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Connecticut Cold Cases

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Connecticut Murders

If you are from Connecticut and/or find yourself curious about the statistics and data regarding the number of murders in Connecticut by year, multiple law enforcement and investigating agencies, federal, state, and local, offer reports and statistics on their websites. in addition, the Federal Bureau of Investigation shares a Uniform Crime Report annually which comprehensively explains the crimes, crime rates, and locations of crimes in every state, county, and city in the United States, including Connecticut.

According to Project: Cold Case, there are around 1,777 unsolved murders in Connecticut dating from 1980 to 2019. Diving further into this information, according to the same page, from 1965 to 2019, there were roughly 6,644 murders in Connecticut, and as years passed, around 3,867 of those murders were solved or saw justice, leaving roughly 1,777 unsolved murders in Connecticut alone. Below are examples of some of the murders included in this data that remain unsolved to this day.

Some of the unsolved murders in northern Connecticut include the 2016 murder of Greg Renshaw Jr., the 1998 murder of Agnieszka “Agnes” Ziemlewski, and the 1995 murder of Leah Ulbrich, along with many others. Some unsolved central Connecticut murders include the 2004 murder of William “Billy” Smolinski Jr., the 1997 murder of Therea Wilson, and the 1996 murder of Champaben Patel, among others. Some unsolved murders in Hartford, Connecticut, include the 2005 murder of Edward Bell Jr., the 2005 murder of Dante Davis, the 2008 murder of Jakeem Tully, and the 1995 murder of Leah Ulbrich, among others. Finally, a few unsolved murders in Hartford County, Connecticut, include the 1985 murder of Carmen DeLuca, the 1987 murder of Marie Techlowec Nielsen, the 2007 murder of Javed Akhtar, and the 1996 murder of Anita Patel, among many others.

Unsolved Connecticut Murders

As of this year, there are roughly 1,777 Connecticut cold cases, according to Project: Cold Case. This number of unsolved Connecticut murders is absolutely shocking. Many of the unsolved murders in Connecticut can be found organized by law enforcement agencies on the Connecticut State Division of Criminal Justice’s cold case website as well as on other local and county law enforcement websites.

A few of the many northern Connecticut unsolved murders that are listed on this website include the 2016 murder of Greg Renshaw Jr., the 1998 murder of Agnieszka “Agnes” Ziemlewski, and the 1995 murder of Leah Ulbrich, along with many others. Also among the list are the many unsolved murders Hartford, Connecticut, which include the 2005 murder of Edward Bell Jr., the 2005 murder of Dante Davis, the 2008 murder of Jakeem Tully, and the 1995 murder of Leah Ulbrich, among others. Additionally, other unsolved murders Connecticut included in the long list of cold cases are the many east Connecticut unsolved murders. These include the 2006 murder of Erika Cironi, the 2012 murder of Kyle Seidel, the 2005 murder of Anne-Marie Caro, and the 1982 murder of Julieanne Miller, among many others.


Joseph Smedley
Joseph SmedleySuspicious Death, 2015
Asha Degree
Asha DegreeMissing, 2000

Consider this

More than 200,000 unsolved cases have gone cold since 1980, and murder clearance rates continue to drop. With equity for BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and other underserved victims not prioritized in the true crime community—together we can do better.

Famous Connecticut Murders

When you think of famous Connecticut murders, or even well-known Connecticut murders, do any names comes to mind? The large majority of the names on the list of murders in Connecticut on the Connecticut State Division of Criminal Justice and other law enforcement agencies’ cold case websites may not sound familiar, but a few of those names on the all murders in Connecticut, list of Connecticut murders, and notorious Connecticut criminals have seemingly become household names over the years. Some of the most well-known or infamous Connecticut murders include the 1998 unsolved murder of Suzanne Jovin, as well as other solved famous murders in Connecticut, such as the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting and the 2007 Cheshire home invasion murders, as well as countless others which have seen conclusion.

Homicide Rate in Connecticut

In an attempt to further understand how there are seemingly so many murders in Connecticut, we can look at different annual crime data reports which are released yearly by both federal and local law enforcement agencies to the general public. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Report (UCR) released in 2019, the violent crime rate in Connecticut was around 183.6 per 100,000 residents. In short, this means that in 2019 alone, around 183 individuals per 100,000 people living in Connecticut were directly impacted by violent crime, including assault, burglary, sexual assault and rape, and murder. Further, according to this same report, in 2019 the homicide rate in Connecticut was roughly 2.9 per 100,000 residents. This means that in 2019 alone, around 3 people per 100,000 residents of Connecticut were murdered.

