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5 things to know about the Lisa Ziegert unsolved homicide

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Dan Glaun | dglaun@masslive.com

1. She was abducted in April 15, 1992.

Lisa Ziegert was a 24-year-old aspiring teacher in Agawam who was disappeared from part-time job at a card shop the night of April 15, 1992. She was founded dead in the woods four days later, on Easter Sunday; authorities determined she had been raped and stabbed.

The killing sent shockwaves through the Agawam community, and 24 years later has not yet been solved.

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Detective Terry Latellier, right, hands an article of clothing to detective Stanley Chmielewski near the site where the body of Lisa Ziegert was found in 1992. (David Molnar/Republican file photo)

Dan Glaun | dglaun@masslive.com

2. Investigators found DNA at the scene

Police have pored over thousands of leads and considered hundreds of persons of interest in the case, according to Hampden County District Attorney Anthony Gulluni.

One piece of evidence they found was a sample of single source, male DNA at the crime scene. Investigators ran the sample through every available database, but found no matches, Gulluni said.

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Dan Glaun | dglaun@masslive.com

3. DNA was used to generate composite sketch

While the traditional use of DNA evidence -- attempting to match it to previously identified DNA profiles -- has not yielded results, the DA's office has now taken an innovative approach.

On Sept. 28, authorites released a composite image of the suspect in the killing -- not drawn from eyewitness descriptions, but generated from the DNA sample. A Virginia-based company, Parabon Nanolabs, has developed technology that predicts physical characteristics of a person from their DNA, including hair and eye color, face shape, skin tone and freckling.

The results can allow investigators to rule out suspects and, when distributed to the public, prompt new waves of tips, Gulluni said.

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Hampden County District Attorney Anthony Gulluni announced at a press conference that a composite sketch has been made of a suspect in the decades old murder case of Agawam's Lisa Ziegert made from state-of-the-art DNA analysis. Here, Lisa Ziegert's mom Dee, is hugged by family friend Shelly Borgatti-Reed. Dee's husband George is on the left. (Don Treeger / The Republican)

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4. Ziegert's family and local law enforcement have not given up.

As Ziegert's mother Dee said at the DA's press conference announcing the new image of the suspect, the case has never been closed.

Ziegert's family has expressed gratitude to investigators for continuing to work on the case, 24 years after the killing. In 2012, then-Agawam Police Chief Robert D. Campbell told The Republican that the case continued to stick in the minds of the officers who searched for Ziegert's attacker two decades earlier.

This week, Dee Ziegert said the release of the DNA-generated sketch had given her new hope the case would be solved.

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Hampden County District Attorney Anthony Gulluni announced at a press conference that a composite sketch has been made of a suspect in the decades old murder case of Agawam's Lisa Ziegert made from state-of-the-art DNA analysis. (Don Treeger / The Republican)

5. Authorities have set up a dedicated tip line

Investigators are asking the public to review the composite sketch and provide any tips that might lead to the finding of Ziegert's killer.

The Hampden County District Attorney's Office has set up a dedicated Lisa Ziegert tip line at (413) 333-9148. Anyone with information can also call the Agawam police department at (413) 786-4768 or report information anonymously by texting C-R-I-M-E-S (274637) and starting the text with the word SOLVE.

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Complete coverage of the Lisa Ziegert case

Click here to be redirected to MassLive.com's Lisa Ziergert topics page for complete coverage of the unsolved case.