Four women are found in a drainage ditch in Atlantic City, New Jersey In the autumn of 2006, a chilling discovery unfolded in a watery ditch behind the Golden Key Motel in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, forever altering the lives of several families and leaving a lasting scar on the Atlantic City area. Among the victims of what would become a haunting unsolved serial murder case was Barbara Breidor, a 42-year-old woman whose life had taken a tumultuous turn.
On November 20, 2006, the bodies of four women were found in various stages of decomposition, all positioned face-down with their heads pointing east. Barbara was the third of the four to be identified. The victims, all barefoot but otherwise clothed, were believed to be the victims of a single killer, dubbed the 'Eastbound Strangler.'
Barbara's life, before its tragic end, was a complex tapestry of early promise and later struggles. Raised in Pennsylvania, she was remembered by a cousin as a 'very fun, happy girl' who was always smiling.
She had briefly attended Penn State University and at one point ran her family's jewelry store on the Atlantic City boardwalk, also working as a cocktail waitress at the Tropicana casino. However, a long-term battle with drug addiction, which began in the late 1990s, eventually led her into prostitution. In 1997, she and her then-boyfriend had a daughter, whom relatives in Florida were asked to raise. At the time of her death, she had been staying with a friend in Ventnor in exchange for doing chores. She was last seen on October 17, 2006.
Due to the state of her remains, an exact cause of death for Barbara could not be determined. However, a toxicology report revealed a potentially lethal dose of heroin in her system, leading investigators to theorize that the killer may have sedated his victims. The other victims were identified as Kim Raffo, 35; Tracy Ann Roberts, 23; and Molly Jean Dilts, 20. The cause of death for Raffo and Roberts was determined to be strangulation.
The investigation into the murders of Barbara Breidor and the other three women has spanned nearly two decades without a resolution. Over the years, several individuals have been considered persons of interest. One was Terry Oleson, a handyman who was staying at the Golden Key Motel at the time of the murders. He was implicated by an ex-girlfriend but was never charged, and DNA samples did not connect him to the crimes. Another man, who called himself the 'River Man,' was also suspected after confessing to other killings, but no link to the Atlantic City case was established. Authorities also investigated a possible connection to the Gilgo Beach serial killings in Long Island, particularly after the arrest of Rex Heuermann, but have stated there does not appear to be a connection. To this day, no arrests have been made in the murder of Barbara Breidor and the other three women, and the case remains one of Atlantic City's most infamous and tragic unsolved mysteries.