With a population of over 121,200 residents, Hartford, the capital city of Connecticut, is the fourth largest city in the state. By looking at the town of Hartford’s crime data within archived reports, we can get a basic idea of how the city of Hartford is affected by crime. In 2018, the violent crime rate in Hartford, Connecticut, was roughly 1,066 per 100,000 residents, and the Hartford, Connecticut, murders rate in 2018 was around 17.06 per 100,000 residents. Although there is no way to know how many murders in Connecticut 2021 as well as how many murders in Hartford, Connecticut, 2021 yet, we do know that in 2019, there were 21 homicides in Hartford, Connecticut. Based on the crime data released in these reports, it seems as if every year there is a rising number of homicides committed in Hartford every year, with no sign of slowing, despite law enforcement’s best efforts to keep their community safe.


Hartford County Murders

Hartford County, Connecticut, is currently the second largest county in Connecticut, with over 890,000 residents, as of this year. Not much data is currently available to the public regarding the number of Hartford County murders in recent years; however, due to the county’s population, the homicide rate is higher than in more rural areas. In some murder cases, investigators are able to gather sufficient Hartford County murders evidence to charge a perpetrator with the crime and take them to Hartford County murders trial. Evidence that is most often included in Hartford County homicide trials is almost always completely dependent on the crime itself. For example, evidence in a murder trial can range anywhere from blood, saliva, skin cells, or other DNA evidence, to cell phone pings, to gunpowder residue, to fingerprints, but most often includes Hartford County murders crime scene photos. These crime scene photos are most often used in order to show the jury and judge the environment surrounding the crime as well as to show any items of evidence and their location or position in relation to the crime scene.


Hartford, Connecticut Murders

Due to the size and population of Hartford, Connecticut, murders occur there more frequently than in many other cities in Connecticut. Many of both the recent and decades-old murders in Hartford, Connecticut, have not been solved, and law enforcement continually investigates those cases which remain unsolved, often using every resource that is available to them. As can be expected, until these cold case murders are solved, Hartford murders discussion will continue on various social media platforms such as Facebook, Reddit, and Websleuths, where users gather in order to speculate and share details or information related to Hartford murders pictures, Hartford murders crime scene photos, and Hartford, Connecticut, murders autopsy photos, which are almost never released, even after a case is solved.

In the last few years, advancements in DNA technology have led to hundreds, if not thousands, of both decades-old and more recent cold cases being solved, and Connecticut is not the exception. A few examples of cases in which Hartford murders DNA was used in order to bring new details or new hope that the cold case will be solved include the 2005 murder of Edward Bell Jr., and the 1982 murder of Sylvia Baker, among many others in most other parts of Connecticut.

Connecticut Serial Killers

Like most, if not every, state in the United States, Connecticut has dealt with more Connecticut killers than you may believe, some of which are even being considered serial killers. Some of the most well-known or famous Connecticut serial killers can be found noted or described on most top ten or other form of serial killer list, including list of serial killers in Connecticut and Connecticut serial killer list. A few examples of the most famous of Connecticut serial killers are Emanuel Lovell Webb, who is also known as “The Bridgeport Killer,” who killed 4 to 5 women from 1990 to 1994; Michael Bruce Ross, also known as “The Egg Man,” who killed 8 people from 1981 to 1984; and Benjamin Franklin Miller Jr., who committed “The Bra Murders,” killing 5 women from 1967 to 1971, among others. Another Hartford, Connecticut, serial killer is William Devin Howell, also known as the “Sick Ripper,” who killed 7 people from January to October of 2003.

Crimes in Connecticut

Unfortunately, it seems that there may never be an end to the number of Connecticut homicide and true crime stories in Connecticut, and that in some cases, the number of crimes in Connecticut may sometimes be too much for their local law enforcement agencies, which are generally much smaller, to handle. According to Project: Cold Case, from 1965 to 2019 there were 6,644 murders in Connecticut. Over the years, 4,867 of those murders were solved, leaving at least 1,777 unsolved murders in Connecticut alone. Despite this, the many different law enforcement agencies in Connecticut will never stop trying to solve all of Connecticut’s true crimes. Investigators who spend a large majority of their time looking into or investigating cold cases or other crime in Connecticut hold steady in their beliefs that each and every case will be solved, and they continue to use every resource that is readily available to them to the best of their ability in order to bring these victims the justice that they deserve.

