A woman's body is found in a wooded area of Hartland, VT On a snowy January 10, 1987, Barbara Agnew, a 39-year-old Caucasian female nurse from Norwich, Vermont, was heading home after a day of skiing with friends at Stratton Mountain. While traveling north on Interstate 91, her green BMW was later found abandoned at a rest area in White River Junction. The discovery was unsettling; the car door was slightly ajar, and there were bloodstains on the steering wheel, indicating a struggle had taken place.
Investigators also found some of Agnew's personal items, covered in blood, in a nearby dumpster. Her friends and family were perplexed as to why she would have stopped at the deserted rest area, especially given her familiarity with driving in winter storms and her proximity to home.
The discovery of the car launched a search that spanned several weeks. Tragically, on March 28, 1987, the search came to a grim conclusion when Agnew's body was discovered in a wooded area in the town of Hartland, near an apple tree. She was still dressed in her ski bib, her lift ticket attached. An autopsy confirmed the initial fears of law enforcement; she was the victim of a homicide. The cause of death was determined to be multiple stab wounds to her neck and a traumatic head injury. The brutal nature of the crime and the location where her body was found led some to believe her death was connected to a series of unsolved murders in the region attributed to the "Connecticut River Valley Killer."
Despite an extensive investigation into her death, no arrests have ever been made in the case, and it remains one of Vermont's most haunting cold cases. Over the years, a few leads have emerged but have not led to a resolution. One notable lead came from the deathbed confession of a New Hampshire man named Gary Westover. Westover claimed to have been with several friends on the night Agnew disappeared and alleged that he witnessed them kidnap and murder her. He named three men, including Michael Nicholaou, a Vietnam veteran who later died in a murder-suicide. While some investigators found this confession credible and have drawn connections between Nicholaou and other Connecticut River Valley attacks, the information has not been sufficient for police to officially close the case or name a suspect. The murder of Barbara Agnew remains an open investigation.
