True Crime Collection

Alphabet Murders

The alphabet murders are an unsolved series of child murders which occurred between 1971 and 1973 in Rochester, New York. 

The murders committed by this unidentified serial killer became known as the "Alphabet Murders" due to the fact each of the victims' first and last names begin with the same letter. Furthermore, each body was found in a town or village with a name beginning with the same letter as the victim's initials. 

Carmen Colón 

At 4:20pm on 16th November, 1971 a 10 year old Puerto Rican child named Carmen Colón disappeared while returning home from an errand in Rochester, New York. According to eyewitnesses, Carmen entered the pharmacy her grandmother had instructed her to visit on West Main Street, but left the store upon learning the prescription she had been instructed to collect had not been processed, informing the storeowner, Jack Corbin: "I got to go." She was then observed entering a car parked close to the pharmacy. Carmen was reported missing to the Rochester Police Department at 7:50pm. 

Approximately 50 minutes later after Carmen exited the pharmacy, scores of motorists driving along Interstate 490 observed the child, naked from the waist down, running from a reversing vehicle believed to be a dark coloured Ford Pinto hatchback, frantically waving her arms and shouting in an attempt to flag down a passing vehicle. At least one of these witnesses observed Carmen being submissively led back to this vehicle by her abductor. 

Two days later, two teenage boys discovered Carmen's partially nude body in a gully not far from Interstate 490, and close to the village of Churchville. This location was approximately 12 miles from where Carmen had last been seen alive. Her coat was discovered in a culvert some three hundred feet from her body; her trousers were only discovered on 30th November, close to the service road where numerous motorists had observed her attempting to escape her abductor. 

An autopsy revealed that, in addition to having been raped, Carmen had suffered a fracture to her skull and one of her vertebrae before she had been manually strangled to death. Furthermore, her body had been extensively scratched by fingernails. 

Both the murder of Carmen and the fact no individual who had observed the child attempting to flee from her abductor alongside Interstate 490 had attempted to offer her any assistance generated intense public outrage. Two New York newspapers, the Times Union and the Democrat and Chronicle, initially offered a combined reward of $2,500 for information leading the arrest and conviction of her murderer, and all information each publication received was relayed to police. Numerous local businesses and residents added private donations the reward fund, gradually leading the sum to exceed $6,000. Although police interrogated several suspects in the months following Carmen's murder, all were cleared of involvement, and by 21st December, the number of investigators assigned to the case on a full time basis was decreased to 3. 

In early 1972, five large billboards - each measuring 30 feet by 12 feet - were erected alongside major Rochester expressways. Each bore an 8 feet high picture of the child alongside the headline: Do You Know Who Killed Carmen Colón? Free use of these billboards was given for one month by the Rochester Outdoor Advertising Company. Each offered a $6,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Carmen's murderer or murderers in addition to displaying the telephone hotline number and postal address - each established the previous November to encourage the public to submit anonymous information. Although this tactic generated several new leads, all failed to bear fruition. 

 Wanda Walkowicz

17 months later, at approximately 5:00pm on 2nd April, 1973, 11 year old Wanda Walkowicz disappeared from the east side of Rochester while returning home from an errand. According to the owner of the delicatessen Wanda had been instructed to visit, she had purchased the groceries she had been instructed to buy at approximately 5:15pm before she had begun walking alone down Conkey Avenue. Wanda was reported missing by her mother, Joyce, at 8:00pm.