(1989-Current)

Record 2 of 4

Union Leader, The (Manchester, NH) September 27, 1993 1973 Murder Mystery: Retired Detectives Still Hunting Killer Of Merrimack Girls Page: 1 Index Terms: NAN Estimated printed pages: 4 Article Text: (COLOR PHOTO) By NANCY MEERSMAN Union Leader Staff CANDIA - What started as a day at the beach turned into a double murder. Twenty years later, two police officers still work in hopes of finding a killer and solving the crime. Diane Compagna and Anne Psaradelis, two 15-year-olds from Merrimack, both had told their mothers they planned to sleep over at the other's house. Instead, they gathered towels, bathing suits and beach bags and hitchhiked to Hampton Beach. It was a misadventure that couldn't have gone more wrong. The next day at the beach, Diane and Anne told acquaintances they had spent the night on the floor in someone's cottage where a male, his sister and a young child were staying. Around 4:30 that afternoon they were seen near the Hampton Beach Casino. That was the last anyone saw them alive. About 10 weeks later, on Sept. 29, 1973, a hunter found two bodies in a pine forest off New Boston Road in Candia. The next day, the decomposed corpses were identified as the missing Merrimack girls. The crime inexplicably received little media attention at the time. Twenty years, later few people remember much, if anything, about the hideous double murder - except for two long-retired former police officers who are determined their questions will be answered someday. Robert Baker, who retired as Candia police chief in 1981, and Joseph Horak, a detective lieutenant with the Merrimack Police Department who retired with a disabling injury in 1976, did not stop agonizing over the mystery when they turned in their badges. They think the case is still solvable and that eventually they will know how the girls died and who killed them. ''I can't let go of it,'' said Horak, 64, who keeps in touch with the families and visits the girls' graves every year on the anniversary of the day they were found. ''I think about the case every day. I really feel the person who did this is local and the girls knew the person,'' Horak said. ''This is a person who has taken two lives. You don't know if the person could take more, or has taken more.'' ''It happened during my watch,'' said Baker, 59. ''I'd like to know if it's somebody in town.'' Baker and Horak believe the two girls were killed where they were found because it was too far from the road to drag a body or bodies. They think the killer was someone who gave Anne and Diane a ride home from the beach, perhaps someone they knew. They theorize at least one of the victims went willingly into the woods. One body was found nude on a bed of pine needles, her blue jeans folded under her back. The rest of her clothing was found neatly folded nearby. The other body was sprawled several feet away near a stone wall. Baker and Horak said it looked as if she was running away and someone grabbed her from behind, causing the ties on her halter to come undone. They think one was killed first. The other victim might have came to see why her friend didn't come out of the woods and stumbled upon a violent scene. Possibly the killer went to the car to get the second victim so there would be no witnesses. The investigators say it is also possible two men were involved. The cause of death isn't known. Baker said he had the remains ''X-rayed from stem to stern'' at a hospital, but no injuries to bones were detected. The victims might have been strangled, or stabbed and bled to death, he said. Other events occurred that may have been related to the double homicide. Several months after the bodies were found, a young man who knew the girls committed suicide. Two years later, a close relative of one of the victims disappeared. The former police officers believe there are people who have information about what happened. Perhaps the witnesses were teenagers at the time and were afraid to come forward, but now as adults they would feel differently. More than 500 people were interviewed 20 years ago, including all of the victims' schoolmates. When the case was fresh a woman would call up to say she knew who did it but was afraid of being harmed. They wonder where she is now. The retired officers want people who might know something to contact them by writing, either Horak at 85 Long Pond Road, Dunbarton 03054; or Baker at P.O. Box 101, Candia 03034. Compagna's mother, Dorothy Compagna, said Thursday the death of her daughter is too painful to talk about. ''It's just opening a wound,'' she said. The Union Leader was unable to contact Psaradelis' parents. Assistant Attorney General Michael Ramsdell said he has personally reviewed the case and State Police are now reviewing it. Investigators could retrace all the old leads, but it appears they have been exhausted because the work done by Baker, Horak and others was so thorough, he said. ''Frankly, it's a case that doesn't have many viable leads. That's a tribute to them because of the work they did early on in the case,''said Ramsdell. He said State Police will be following up on a new information that came to authorities from an individual who was in jail. Anything Baker and Horak could turn up would be welcome, said Ramsdell. ''Obviously, anything that can be done to generate any interest in a case can only prove to be positive,'' he said. ''Anything they can do that might turn into a tangible lead, we're thankful for.'' Copyright 1993, 2002 Union Leader Corp. Record Number: 0F54504D449F2A33

Article Bookmark(OpenURL Compliant):Union Leader, The (Manchester, NH) : 1973 Murder Mystery: Retired Detectives Still Hunting Killer Of Merrimack Girls http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:MULB &rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=0F54504D4525F26C&svc_dat=InfoWeb:current&req_dat=0FEF343943F51387