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Additional Connecticut Cold Cases

Diana FerrisBilly Smolinski Jr. Alzo AlbarezGil LeiteOmayra Velasquez Jovanna (Jovonna) Crawford Marisela PinoLisa WhiteEvelyn Frisco1974 New London County Jane DoeErica HamiltonBrandon WysoczynskiRobert HoaglandAryndel Castro1975 New Haven County Jane Doe Doreen VincentMary BadaraccoGeorge Smith IVAwilda MarreroWilliam Smolinski JrConnie Smith1991 Hartford County Jane Doe1993 Fairfield County Jane Doe1979 New Haven County Jane Doe 1975 Fairfield County Jane Doe 2006 New London County John Doe1998 Middlesex County, John Doe1977 Granby, Hartford County, Connecticut John DoeRosa CamachoVanessa MoralesLee DickinsonThomas DoolanRobert DuerrAnde FanMiguel FloresAngel GarciaKyle BockusSkye BudnickSamuel ByrdMelanie CackowskiLisa CalvoRobert CavanaghCraig ChiarappaDeborah SpicklerJanice PockettKevin BelknapMaria AnjirasBryan BaclaskiJerry DolphinJennifer DulosHaidar AbushaqraLegacy AyalaRichard BoissonneauRoy DegiovanniAndrew EconomouJames GarrisDonald GattiJohn GaydoshAntonio GomezWilliam GrantGary GreenMonica HartnettAmya HendricksEileen JayMarquita JonesJoseph KasakKeith LalimaMadison LewisAleta MancusoJoyvaline MartinezMartin MillerCharles NapolitanoFrank NashFrancis OrcuttJuan OrtizThomas ParishApril PenningtonAndrea ReyesSophie RodriguezBenet RothsteinDavid RuschSandra SantiagoDestney TorresGeorge TsolakisOral WaldronSean GarrisonBernadine PaulBret KaeserEdivano RibeiroRyan BidstrupDavid ChapmanRosa ValentinStephen ElamOscar GonzalezPedro Hernandez-PerezSharon PaullNicky ValcinJobito VasquezMatthew CherakiDaniel FarrarIsrael RosadoAlbert SwansonSalvatore RafalaFred LeeJeffrey StoneElizabeth KovalikRaymond CareyWarren NiederfringerRegina BrownTiffany VaughnKenneth ReedMinnie LincolnFrederick Richardson Sr.Mary KopaczSofia McKennaEric ThruelsonIrene LaRosaApril GrisantiDawn AmloIan DuganTerrance BrownJacqueline KinneyEric AhlinTamara BarrigaRaymond BoisseEdwuard BoydRaajih BrownAngela ChiaramontePasquale CrescentiJoseph CzarneckiJeffrey DashEdward DubbsAmanda FerroNasir IqbalStephen JonesJonas JosephAnna KennewayKaren LarocheGeraldine LisbonArthur MatthewsErvis MecollariMary MenardPaul MerolaJose NetoAlex OreyanaZelma OrtizJose OrtizHyungjun ParkRobert PatricKrissy PruittOtava RadekSarai RagsdaleGuadalupe RamiresSteven RaymondOlga RuizArlene RyanJames ScavoneAndrew SichLilian SpetserLarry StovallCharles ThomasMargoth TiviPatricia VaughanMaria Vazquez HernandezRobert WadhamsRebekah WestphalMichael FischerBianca LebronDiane CusackFrances TuccittoAugust ThiedeLuis NarvaezJohn KnappMarvin ColonJean DunnBettina ScottRafaelito RiveraYodalis Santos-villaCarrie Ann MonroeShelby HodgsonDavid ManleySteven ChumakJamaal NelsonAlina KhanJennifer WaylandJohn DowneyDavid RobertsGriselda AguirreThomas DrewMark JohnsonBrenda RobertsOrlando PerezJulianne MillerDonald CochraneSydney MontanezColton LewisLana MorinErica RiveraLawrence McIntoshMichael BolenJohn DeveauDavid GrahamJason HobbyRoy RembisYarily PadillaSteadman SaundersMery AcostaSophia TorresNina Coe1985 Fairfield County Jane Doe 1992 Milford, New Haven County, Connecticut John DoeCharles Lassell JrCyrus Quinn Jr