The Unsolved Murder of Kristin O’Connell | Morbid | Podcast | Forensic Files

Hey weirdos. I'm Ash. And I'm Elena. And this is Morbid in the morning. [Music] We haven't done one of these in a little
while. I know. I had a merch idea this morning. Actually, when I was driving here, I was like, "Oh, I get to say that
it's morbid in the morning. We should just do like a shirt that says like morbid in the morning." Like like maybe
like embroidered on like the shirt with like a little coffee cup. That's how I pictured it, too. I love that. Yay.
We'll do that. We'll do that someday. Yeah, we'll do that someday. I love that idea. Thank you. I had a strange dream
last night and I don't remember the the dream itself. Um, this is going to sound
so random, but I remember in the dream someone was using PEMDAS to solve an equation. Oh my god. Parentheses,
exponents, multiplication, division, subtraction. Addition, subtraction. Addition, subtraction. Yes. And I woke
up and I said, "What is the E in PEMDAS?" That was the first thought I the first thought I had this morning. I
rolled over and I looked at John and I said, "Do you remember what the E is in PMEDAS?" And he was like, "You just
opened your eyes." Like, "What do you mean?" And I was like, "How dare you assault me?" He literally was like,
"What are you talking about?" And I was like, "Pemas, you know how you like solve big Oh, yeah." But it was
literally he had just opened his eyes and he was like, "I remember what PEMDAS is." And I was like, "Exponent." And he
was like, "What is happening?" Like he was like, "We're not even out of bed yet." to the power of baby. But I was
like exponent and I remember it now. And then I got really happy that I remembered it and then I was like that
was the weirdest set of events. One thing I was really good at in school was math. Weirdly. Yeah, that's I mean I was
not great at math. I [ __ ] heavy with PEMDAS. I'm struggling. I'm trying to help the girls with their maths. Well,
that's not our math. But even like the the basic [ __ ] like they started learning fractions and I was like, "Oh,
[ __ ] me right up." I'm pretty um great at fractions. It's not my favorite. I'm
figuring it out. Honestly, I just think of baking. Well, that's honestly I think
baking has helped me cuz I'll like just be But the problem is when you're baking, I have like a Google Home thing.
So, I'll just be like, "Hey, Google, what's like how do I make like blah blah blah out of blah blah blah." So, you
don't do like you don't exercise that part of your brain anymore. Yeah. And they're doing like full on like you
know, right? But, you know, we're getting there. We're learning math. There you go. And oh, I have something
to tell you guys. Um, that's just like a fun little thing. I'm not We're not being paid by this company. I just
really like this thing. See, I do too. They can be a sponsor if they want to, but they're not. I mean, we're both very
passionate. They Yeah. So, this is I found this in case I feel like a lot of people could use this right now just
with the state of the world. Um, it's this app that's like described as a self-care Tamagotchi, which it literally
is, which immediately drew me into it. I said, "Yes." And it's called finch. F I
N C H. Like the bird. So cute. And you literally take care of this little bird by doing things for yourself. And like
you let And it's a very good app. Like it's really good. I've been using it for two full weeks now. Same. And it's like
actually helping me be more mindful. So basically you just kind of like list out
things that you would like to accomplish for the day. They literally give you a list to begin with. And one of those
things is get out of bed. So it's like you you don't have to shoot for the stars. Like it's and you can check that
off. I got out of bed and it gives you like a yay, you did it. And so like I have like you know drinking a certain
amount of water and making sure I do that like read for 10 minutes, write for 20 minutes, like make sure I have all
these little like you know and you can say like you know brush your teeth. Yeah. Some of mine are like home-cooked
meal like eat dinner at home. Some of them are like I have put one item away that is not in its place because like
with kids things just get wild in the you know and so doing that is like something that can start you on like
organizing somewhere. One of them is smile at yourself in the mirror. I love that. Which actually really it sounds
weird and it sounds crazy but it it can bring you up a little bit. Yeah. And not
just like smile at yourself in the thing. Definitely not won't do anything. Look at yourself and genuinely smile at
yourself in the mirror and it will give you a little boost of like chip skylark in the mirror, babe. There you go. Like
do it. Yeah. Your shiny teeth and you. It's true. I have turn off notifications for an hour. Oh, I love that. Which is
great. I don't need to have that as a goal. I just do that. Yeah, I usually do that, but I I literally like phone
upstairs. Don't even Oh, do not disturb is my [ __ ] Especially on the weekends.
