GoFundMe created for ‘Granby girl’ Patricia Ann Tucker’s new headstone with name

© Don Treeger | dtreeger/masslive.com/TNS The grave of the “Granby Girl” in West Cemetery in Granby. Officials at a press conference at the Granby Police Department March 6 announced Patricia Ann Tucker has been identified as the “Granby Girl,” whose body was discovered in 1978.

A new headstone bearing the true name of “Granby girl” will be built for the now-identified woman, Patricia Ann Tucker, whose remains were found under leaves in Granby, Massachusetts woods nearly 45 years ago. Police are still looking for the person who killed her.

Patricia Ann Tucker was identified by the Northwestern District Attorney’s office as “Granby girl” on March 6 through genetic genealogy testing, crossmatching her DNA with that of her son.

Tucker was shot in the temple, and her body was dragged by a man’s belt that was found around her neck, police said at the time. Children playing in the woods found her decomposed, skeletonized and clothed remains under a stump on Nov. 15, 1978, according to the police.

Tucker’s body was buried in a grave with a headstone that read “unknown” in the town’s West Street cemetery, which residents had banded together to pay for. Now, a nonprofit organization called Private Investigations for the Missing has started a GoFundMe for Tucker to have a headstone bearing her real name.

“Now that Patricia has been given her name back, her family wants to give her a new headstone,” wrote GoFundMe creator Erin Desrochers. “We’re raising funds to cover the cost. Your donations will be received by Private Investigations for the Missing, a nonprofit organization that will work with the family to replace the grave marker.”

© Don Treeger | dtreeger/masslive.com/TNS The grave of the “Granby Girl” in the West Cemetery in Granby. A press conference was held at the Granby Police Dept. where officials announced that Patricia Ann Tucker has been identified as the “Granby Girl” unknown body that was discovered in 1978. (Don Treeger / The Republican) 3/6/2023

The $2,000 goal has already been met, with $2,245 raised in just three days for the new headstone. Desrochers said donations are tax-deductible.

First Assistant District Attorney Steven E. Gagne said during the March 6, press conference that Tucker died in June 1978. She was born on July 28, 1950, and lived on the shore of Lake Pocotopaug in East Hampton, Connecticut with her husband, Gerald Coleman.

Gagne said Coleman is a person of interest in his wife’s murder; however, Coleman died in a Massachusetts State prison in 1996. Coleman had never reported his wife as missing, the district attorney said.

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