Judith Lord, a 22-year-old woman, was found dead in her Concord, New Hampshire, apartment in 1975, just months after moving into the residence. A building manager discovered the victim in a bed upstairs while he was looking for her unpaid rent.
Her 20-month-old son was found alive and unharmed in his crib in another room. An autopsy report found that she had died of homicidal strangulation.
Hairs found on Lord’s body and bed, along with seminal fluid found on a damp towel, pointed towards a violent struggle and sexual assault. Investigators had identified Lord’s neighbor, Ernest Theodore Gable, a 24-year-old, as a suspect.
Attorney general John Formella stated that even though Gable was identified as a suspect, “the case was severely hindered by a flawed forensic report issued by the FBI in 1975.”
“At the time, microscopic hair analysis techniques led to an incorrect conclusion that the suspect could not have contributed the hairs found at the scene,” the report stated.
Other evidence contradicted the FBI report, including Gable’s fingerprints present at the crime scene; also, witnesses stated that Lord had feared him.
“Judith told her sister she was afraid of both her husband and her African American neighbor next door, indicating Mr. Gable, because he ‘had made remarks to her about wanting to see her nude,’” the attorney general’s report stated.
Lord moved into the apartment complex with her husband, Gregory, and their three sons after moving back there from Germany. Her husband was stationed in Germany for many months, and they lived in their New Hampshire apartment together until Gregory assaulted her in May 4, 1975, 16 days before her murder.
Gregory was the first suspect for the murder; however, he was cleared after his brother and grandmother corroborated his alibi.
After Lord’s murder, witnesses said that Gable had once knocked on her door at 2:00 a.m., while his wife was out of town, asking if she would “party with him.”
Gable was stabbed and ultimately died in Los Angeles 13 years later in 1987.
“It is my hope that this long-awaited conclusion will finally bring peace and closure to Judy Lord’s family and the entire Concord community after nearly five decades of delayed justice,” Formella remarked.
“This resolution proves that no cold case is ever truly closed until the truth is found.”
Breitbart News
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