Ellen Wapnowitz

On a cool autumn day in the Bronx, the body of a young woman was found, leaving a mystery that has endured for decades. Ellen Wapnowitz, a 20-year-old female, was discovered on the rooftop of an apartment building at 3536 Hull Avenue on Saturday, September 27, 1975. She lived just a block away at 3505 Decatur Avenue, in the Norwood section of the borough. The heartbreaking discovery marked the beginning of a case that would grow cold, leaving a family without answers and a community with the lingering shadow of an unsolved crime.

The mid-1970s were a turbulent time for New York City, and the Bronx in particular faced immense challenges. It was an era marked by economic distress, soaring crime rates, and widespread arson that gave rise to the phrase, "the Bronx is burning." Neighborhoods like Norwood, a traditionally Irish and Jewish area, were experiencing significant demographic shifts as families moved and new immigrant communities arrived. Against this backdrop of social and urban change, the New York City Police Department contended with a staggering number of violent crimes, their resources stretched thin. It was in this environment of uncertainty and fear that Ellen’s life was tragically cut short.

When police arrived at the five-story walk-up on Hull Avenue, they found Ellen fully clothed. She was wearing blue jeans, a print shirt with a pictorial scene, and a blue-gray knit cardigan sweater. On her right hand, she wore a gold ring, and a single gold loop earring was in her right ear. The cause of death was determined to be ligature strangulation; her killer had used a rope or a strap. Curiously, while her clothing was intact, her shoes were missing. Investigators at the scene found no evidence of a struggle, nor was there any indication that she had been sexually assaulted. The motive for the killing was unclear, and the absence of a struggle suggested she may have known her attacker or been taken to the rooftop under a ruse.

The investigation into Ellen Wapnowitz's homicide was launched by the NYPD, but the trail of evidence quickly went cold. In an era before widespread DNA technology and digital databases, detectives relied on traditional shoe-leather police work: canvassing neighborhoods, interviewing potential witnesses, and searching for a motive that could lead to a suspect. Despite their efforts, no arrests were ever made. The critical questions of who killed Ellen, why they did it, and how she came to be on that rooftop a block from her home remained unanswered. Her case eventually joined the ranks of the city’s many unsolved homicides from that difficult decade.

Over the years, Ellen’s case has been listed on various cold case websites, a digital marker of a life taken too soon and a crime yet to be avenged. These brief entries contain the stark, known facts of her death, but they cannot convey the depth of the loss felt by her family and friends. Details about Ellen's life—her work or studies, her passions and dreams, the people who loved her—have faded from the public record, eclipsed by the brutal manner of her death. There have been no public vigils or anniversary appeals for information reported in the years since her murder.

As of today, the murder of Ellen Wapnowitz remains an open and unsolved cold case with the New York City Police Department. Decades have passed, and the Bronx has undergone a profound transformation from the troubled borough it was in 1975. Yet, for this one young woman, justice has remained elusive. The hope for a resolution now lies in the possibility that someone, somewhere, holds a piece of information that could finally break the silence, or that advancements in forensic science could one day reveal a clue from the evidence collected on that rooftop so long ago.