Two 15 year old girls are strangled to death On a summer day in 1973, fifteen-year-old Caucasian female Anne Psaradelis of Merrimack, New Hampshire, embarked on what seemed to be a typical teenage outing with her friend, Diane Compagna, also fifteen. The girls told their parents they were going for a swim at a local lake and planned to stay at each other's houses on July 11th. In reality, their destination was Hampton Beach.
They were last seen there late in the afternoon of July 12, 1973, reportedly hitchhiking in the direction of their hometown. When the girls didn't return home the next day, their concerned parents reported them missing. Initially, law enforcement treated the case as a potential runaway situation, a theory that grew less plausible as days turned into weeks with no word from either girl.
The anxious summer faded into fall, bringing a grim discovery that ended all hope for the girls' safe return. On September 29, 1973, more than two months after they had vanished, a hunter walking through a wooded area off New Boston Road in Candia, New Hampshire, stumbled upon a devastating scene. The badly decomposed bodies of Anne Psaradelis and Diane Compagna were found. The location was a short distance from Route 101, a main road connecting Merrimack to Hampton Beach. Due to the advanced state of decomposition, the exact cause of death could not be officially determined by the medical examiner. However, investigators have long believed the girls were strangled.
The double homicide investigation launched in the wake of the discovery has spanned decades without a definitive resolution. No arrests have ever been made in the case, leaving it an open and unsolved crime that has haunted the community for nearly half a century. In the initial stages of the investigation, police questioned a suspect after learning that one of the girls had allegedly been sexually assaulted shortly before her disappearance, but no charges were filed. Years later, a retired Merrimack police detective, Joseph Horak, who was one of the original investigators, published books in which he named the individual he firmly believes is responsible for the murders. Despite his public assertions and dedication to the case even in retirement, the official investigation remains cold, and justice for Anne Psaradelis and Diane Compagna has yet to be found.
