On Jan. 7, 1978 16-year-old Shelley Connolly went to an Anchorage bar called Chilkoot Charlie's. At some point during the night, she was seen with several men at the bar. At least one person reported seeing her at Leroy's a diner on C street. A reliable timeline is hard to determine.
Sometime during the night Shelley was raped and beaten. At some point, she was pushed out of a moving car. Her hand had gotten stuck in the door though and she was dragged by the car. It's believed that once they noticed she was being dragged they opened the door and threw her over the side of a hill to the railroad tracks 10 miles south of Potter Marsh at McHugh Creek at milepost 109 of the Seward Highway.
There was evidence that Shelley was still alive afterward. In the snow, you could tell that she tried to climb up the hill. She had died from a ruptured spleen and exposure. The next morning two female hitchhikers found her body.
The four men Shelley was talking to at the bar are possible suspects. The police are also looking for a man who went by "Pinkie" who may have lived in the Kenai area.
UPDATE:
On August 30, 2019, 62-year-old Donald F. McQuade has been arrested for her murder. He is charged with both first and second-degree murder. They found a DNA Match by going through genetic genealogy.
https://www.ktuu.com/content/news/Anchorages-Cold-Case-16-year-old-left-for-dead-400891401.html
https://coldcasesmaps.com/coldcase/shelley-connolly/
https://www.adn.com/crime-justice/article/one-family-last-hope-solve-unsolved-murder-nearly-40-years-old/2015/05/04/
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/26527057/shelley-connolly
https://www.ktva.com/story/40997206/troopers-arrest-man-accused-of-1978-cold-case-murder-of-shelley-connolly
ReplyDeletePortland , Oregon man arrested this past friday in this 1978 murder.
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