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Cold Case Hudson Valley Homicide Remains Unsolved Mystery

Nearly a half century ago, a charming Roy C. Ketcham High School graduate and artist, was murdered after leaving work on a summer night in 1970.

Alice Susan Vrablic, 20

Alice Susan Vrablic, 20

Photo Credit: Dutchess County Sheriff's Office

Since that time, the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office Detective Bureau has been looking for the killer or killers of Alice Susan Vrablic, a 20-year- old Wappinger resident, said Capt. John Watterson.

During the summer of 1970  Vrablic was employed as a waitress at Howard Johnson’s on Route 9 in Poughkeepsie, and at the end of the summer was planning on returning to France to study art at the University of Paris.

On the night of Aug. 22, 1970, she left work and was given a ride to the intersection of New Hackensack Road and Route 9 in the Village of Wappingers Falls, after which she never returned home, he added.

Ten days later Vrablic's body was found a short distance from her residence.

Newspaper reports from that time describe her as a happy-go-lucky girl who was very friendly with the other girls she worked with.

The papers also reported that her badly decomposed body was found face down on the edge of a pond in a weedy culvert off Route 376, just a quarter-mile from her Russell Road home. A bag was found beside her with her folder waitress uniform inside and her purse, containing a wallet, photos and cash were also found. 

One of six children, the young woman with the good figure who liked to wear miniskirts and had hitchhiked across Europe, was last seen walking away from the car that had given her a ride. A short time later, neighbors reported hearing screams in the area. 

The next morning her mother called the restaurant looking for her before calling the police to report her missing.

Sheriff’s Office detectives are still actively investigating Vrablic's death and are asking anyone with information to contact Detective Kate Capalbo at (845) 486-3820 or kcapalbo@dutchessny.gov.

 The Sheriff’s Office can also be contacted through the tip line at (845) 605 - CLUE (2583) or email at dcsotips@gmail.com, all information will be kept confidential.

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