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Background:

Kristin was born on January 12, 1965. She was beautiful, kind, and described by those who knew her as an “old soul”.

Kristin loved horses, nature, and sitting down and getting to know people.

In the summer of 1985, Kristin traveled from her home in Minnesota to Ovid, NY to visit a young man she had met months earlier on spring break. She expected a potentially romantic week, but it was anything but. The young man went to work a lot while Kristin was there, leaving her to spend time with his friends. 2 days into her trip, Kristin called home and told her mother that she was cutting her trip short.

That night, August 14th, Kristin left the trailer where she had been staying and went for a walk down a dark, rural road. There were several teens at the trailer and each one had a different statement about what time Kristin left, and why.

Witnesses saw Kristin walking on the side of the dark, rural road between 11:30 and midnight. She was barefoot. A little after midnight, witnesses heard what they described as a “blood-curdling” scream. Nobody called the police.

Kristin didn’t return to the trailer that night. She was reported missing the following afternoon and a search was underway that evening. Mike O’Connell jumped on a plane from MN and headed straight to Ovid to help search for his daughter, while her worried mother sat home waiting for a phone call.

On Friday, August 16th, just after 5 pm, Kristin’s naked body was found in the cornfield adjacent to where she’d taken her walk. She had been brutally murdered- her throat slashed.

It’s been more than 38 years and no arrests have been made. Through the years, Kristin’s case has passed through the hands of many investigators. DNA has been mishandled, the original investigator had a BCI report hidden in a drawer that wasn’t found until 20+ years after Kristin’s murder. Private investigators have interviewed over 100 persons of interest and witnesses.

Ovid, NY is a tiny town and had just over 600 residents in 1985.

Someone knows something.

If you have any information about Kristin’s case and want to submit a tip, please do so by contacting:

Trooper Peter McCadden of the New York State Police:

(585)398-4125

Jolynn Rice, Advocate & Founder of Cold Case Advocacy initiated this petition:

Please help: This is a Change.org petition asking NYS Senators to enact an NYS Homicide Victims Rights Act in the State of NY to protect homicide victims’ family rights and get resources to law enforcement to end the more than 30,000 cold case backlog.  The petition currently has over 600 signatures. https://www.change.org/EndColdCaseBacklogNY . Another petition calls for NYS police to provide an exemption to Othram Labs so they can assist in testing case evidence in the Unsolved homicide of  Kristin O’Connell, murdered in upstate, NY in 1985.