The Elmira Police Department named Alfred Raymond Murray Jr. as the lone suspect in the 1964 murder of 12-year-old Mary Simpson.

The case remained unsolved for 62 years, but it was never forgotten. After getting a grant from the Season of Justice in 2022, Elmira police, with the assistance of the FBI, reopened the case using modern forensic methods.

In 2023, the Elmira Police Department partnered with the Criminal Investigation Resource Center at Russell Sage College, and the case was organized and digitized, allowing for a review of evidence and forensics.

Forensic evidence from the case was sent to Othram's laboratory in the Woodlands, Texas, where scientists were able to build a comprehensive DNA profile of the unknown suspect.

The profile was used by the FBI's forensic genetic genealogy team, and working together with the Elmira Police Department, investigators found the suspect, Alfred Raymond Murray Jr.

Murray died on March 16, 2004, at the age of 73, almost 40 years to the day. Mary Simpson vanished on March 15, 1964. She was 12.

Transcribe Highlights

00:00.00 Introduction Update Mary Simpson

05:12.41 Finding identity of killer

10:00.17 A rookie cop in 1964 would be in his/her 80s now

15:00.91 Community was looking for Mary Simpson, 12

20:03.67 Killer shoved dirt in Mary's mouth

25:04.15 Predator will stand over victim

30:40.23 Othram did genetic genealogy

31:37.91 Murray may have been responsible for multiple sexual assaults on children for years

34:57.02 Mary's body covered in rocks and dirt, choked to death

37:02.08 Conclusion

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.