Latest / Murder Files Unsealed / Cold Case Squad Reopens Mysterious 1977 Murder of New Jersey Grad Student

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Cold Case Squad Reopens Mysterious 1977 Murder of New Jersey Grad Student · Murder Files Unsealed

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right, so get this right. Picture nineteen seventy seven.
• 0:03
  We're talking bell bottoms, disco fever, and on the surface,
• 0:07
  a seemingly quiet college.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: Campus, Trenton State College to be exact.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Right, Trenton State College, which we know today as the
• 0:14
  College of New Jersey. But and here's the kicker. Nestled
• 0:17
  among the hallowed halls of academia, a chilling mystery was
• 0:21
  about to unfold, a.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Real head scratcher, one that still has folks talk in
• 0:25
  all these years later. This is the case of Sigrid Stevenson,
• 0:29
  a twenty five year old music student, full of life,
• 0:32
  love to travel, you know, the kind of person who
• 0:34
  just drew.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: You in and tragically her story was cut short on
• 0:37
  that very.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Campus, found on the stage of Kendall Hall, one of
• 0:40
  the main buildings.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: There is something out of a movie, right, but this
• 0:43
  was real life. So walk me through this. What do
• 0:46
  we know about the crime scene itself? What did an
• 0:48
  investigators find when they arrived at Kendall Hall.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: So picture this Sigrid's body. She was discovered on the stage,
• 0:56
  partially covered and get this with a piano cover and
• 1:00
  a cover.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah that strange, even eerie, was just sort of draped
• 1:03
  over her.
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  Speaker 2: It gets weirder. Her things, her purse, her books, all
• 1:08
  neatly stacked nearby, like someone intentionally placed them there.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: Okay, so we're not talking about a random act of
• 1:13
  violence here. This feels premeditated, almost staged, wouldn't.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: You say, exactly? And that's what threw the investigators for
• 1:20
  a loop because for all the effort put into controlling
• 1:23
  the scene the killer, while they left virtually no trace behind.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: No fingerprints, yeah, no signs of forced entry. It's like
• 1:29
  they just vanished into thin air. What did investigators make
• 1:33
  of this eerily clean crime scene? Did it offer any
• 1:37
  clues about who might have been behind such a calculated act.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: It was baffling, to say the least. But one thing
• 1:43
  was clear. This wasn't a crime of passion. This was
• 1:47
  plan methodical executed by someone who knew the lay of
• 1:51
  the land, someone who could move around unnoticed.
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  Speaker 1: Which brings us to the initial suspects. Right a college
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  campus even back then, that's a lot of ground to cover,
• 2:00
  a lot of potential leads to chase down. Who were
• 2:03
  the initial persons of interest that landed on the police's radar.
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  Speaker 2: Well, they had their work cut out for them, that's
• 2:08
  for sure. But naturally, given the location, and while the circumstances,
• 2:12
  suspicion initially fell on those who had access to Kendall Hall.
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  Speaker 1: Makes sense. So we're talking about staff, faculty, maybe even
• 2:18
  students with specific permissions or key access, you got it.
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  Speaker 2: But among those three groups in particular stood out first
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  there were the campus police officers.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Right, they would have had keys to the building, knowledge
• 2:30
  of the layout. Plus there's that whole element of authority, Right.
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  Did anything specific about the officers make them stand out
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  as potential suspects?
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  Speaker 2: Well, remember those signs of a struggle we mentioned Cigred's risks.
• 2:42
  They had markings, markings suggesting she may have been restrained,
• 2:46
  and well officers, they care handcuffs.
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  Speaker 1: It's easy to see why that would raise eyebrows. Did
• 2:52
  the investigators uncover any concrete evidence linking the campus police
• 2:56
  to Sigrid's murder?
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: While they couldn't ignore the access, and let's be honest,
• 3:00
  the tools at their disposal, nothing concrete ever directly linked
• 3:04
  them to the crime. It was more a matter of
• 3:06
  ruling them out definitively, which, as you can imagine, takes time.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: So with the campus police seemingly hitting a dead end.
• 3:13
  Investigators had to widen the net, right, who else were
• 3:16
  they looking at?
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  Speaker 2: Well, this is where things take an interesting turn. The
• 3:20
  spotlight then shifted to a local theater group that had
• 3:23
  been using Kendall Hall for a production.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, a theater group that's a far cry from campus security.
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  What led investigators to focus on them?
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  Speaker 2: Now, this is where it gets really interesting. Sigrid she
• 3:34
  had gone to see their performance the night before her
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  body was found. And get this, her copy of the playbill.
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  One particular actor's name was circled.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Wow, that's a pretty specific detail. Did they ever figure
• 3:46
  out why she circled that particular actor's name?
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  Speaker 2: That's part of the mystery. But here's the kicker Ready
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  for this? The actor she circled He played a police officer.
