The East Haven Police Department (EHPD) has identified the victim of a cold case homicide that occurred 48 years ago, bringing a sense of relief to “a case that has haunted this community for almost five decades,” said the police.

Police identified the victim as Patricia “Tricia” Meleady Newsom, discovered by a truck driver on Aug. 16, 1975. The body, wrapped in a tarp, bound, and gagged was found floating in a drainage ditch behind the former Bradlees department store on East Haven’s Frontage Road. Until April 17, she was known only as “Jane Doe” by investigators.

EHPD Captain Joseph Murgo said the department and the Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner were able to pinpoint the location of what was believed to have been Patricia’s remains at the defunct State Street Cemetery in Hamden.

“After locating the casket and exhuming the body, we were shocked and devastated to find out that we found the wrong body,” said Capt. Murgo. “The body in the casket was, in fact, a male.”

A vigil for the deceased body was held at Old Stone Church, after which it was transferred to a new casket provided by the East Haven Memorial Funeral Home and buried once again.

Investigators returned to the cemetery on July 1, 2022, for a second excavation in which ground-penetrating radar was utilized to locate and exhume a second body. The body was taken for DNA examination to the forensics investigation group Identifiers International. DNA testing results allowed investigators to give the body her name.

“I’m proud to say that in close partnership with Identifiers International, we can positively identify the victim of this crime as Patricia Meleady Newsom,” said Murgo.

Newsom was born on June 20, 1957, in Idaho Falls, Idaho, and relocated to the East Coast with her family in the late 1960s. She attended boarding school in the Monticello area of New York but ran away from the school with a friend to Maine and was not seen or heard from again. Murgo said investigators will attempt to find the location in Maine where Newsom and her friend ran off to and identify the school they attended in New York.

Colleen Fitzpatrick of Identifiers International praised the EHPD as “a wonderful example of persistence and determination in bringing this case to a close.”

“We’re very happy to bring, what I would not call closure, I would call release, to the family [of Patricia],” said Fitzpatrick.

Newsom’s DNA went through several genetic and genealogical analyses before being uploaded to Identifier International’s database, where it was located, said Fitzpatrick. It was matched with the “DNA cousins” of her family, who submitted their own to the forensics group.

EHPD Chief Edward Lennon thanked all of the investigators who continue to work the case, including those who worked it previously. He expressed gratitude to the Chief Medical Examiner, the Connecticut State Forensics Lab, and other groups who cooperated on the investigation. Lennon also recognized the East Haven Public Works Department and the funeral home in his remarks.

Mayor Joseph Carfora made remarks expressing sympathy to Patricia’s sister, Maryann Newsom Collette, and her family.

“Maryanne, I wish this wasn’t the way your family experienced our town, but at the same time we hope we are able to bring some closure and assist in providing a peaceful and dignified resting place for your sister,” said Mayor Carfora. “I have watched this process very closely since I became mayor of East Haven. The professionalism and tenacity of everyone involved in this case, past and present, was so very impressive. And you have provided the highest level of professional effort, honor, and respect that this process required. On behalf of the town, I want to thank each and every one of you.”

Carfora closed his statement by offering to Maryann and her family “resources of my office moving forward, in any shape or form. I do hope and pray that today brings your family some peace.”

Maryann Newsom Collette, Patricia’s sister, thanked all investigators and groups for the work on the case and those on social media who shared her sister’s image to help in her discovery. Collette encouraged anyone facing the unsolved case of a lost family member not to lose hope in seeking a resolution.

“The most important thing to me is there are so many ‘me’s’ out there. There are thousands of us, and whoever you are, I know there are times you just want to give up. I know there are times that you cry. There will be people, they will tell you to stop. There will be people, they will tell you you’re crazy. There will be people who will call you obsessed. There will be people out there who love you; there will be people out there who support you. There will be strangers out there wishing well that you never knew existed. There will be a whole town who took care of your sister for 47 years. Get your information out there. Don’t just sit on the couch, don’t just cry… don’t let people tell you to stop. They never stopped; I never stopped. Don’t stop,” said Collette.

Collette closed her remarks by stating what she hoped people would remember her sister by.

“Laugh in the rain storm, walk barefoot, and smell the flowers, and you’ll be remembering her.”

The investigation remains open, and Murgo said investigators will now focus on the homicide aspect of it.