On a late summer evening in Stratford, Connecticut, the life of Nancy Valentin, a 31-year-old White / Caucasian woman, was tragically cut short. On September 7, 1990, the single mother of two young daughters, aged 3 and 9, had just completed her shift as a waitress at Rose's Family Restaurant on South Main Street. At approximately 10:45 p.m., as she walked through the parking lot, she was accosted in what authorities believe was a robbery gone horribly wrong.
Witnesses at the time
reported seeing an older, two-tone car, tan on the top and a darker color on the bottom, parked behind the restaurant. This vehicle, occupied by three men, was seen speeding away from the parking lot shortly after the fatal encounter. Investigators theorize that the men attempted to snatch Nancy's purse, and when she resisted, the confrontation turned deadly. She was shot once in the chest, and as she lay wounded on the pavement, one of her attackers stood over her and fired a second, fatal shot from a. 32-caliber handgun into her head. Her assailants fled with her purse, which, along with the murder weapon, was never recovered.
Despite the passage of decades, the murder of Nancy Valentin remains an unsolved cold case. No arrests have ever been made, and the identities of the three men in the two-tone car remain a mystery. Over the years, law enforcement agencies, including the Stratford Police Department and Connecticut's Cold Case Unit, have repeatedly appealed to the public for information. A reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for her death has been increased over time to $50,000, a standing offer from the State of Connecticut in the hopes of finally bringing justice to Nancy Valentin and her family.