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  Speaker 1: In the play hold On. So we're not just talking
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  about proximity to the crime scene, but also atential thematic
• 4:00
  link to the murder itself. That sends chills down my spine.
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  Did this discovery lead to any breakthroughs in the case.
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  Was this actor brought in for questioning? It's like somebody
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  out of a true crime novel, isn't it. The victim
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  attending a play about a crime similar to how they
• 4:15
  themselves are later found. Did the police ever uncover a
• 4:19
  motive that could link this actor to Sigrid's murder?
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  Speaker 2: That's the million dollar question right there. They looked into it.
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  Speaker 1: Believe me, Oh, I bet they did. A connection like that,
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  It's hard to ignore. What did they find out about
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  this actor?
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  Speaker 2: Well, they dug into his background, talk to everyone who
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  knew him, the whole nine yards, tried to figure out
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  if there was any prior connection between him and Sigrid,
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  something that wasn't immediately obvious.
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  Speaker 1: And what did they uncover? Was there anything there, any
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  kind of relationship, any bad blood, anything at all that
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  could point to a motive.
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  Speaker 2: Nothing at least nothing concrete. No romantic ties, no history
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  of animosity, no financial disboots. It was like they were
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  complete strangers except for that one fateful night at the theater.
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  Speaker 1: Talk about a dead end. So we have this web
• 5:06
  of eerie coincidences, but no concrete evidence to directly link
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  the actor to the crime. Did the police explore any
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  other angles with the theater group or did the investigation
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  fizzle out there?
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  Speaker 2: Oh? They didn't stop there. They interviewed every single member
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  of that theater group. From the lead actors right down
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  to the stage hands.
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  Speaker 1: Thorough. I'll give them that.
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  Speaker 2: They had to be sure right. They were grasping at straws,
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  trying to find any thread that could lead them to
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  Sigrid's killer.
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  Speaker 1: And they came up empty empty.
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  Speaker 2: Just like with the campus police, they couldn't definitively link
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  anyone from that theater group to Sigrid's murder.
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  Speaker 1: It's amazing how a case like this can go from
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  a whirlwind of leads to a standstill so quickly. You'd
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  think with a crime scene like that, something, anything would.
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  Speaker 2: Have stuck, right, You'd think so, But that's the thing
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  about cold cases. Sometimes the trail just goes cold, no
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  matter how hard investigators try to keep it warm.
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  Speaker 1: So that's it. Then years pass, the case grows colder,
• 6:01
  and Cigarett's murder remains unsolved for.
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  Speaker 2: A while, yeah, almost two decades in fact. It's a
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  heartbreaking thought. Can you imagine years of unanswered questions, the
• 6:10
  way of not knowing who or why, always wondering.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: It's almost unbearable to think about. But then a glimmer
• 6:16
  of hope emerges. Right, tell me about Detective Pat Holt
• 6:20
  and his decision to reopen Sigared's case years later. What
• 6:24
  prompted him to take another look at a case that
• 6:26
  had seemingly reached its end.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: Well, Detective Holt, he wasn't the type to let sleeping
• 6:31
  dogs lie, especially when it came to cases like cigarettes.
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  Speaker 1: He sounds like a real bulldog, someone who wouldn't let
• 6:36
  go once he sank his teeth into something. Yeah, what
• 6:39
  was it about this particular case that drew him in?
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  Speaker 2: From what I've heard, it was a combination of things.
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  He was known for his sharp mind, his meticulous attention
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  to detail, but beyond that, there was something about the
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  nature of Sigrid's case, the way it was almost like
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  a puzzle box with no solution, that just wouldn't let
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  him go.
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  Speaker 1: So he saw something, some detail, some nuance that others
• 6:59
  had missed.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: Maybe, or maybe he just had a hunch, a feeling
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  that there was more to the story than met the eye.
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  Whatever it was, he was determined to take another crack
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  at it to see if he could find something, anything
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  that had been overlooked.
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  Speaker 1: So what was Detective holtz game plan? Did he have
• 7:15
  any specific angles he wanted to pursue, or was it
• 7:18
  more of a complete overhaul of the original investigation.
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  Speaker 2: Well, he started by doing something that might sound tedious,
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  but it's often the key to cracking cold cases. He
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  reviewed every single piece of evidence from the original investigation.
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  Speaker 1: Talk about a needle in a haystack. Was you looking
• 7:33
  for anything specific or was it more of a leave
• 7:36
  no stone unturned approach?
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  Speaker 2: A bit of both. Actually, he wanted to see if
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  there were any inconsistencies, any leads that had been followed
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  but not fully explored, any witnesses who might have been
• 7:46
  overlooked or dismissed too quickly. But he also knew that
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  with the passage of time sometimes memories could shift, new
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  information might come to light, or people's willingness to talk
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  might change.