If you can't get in touch with me, I'm on do not disturb. Do not disturb. I have take a short walk without
distractions. I have my kids my hour walk every day on mine and you So like you check them off and it gives your
little bird energy and your little bird goes on adventures every day and then tells you about it at the end of the
day. They discover something new. Yeah. And it's just like it's a cute little thing. It might help you just like check
off some little things that you would like to make habits out of or try try to just, you know, make yourself feel good.
I also highly recommend it. Yeah. I feel like it's good for like kids, too. Like,
you know, like if you're like 13-year-old or whatever, how however old your kid is that has a phone. It's like
a good app to like teach them, you know, like do things for yourself. Selfcare. Exactly. And it's turning like healthy
things into routines. I have literally like workout for 15 minutes on there cuz it's literally like just move for 15
minutes. So I I highly recommend it. And again, we're not being sponsored by then. This is just this is just one of
those recommendation moments that I think would benefit a lot of people. So yeah. No, Elena told me about it and
I've used it every day since. Oh, and there's also a little thing. This this made me happy. Yeah, there's like even
more stuff than just there's a lot of Yeah, there's a lot of things that you can do on here. So, I I recommend you
download it and kind of explore it a little bit. Check it out because there's something called like um like they have
like breathing techniques. Those are nice. They have movements like they they'll give you little things to get
yourself moving for 10 minutes or something. Um they have soundscapes you write down reflections and journal
entries and thoughts and they have a first aid kit which is if you're feeling very anxious or if something happened
that upset you or or put you in some type of way like you're panicky. Yeah. Like you can it can help you just like
get through it. Like there's a rant zone. There's grounding exercises. Oh, I did the rant zone the other day. Yeah.
There's like what would you say to a loved one? And it's directing compassion inwards toward yourself because
sometimes I can be mean to me. Um so that it was very helpful because sometimes you know people can trigger
you. Yeah. And sometimes you're your own worst critic anyway. Yeah. And it and it
helps you like not take in all the yiness on the outside. Yeah. And if it helps you like work through it if if
some leaks through. Yeah. So, hey Finch, if you want to sponsor Finch, we're kind
of obsessed with you. A pretty good a good advertisement. And we forgot to tell you the best part. You get to name
your little bird. Oh, yes. Mine's name is Gatsby and mine is Big An. Thank you. So guys, download it. I I just highly
recommend it if you're looking for something Yes. to help yourself there. And it it's been helpful to me. I like
it. It's very cute. It's great. And it's made me more mindful of things like certain things because I'll look and
I'll be like, "You haven't read for 10 minutes. When can you schedule that in?" I should put that on mine because I've
been not keeping up with my reading lately. Yeah. And it's it's really helpful. Yeah. I love that. So, Finch,
everybody. Hell yeah. Yeah. That's my little recommendation for the day. All right. Well, moving on into the case of
the day. The case of the day. I have an unsolved case today, which really infuriates me because there's kind of no
reason that this should be unsolved. Yeah. Yeah. So, this is the unsolved murder of Kristen Oonnell. So, let's get
into it. Kristen Marie Oonnell was born January 12th, 1965. She was one of two kids born to Michael and Phyllis
Okonnell who raised her and her brother Kyle in Burnsville, Minnesota. According
to Michael Oonnell, his daughter was a really fun, really easygoing, outgoing child. But he said she also had a very
serious side. He said she was somewhat religious and had put a lot of thought into becoming a nun, actually. Oh, wow.
