Private investigators are fanning out in the District and other states to check leads that could help break a long-unsolved killing.
Eileen Kelly disappeared two weeks before Christmas in 1974. Her partially clad body was found in a Northwest alley on Dec. 22. The 18-year-old had been raped and strangled.
But federal and local officials met Tuesday with private detectives from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to check other crimes along the eastern seaboard for patterns similar to Kelly’s slaying.
“If we can find more cases — especially that might have DNA — we may able to link them,” said D.C. police detective Jim Trainum. “The more cases you have, the more clues you have.”
Kelly disappeared after leaving her secretarial job at the Department of Justice. She was supposed to go to her family home in Hyattsville to sign papers for a car loan, but she never showed up.
Officials believe Kelly was killed by a sexual predator, which makes it likely he’s attacked other women.
Kelly was found blindfolded, with part of her stockings wrapped around her neck. She was the 295th homicide of 1974 — a record at the time.
The private detectives, who are volunteers but whose expenses are paid by the National Center through its Project Alert program, will look at the “southern part of the eastern seaboard” for similar crimes, Trainum said. He refused to elaborate.
But having the National Center — a nonprofit based in Alexandria — “is a huge help,” Trainum said.
“It’s a huge influx of resources — resources that we didn’t have.”
It was the second major step this month in the long-dormant Kelly investigation. Earlier this month, authorities said they had recovered biological samples from the killing that they would scan for DNA.
The DNA, along with help from the National Center, has allowed authorities to refocus on the investigation, including re-interviewing key witnesses, Trainum said.