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  Speaker 1: So he was looking for both new leads and fresh
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  perspectives on old ones. Makes sense. But he had another
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  ace up his sleeve, didn't he something that wasn't available
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  back in nineteen seventy seven when Sigared's murder occurred.
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  Speaker 2: You're talking about DNA technology exactly.
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  Speaker 1: DNA analysis has revolutionized criminal investigations, hasn't it. Yeah, it's
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  like having a whole new set of eyes on the evidence.
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  What was detective Holt hoping to find were there any
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  promising DNA samples from the original crime scene that he
• 8:24
  could re examine with these new techniques.
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  Speaker 2: Well, that was the hope. Remember how we talked about
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  how meticulously the crime scene had been staged, No fingerprints,
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  no obvious signs of forced entry.
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  Speaker 1: Right, it was like the killer had almost scrubbed away
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  any trace of their presence exactly.
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  Speaker 2: But detective Holt he was banking on the idea that
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  even the most careful criminals can't erase everything. He was
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  hoping that maybe, just maybe the killer had left behind
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  a tiny trace of themselves, a hair, a skin cell,
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  something that wouldn't have been detectable back in seventy seven,
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  but could be analyzed with these new DNA technologies.
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  Speaker 1: And this brings us back to the theater group, right,
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  specifically the actor who played the police officer. Did Detective
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  Holt manage to obtain a DNA sample from him after
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  all these years.
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  Speaker 2: Well there was a bit of a snag. The actor
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  had actually passed away in the years since Sigared's murder.
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  Speaker 1: Oh that's a stepback. So that's it. Then another dead end,
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  not quite.
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  Speaker 2: Detective Holt, resourceful as ever, managed to track down a
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  living relative of the actor.
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  Speaker 1: So there was still a chance, a glimmer of hope,
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  that this DNA connection could crack the case wide open.
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  Speaker 2: That's right. It was a long shot, but it was
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  the best shot they had.
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  Speaker 1: I bet the tension was palpable. After decades of dead ends,
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  this must have felt like the final roll of the dice.
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  Did the DNA test provide the answers they were desperately seeking?
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  Speaker 2: Sadly no, the results came back and it wasn't a match.
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  Speaker 1: Oh that's just heartbreaking after all that time, all that effort,
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  to come up empty handed again.
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  Speaker 2: It was a crushing blow for everyone involved, especially for
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  Sigrid's family and friends who had been holding onto hope
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  for all those year. It just goes to show, even
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  with all the advancements we've made in forensic technology, some
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  cases just refuse to give up their secrets.
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  Speaker 1: It's almost like fate itself is determined to keep this
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  case shrouded in mystery. But even with Detective holts retirement,
• 10:15
  the fight for justice for Sigrid didn't end there, did it.
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  You're right it didn't. It's almost like Sigred's case. It
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  had this way of drawing people in even after all
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  those years, like a magnet for anyone who wanted to
• 10:27
  solve a good mystery.
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  Speaker 2: It's true. Detective Holts retirement, it might have felt like
• 10:31
  the end of the road for many investigations, but Sigaret's case,
• 10:35
  it had this way of sticking with people, and right
• 10:37
  when it seemed like all hope was fading, a few
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  new doors opened.
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  Speaker 1: Who leads, new evidence. What happened?
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: People, mostly people who weren't ready to give up, who
• 10:47
  were determined to see this through no matter how long
• 10:49
  it took. That's when Scott Napolitano, ed Deboski and Julia Caldwell.
• 10:53
  They kind of took center stage, a.
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  Speaker 1: Trio of amateur sleuths. Huh sounds intriguing. Tell me more
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  about them? Who are these people and what made them
• 11:02
  decide to pick up the torch when even seasoned detectives
• 11:05
  had thrown in the towel.
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: Well, each of them they had their own connection to
• 11:09
  the case, their own reason for needing to find answers.
• 11:12
  Scott he's a filmmaker and an alumnus of TCNJ, so.
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  Speaker 1: He was actually a student there back when all of
• 11:18
  this happened.
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: Not quite he came a bit later, But the story
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  I got under his skin. He'd hear whispers of it
• 11:23
  on campus, these rumors and half truth, and he wanted
• 11:26
  to set the record straight.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: So he was determined to separate fact from fiction. I
• 11:30
  can see how that draws someone in wanting to uncover
• 11:33
  the truth behind a.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: Local legend exactly, And that's what he did. He dug
• 11:38
  deep into the case files, tracked down old witnesses, really
• 11:41
  tried to get a clear picture of who Sigrid was
• 11:44
  and what might have happened to her.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: A real life detective story. What about Ed what's his story.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: As a retired cop? Actually he was a rookie when
• 11:51
  Sigrid was murdered.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, talk about a case that sticks with you. So
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  he carried this burden with him his entire career.