Mhm. And you can find like some evidence of Kristen's faith throughout her early
life when her grandmother, who she was really, really close with, died in 1975. 10-year-old Kristen turned to her faith
to help her kind of cope with this loss. In a letter written after her grandmother's death, she said, she
wrote, "Death is a subject pushed aside, never talked about. I think it should be
talked about. It's a part of life. Some people die fast, others die young, some old. It all depends when God wants us
with him." Wow. which is like pretty [ __ ] profound for a 10-year-old. It is. And if that like it sounds like it
was like a comfort. Yeah, exactly. Now, while Kristen would always take her faith pretty seriously, she was also in
most respects a pretty typical Midwestern girl and a very ideal daughter for her parents. Her mother,
Phyllis, told a reporter in 2023, "We had a great relationship and she was she was the one all the boys wanted to
marry," which I just think is so sweet. Like a lot of girls her age, she had and
where she was from, she had a deep love of horses and she worked part-time at a stable near Burnsville and she boarded
her own horse there. Okay. She also was remembered as being a very kind, very open person. She trusted people without
reservation. Her aunt Barb said she was the type of person that wanted to sit and chat about anything and everything
going on with her life. She sounds just cool. Yeah, she just sounds like a a good person. Like someone you beautiful,
too. She was gorge. and just someone you'd want to be friends with, you know? Yeah. She just seems like a cool chick.
Yeah. So, after graduating from high school, Kristen was accepted to the University of Wisconsin Stout where she
majored in hotel and restaurant management. Which I feel like that'd be like a pretty [ __ ] fun career. And
also, that's really smart. Really smart. Cuz that's not like you you're really setting yourself up for like a career.
Yeah. And also, you have to be like so organized. You have to be a level of organization that I don't even think I
could ever acquire. Yeah. I can't even comprehend it. And you also have to be a real people person. Yes. Like really
good with people and have a a good demeanor, which it sounds like she was kind of perfect for that. Definitely.
She sounds like she was like very bubbly, you know. But in the spring of her sophomore year, she took a vacation
to Cap I think it's Captiva Island um near Fort Myers, Florida. And she was just celebrating spring break with some
of her friends. Very typical. Yeah. While she was there, she met 18-year-old James uh Vermeier Jr. who was working on
the island as a waiter at the time. He had recently graduated high school where he'd grown up in Oid, New York. And he
was planning to go back home to OD in a few months. So Kristen and James headed off immediately. And actually, even
after Kristen went home to Minnesota at the end of spring break, they were keeping in touch through letters and
phone calls. Now, after months of this kind of like long-distance relationship of sorts, they weren't boyfriend and
girlfriend, but it was it seemed like it was like kind of heading down that road.
Yeah. Kristen decided that she wanted to visit James in New York to get to know him better cuz you know they've been
contact like contacting each other through letters and phone. She's like let's spend some time together. They're
they're rank like going up the steps of the relationship ladder. Yeah, exactly. Also remember when people wrote letters?
I know. Crazy. That's like it's so cute. It is. It is pen palish. I know. So since she wanted to get to know him
better, she planned a visit for mid August, just a few weeks before she was going to go back to Wisconsin Stout for
her junior year. Initially, Kristine's mom, Phyllis, was kind of apprehensive about her daughter visiting a boy that
she didn't really know too well, several states away and unaccompanied. I get it.
