living a new life in a different state, and hoped that she was happier wherever she was.

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When 14-year-old Michelle Garvey left her family’s home in 1982, she was hoping to return to a former life amid her friends. Streetwise beyond her tender years, Michelle was no stranger to time on the road. This latest disappearance was just one of many times she had attempted to start her life over again. The teenager headed out of the state on her journey back to New Jersey, although along the way it appears that she ended up in Texas. Why she took this route and what happened along the way is unknown.

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On July 1, 1982 authorities in Baywater, Texas discovered the body of a young female. Estimated to be in her late teens, the red-haired youngster had been strangled and her body dumped in a field. A case into her death was immediately opened, but as police were unable to link the victim to any known records and identify her, they had a tough time knowing who to suspect of her murder.

The body was found just one year after another unsolved murder had stunned Texan officials. A young man had been beaten to death and a young woman strangled; both had been concealed in woodland near to where this latest victim had been discovered, and both also remained unidentified. The three were eventually buried together, and their cases closed pending further information.

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Almost thirty years later in 2011, an unlikely break was made in the unsolved murder case. Through the internet, details of cold cases are now readily available and a keen amateur detective was taking a look at Texan murder cases one evening when something caught her eye. The artist’s reconstruction of the Texas victim was very similar to pictures of a missing child, who had vanished shortly before the murder occurred. Could they be the same person? Keen to help, the hobbyist sleuth contacted authorities immediately and told them her thoughts.

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It was 2014 before the breakthrough was finally made. DNA taken from Michelle Garvey’s brother was matched to that of the murder victim, and it was proved conclusively that the body was indeed Michelle’s. After grabbing vital evidence, the teenager’s body was returned to her family in Connecticut and laid to rest for the last time.

How Michelle Garvey came to be in Texas is still a mystery, and authorities are no closer to learning who brutally strangled the young teen. They also do not know if her death is linked to the other two murders. The case to catch Michelle’s killer is ongoing. Meanwhile, her family are left with their worst fears confirmed – Michelle never did start that new life she wanted, but instead had hers snatched cruelly from her by a sadistic killer.