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  Speaker 2: He did. He always felt like something was off, like
• 11:59
  they missed some than crucial back in seventy seven. And
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  when he heard about Detective Holt reopening the case all
• 12:04
  those years later, it rekindled that fire in him, you know,
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  that need to find the truth.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: The need to right or wrong that had been left
• 12:12
  to fester for far too long. I can understand that.
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  And what about Julia, how does she fit into all
• 12:17
  of this.
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  Speaker 2: Julie's a fighter. She's a former detective herself from Ewing Township,
• 12:23
  forced into early retirement after an injury, but she never
• 12:26
  lost that detective's mind, that drive to solve a case.
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  Speaker 1: So she dedicated her time to cold cases, ones that
• 12:32
  still kept her up at night.
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  Speaker 2: She poured herself into Sigrid's case, went through all the
• 12:36
  evidence with a fine tooth comb, talked to anyone who'd
• 12:39
  even breathed in Sigrid's direction. You name it.
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  Speaker 1: So we have Scott the filmmaker, determined to uncover the
• 12:46
  truth behind the campus legend. We have Ed the retired
• 12:49
  cop haunted by a case from his early days on
• 12:51
  the force. And we have Julia, the relentless detective who
• 12:55
  refuses to let anything stand in the way of justice.
• 12:58
  What a team.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: They were, relents I'll give them that, and their efforts,
• 13:02
  well they didn't go un notice. You ever watched that
• 13:04
  Netflix show on Solved Mysteries?
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: Who hasn't. That show's a phenomenon.
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: Don't tell me Sigrid's Case. They featured it on the show,
• 13:10
  and wouldn't you know it, it caught the attention of
• 13:12
  the right people.
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  Speaker 1: So it's not just these three individuals anymore. The case
• 13:16
  is officially back on the radar of law enforcement.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: You got it, the Attorney General's Cold case network. They
• 13:23
  caught wind of it and decided to take another look.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: Now that's a big deal, right, What is this cold
• 13:28
  case network and why is their involvement so significant?
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: Think of them as the a team of cold case investigations.
• 13:35
  They're a dedicated team of experienced prosecutors, investigators, forensic experts,
• 13:40
  the best of the best, all laser focused on cracking
• 13:43
  these cases that have gone cold. They've got resources, expertise,
• 13:47
  all the cutting edge tools that most local departments just
• 13:50
  can't compete with.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: So they're like the cavalry riding in to save the day.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: That's one way to put it, and one of the
• 13:55
  biggest weapons in their arsenal. You ready for this genetic genealogy,
• 13:59
  I've heard whisper.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: What is that exactly? How does it work?
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: Well, you know how DNA analysis has been used in
• 14:05
  criminal investigations for a while.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: Now, sure you compare a DNA found at the crime
• 14:10
  scene to a suspects DNA or to a database.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: Of known criminals, right, But genetic genealogy, it takes things
• 14:17
  a step further. Think of it like this, Instead of
• 14:20
  just looking for an exact match, they can now compare
• 14:22
  DNA to entire family trees.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: Wow. So even if the killer's DNA isn't in the
• 14:27
  database somewhere, they might still be able to find a
• 14:30
  relative's DNA that's a close enough match to lead them
• 14:34
  to a suspect.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: Exactly. It's been a game changer for solving cold cases cases,
• 14:38
  just like cigarettes.
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: It makes you wonder, doesn't it. What if this technology
• 14:42
  had been available back when Detective Holt was working the case.
• 14:45
  Could he have solved it back then?
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: Maybe it's hard to say for sure. But the good
• 14:50
  news is, even though it's been all these years, the
• 14:52
  evidence from Sicreds case it's still there. It can still
• 14:56
  be analyzed using these new techniques.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: So there's still hope even after all this time.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, there's always hope. And while we wait for justice
• 15:05
  to be served, it's important to remember Sigrid. She was
• 15:08
  more than just a case file. She was a talented musician,
• 15:11
  a free spirit, someone who loved to travel and experience
• 15:14
  new things.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: And her memory lives on right. I read that they
• 15:17
  dedicated a piano practice room in the music building at
• 15:20
  TCNJ to her.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: That's right. It's a beautiful tribute to her and a
• 15:24
  reminder that even in the face of such darkness, there's
• 15:26
  still light.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: It's a testament to the power of remembrance, the importance
• 15:30
  of never giving up hope, and the enduring belief that
• 15:33
  even the most baffling mysteries can be solved. It's cases
• 15:37
  like Sigrids that remind us why we do what we do,
• 15:39
  why we keep digging for answers, why we keep telling
• 15:42
  these stories. Someone out there knows something, and maybe, just maybe,
• 15:47
  by keeping sigrid story alive, by reminding the world of
• 15:50
  the young woman who has stolen from us far too soon,
• 15:52
  we can finally bring your killer to justice.