In fact, according to Kristen's brother, Kyle, his parents actually were arguing
about it for a few days before Kristen actually did leave. The dad, Michael, eventually convinced his wife that,
quote, "It was time to let Kristen be a woman and make her own decisions." So, Phyllis obviously eventually agreed to
let her go, reasoning that Kristen had always been a really responsible girl. She'd always been very trustworthy. So,
there was really no reason not to let her go other than her own apprehension. Yeah, of course. Which what an
impossible position. Yeah. And it's hard. I mean, she's an adult technically. Well, you want to give her
the independence and the freedom to make choices and you can't tether them to you
for the rest of their lives as much as we want to as parents. Well, and I think as as soon as your kids turn like 17,
18, 19, that's a really hard age. Oh, I can't even fathom because it's just like
uncharted territory for you. your whole up until then you have been able to tether tether them to you pretty much
and it's your your role like you have to you know you get to make the rules and it's like at that point you do feel it's
like it must be this weird feeling of like well I have to kind of give them a little freedom but I don't want to at
the same time like I want to just keep them here and it's like a loss of control and control is not always a bad
thing you know that's true but she was so excited when she left that day she came in kissed me and said mom don't
worry everything's fine fine. It'll be fine. So, with her parents' consent now, Kristen traveled uh from Minnesota to
Boston where a family friend picked her up and then drove her to Syracuse, New York, where James Ver ver Vermeier and
one of his friends picked her up. Okay. So, Kristen arrived in New York on the night of Monday, August 12th, and her
plan was to stay until that Friday. So, not a super long time. Yeah. She was really, really excited about this trip.
Super excited to see James, like I said, get to know him better. Yeah. But her enthusiasm started to wne almost as soon
as she arrived in New York. Initially, James told Kristen that he that she was going to stay at his parents house where
he also lived. So like very normal situation there. But when she arrived in Oid, he told her that the plans had
changed unexpectedly and that instead they were going to be staying in a trailer on his parents' property. Nah.
So that would like freak me out a little bit. And I think she definitely she was
a little put off by it. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like that would make your like flight or fight senses kind of kick in a
bit, you know? Yeah. So, she was like, "Okay, like sounds good." And she told her mom and the change of plans was
concerning for Phyllis who believed her daughter would be staying in a home with
adults present. Yeah. But she was like, "You're already there and I already told
you you could go. I trust you and you know, you're still on their property, so you'll be safe." And again, hard
position. And again, not a lot she can do. Her daughter's technically an adult. Exactly. So, it's unclear how the two
spent their day on Tuesday, but by the next day, Kristen reportedly went swimming with James and his friends. And
then the group went to a local bar/rest where they shot a game of pool. On the way back to the trailer, James stopped
at a store to buy some sandwiches, get some beers, and then the group of eight went back to James' trailer to hang out.
And it was that afternoon that Kristen received a second piece of unwanted and unexpected news. For several months, she
and James had been corresponding, like I said, with, you know, phone calls and letters. And, you know, he had even
invited her to come visit him, giving the impression that he had some kind of romantic interest in her, obviously. But
according to Michael O'Connell, Kristen's dad, while James was talking with Kristen, he also had been dating a
girl in New York. Oh, so he's an [ __ ] Yeah. And he quote, "Planned to tell Kristen about it when she arrived
in OID." So, you invited this girl to another state so you could tell her that you're dating someone else. It's like,
why are you allowing her to come to like there's obviously nothing's going to happen between the two of you or like
that's how you're making it seem. That's a dick move and nothing should happen because you have a girlfriend and
obviously Kristen's a very respectable girl so she's like [ __ ] you, nothing is
going to happen. But you let her get all the way out there. No, that makes literally no sense that you have her
travel to another state so you can tell her that you have a girlfriend and two she went from Minnesota to Boston and
then from Boston to New York like this was and [ __ ] could have told her in a letter like what's wrong with you or a
phone call so much effort put into this trip for you to just kind of like her there. Yeah, that feels like an exercise
in humiliation is what it feels like and I'm angry. It does. It's just shitty. Yeah. So, it appears that James did
finally tell Kristen about his straightup girlfriend at some point on the afternoon or the evening of Tuesday,
August 14th, after they got back to the trailer. Also, how'd your girlfriend feel about that? That you invited a girl
two states like states away. Yeah. To come see you who you've been corresponding with. Like, I'm sorry,
that's weird as [ __ ] It is weird. And also like like were you telling your girlfriend? Are your friends going to
say something to her? Like, what is going on here? It's a very strange situation. Strange. So upon learning
about James' relationship, Kristen called her mom in Minnesota and told her the trip really wasn't going as well as
she hoped it was hoped it would. And she was going to cut it short and actually come home the next day. Oh, I just want
her like everything in my soul is like, I just want you to come home. Yeah, same. So according to Phyllis, Kristen
quote, sounded upset but wouldn't say if anything was wrong. She was just like she was upset and she wanted to come
home. Phyllis was probably wanting to just like reach over and grab her. And it sounds like, you know, like it could
have been very much the like, you know, like she's having a hard time cuz she's an adult and she can't stop her from
going. But you wonder if she had some kind of maternal instinct there. And then like everybody else made her second
guess it kind of thing. Yeah. You know, or and you know, even she might have just second guessed it. Yeah. Cuz you're
taught to be like let them do what they want. And it's like no, sometimes in this world you can't just Yeah. you have
to trust her. You know what I mean? Like the world just tells uh people like this like, "Oh, you're
just being crazy. You're just being overprotective. You're being overprotective." And it's like, "No, she
was she's sometimes you just know." Yeah. So, the group continued hanging out until late into the evening.
