NH Cold Case Unit identifies murder victim in 1971 cold case

CONCORD — Investigators with the New Hampshire Cold Case Unit identified the body of Katherine Ann Alston, the victim of a 1971 murder, on Monday. 

According to a release from New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella, Alston's body was first found by police on Oct. 6, 1971, in what was then a forested area off Kilton Road in Bedford, near the Route 101 Bypass. She was found wearing a maroon blouse, jean shorts and sandals, and investigators at the time determined that she had been deceased for between one and three months, that she was between the ages of 25 and 35, that she was between 61 and 65 inches tall and that she had brown hair. Her death was deemed a homicide but her cause of death was listed as unknown. 

From 2020 to 2022, investigators partnered with the DNA Doe Project, a nonprofit organization that uses the research-oriented genealogy service GEDmatch to identify John and Jane Does. Investigative genetic genealogy uses genetic databases and the DNA of a suspect or victim in question to find their relatives and determine the unknown’s identity.

A potential genetic link for the then-unidentified body of Alston was found because of a DNA profile with a direct-to-consumer DNA test submitted by a member of Alston’s family in Texas.

Investigative genetic genealogy is an emerging strategy to identify suspects and victims that has been used to solve several high profile cold cases, including identifying Golden State Killer Joseph DeAngelo and also both the murderer, Terry Rasmussen, and victims in the Bear Brook case.

Alston, known to friends and family as “Kathy,” was 26 years old when she disappeared. Born and raised in Massachusetts, Alston attended Boston University. She married a fellow BU student, Ralph Lawson Garrett Jr., when she was 22, but they divorced before her death. Investigators found no evidence that the divorce was not amicable. Alston reportedly was living with a male roommate, David Cormier, on Beacon Street in Boston before she went missing.

When she disappeared, Alston’s family was at the beginning of a move from the Bay state to Texas, where she had paternal relatives. She never met her family at Logan Airport, as planned, for their flight and they never heard from her again. 

There are no records that anyone ever reported Alston as missing, the AG’s report noted.

Investigators are now angling to find out more information about Alston and to identify her killer. They are also hoping for information about or from Cormier.

“People most likely to have known either Ms. Alston or Mr. Cormier include Boston, Dorchester, and Somerville, Massachusetts residents who were present in those areas between 1963 and the fall of 1971,” the AG’s release stated. “Students at Boston University between 1963 and 1967 may also remember Ms. Alston from their time on campus.”

Anyone with information about the case should call 603-271-2663, email coldcaseunit@dos.nh.gov, or use the online tip form at doj.nh.doj/criminal/cold-case.