More than 30 years after her death, Kathy Beatty still is on the minds of her former classmates in Montgomery County. She was 15 years old when she was killed in a 1975 attack that police never solved.
Steve Kerpelman, who attended Parkland Junior High School with Kathy, is a private detective working on the case.
Kerpelman has used high school reunions, alumni groups and the Internet to reach out to former classmates, and he says the response has been very positive.
“This murder affected a lot of people. People tell me they remember her well. They can relate because it’s a classmate,” Kerpelman said.
Kathy left her home in Aspen Hill sometime after 7 p.m. on July 24, 1975. The next morning, her older sister found Kathy, barely alive, in a ditch behind a Kmart near Connecticut Avenue and Georgia Avenue. Part of her skull was crushed, and she had been sexually assaulted. She died 11 days later from complications resulting from her injuries.
Witnesses have told police they saw two men carrying a girl with long brown hair across Georgia Avenue, heading toward the area where Kathy was found. The suspects were described as white males in their mid- to late teens. Police believe Kathy knew her killer or killers.
Kerpelman, a retired Prince George’s County police officer, started working the case last May after talking with a friend who also knew Kathy. Kerpelman, who says he had thought about the case for years, suggested a deal: He would begin investigating if his friend put up a reward.
Since then he has interviewed more than 50 people for the case, and says he has at least 20 more people he needs to talk to. Most attended Parkland or Peary High in Rockville, where Kathy would have gone.
Kerpelman says he thinks the case will eventually be solved.
Anyone with information on the case should contact the Montgomery County police at 240-773-5070 or visit kathybeatty.com