Remember, they're all hanging out at James' trailer. And around 11:00 p.m., James said he was going to go pick up a
pizza, and he left. And Kristen announced to the rest of the group that she was going to go out for a walk like
shortly after he left. According to 17-year-old David Chamberlain, who was at the trailer that night, neither
Kristen nor James seemed upset. There was no fights or arguments that broke out at the party. He said she just went
out for a walk and didn't come back. When she left, nobody figured anything was wrong.
So, back home in Burnsville, Kristen actually often took late night walks by herself. Um, her and her her family
lived on a subdivision, so it was like a little safer to go for a late night walk. So, she mostly most likely didn't
think twice about going for a walk to clear her head out here. But when Kristen still hadn't returned after 2
hours, the group at the party started to get concerned. So, they set out on foot
to look around the area for her. And when she still hadn't been found, by the following
afternoon, James called the state police to report her missing. I'm sorry, what? So, she goes
out for a walk at around like a little after 11 p.m. She doesn't return by 1:00 a.m. They go out and look for her and
they don't find her. And then presumably everybody just goes to sleep and wakes up the next afternoon and then calls the
police. That's weird. That is weird. I'm sorry. I'm not I'm not pointing fingers
at any point. That's just weird. Objectively, that's [ __ ] weird. Yeah. Like if my if I'm at a party and it's
not even like my friend, it's just like somebody at the party and I hear that they're missing and we go look for them
and don't find them. When we don't find them, that's when we call the police. Yeah. We say, "Okay, we got to call the
cops now cuz something's arai." And there was plenty of people there that like at least one of them should have
been like, "Hey, I think we should call the police." And followed through with that decision. For sure. Weird. Yeah.
So, after receiving the very late report that Kristen O'Connell had gone missing,
a search team of about 90 police officers and firefighters from four towns set out um from the Vermeier's
house to look for Kristen. About 90 minutes later, the team found Kristen's body. She was not alive. Um they found
her body about 300 yards into a cornfield along Route 139, which is a rural road about a quarter mile from the
trailer where she'd last been seen. OID fire chief Robert Fe favor said, "I know
that's what you go on searches to find, but this is an awful way to end it. Usually when you go out on these things,
you find out the person you're looking for is hundreds of miles away, but you never know till you find it." That's
awful. Yeah. When she was discovered, Kristen was fully nude. Her throat had been slashed, and she had also been s
stabbed several times in the chest. Oh my god. Yeah. The scene had the hallmarks of a sexual assault, but it
would quickly be be determined that she had not been raped. Oh wow. Major Richard Tonzi told reporters the
apparent intentions may have been a sexual attack, but it may not have taken place, eventually ending instead with
murder. A few days later, the medical examiner would label Kristine's death obviously a murder, a homicide. And
there was evidence that she had quote put up a tremendous fight for her life. And it was also determined that at this
at that time she had no drugs and no alcohol in her system. So she was fully sober. A cursory search of the scene
didn't really turn up as much as far as evidence and there was no sign of a murder weapon anywhere in the area.
Investigators took soil samples, blood samples, and what little physical evidence they could find and sent it to
a state lab in uh Bing Hampton for Bing Hampton for testing. M in the meantime, the press and public became uh very
concerned that there was now a killer amongst them. Yeah. A few months earlier in May, convicted murderers Hugh Colum
and Bernard Welch had escaped from a Chicago correctional facility and were believed to have fled to the northeast.
So that was very concerning for people. They were like, "Oh [ __ ] did these two
have something to do with it?" Welch was arrested in Philadelphia in early August, but at the time of
Kristen's murder, Colom was still on the loose. And Tanzi told reporters, "We've
got an idea that the murderer could have been in the area and we've got a murder,
but he clearly stated that Colom was not a suspect." Which is interesting. That is interesting. A few months later, they
actually did arrest Colom um after he robbed a bank in Mississippi. So, he was definitively ruled out as a suspect at
that point. So after Kristen's body was removed from the field and all the evidence was gathered, Tonzi and the
other state police investigators started interviewing witnesses and just conducting like door-to-d dooror
canvases. Basically, everybody at the party was quickly ruled out as a suspect. H Tanzi told reporters,
"Everybody at that party came from wellto-do families in this community. They are respected in this area." Okay.
Um good to know. While being from a wealthy family is hardly evidence of innocence because as we know wealthy
people kill people too and people from wealthy families kill people too quite frequently actually. The group had been
together all evening and with the exception of James going out for pizza shortly before Kristen left on the walk.
None of them had left the trailer other than to go look for her. Okay. And the medical examiner did place the time of
death somewhere between midnight and 1:30 a.m. And that was after James had already gotten back to the party. Okay.
So, so there's that. Yeah. And this time of death is was also supported by what neighbors described as a quote unquote
horrific scream heard in the direction of the cornfield between 12:15 and 12:30 a.m. Now, here's my Call the police.
Doesn't sound like it. Call the police when you hear a blood curdling scream in a cornfield. Okay, do that for me. If
neighbors of this family heard the scream, why didn't the group Why didn't the group on the in the trailer? Valid.
That doesn't question any sense to me. Yeah, that's a valid question. Did they hear the scream and then that's when
they went out looking? But also, she was found not too far from the property. Yeah. And they all went out looking for
her for hours. It's just weird. It's just all they got is very interesting. They got ruled out
as suspects, but but there's just still some like lingering questions. Yeah. And
it also happened quickly in my opinion. Yeah. So, even though they had been ruled out as suspects in her murder, it
remains unclear why Kristen left the party near midnight to go for a walk in an area very unfamiliar to her. Well,
that's I think that's the thing. It's like we're not pointing fingers at anyone. It's just like there's some
unanswered questions that it doesn't seem like had enough attention. Yeah. Exactly. That could be missing pieces to
a puzzle that may not include them being part of it. Yeah. It's just like why weren't all the pieces put together?
Yeah. And also just like in retrospect, don't let somebody go for a walk alone when they're not familiar with this
area. Yeah. That's I'm not understanding. I It's just sad that she didn't have a friend here. Yeah. Like
that makes me sad. And the one person who was supposed to be her friend had like kind of turned this trip into
shitty for like very shitty for her. But state police investigator Jeffrey Arnold
said in 2009 she did not do drugs and was not a drinker. She may have been uncomfortable at the party because
alcohol was involved and decided to take a walk. Yeah, that makes sense. Others suggested that, you know, Kristen was
probably upset that James had just told her about his girlfriend and she maybe wanted to go clear her head. And then
other people say, you know, maybe she just wanted to get some air. She didn't plan to be gone long. And also, she was
barefoot when she left the party, which suggests that she didn't plan to be gone
for very long. Yeah. If she was barefoot, she was not planning on being gone long. That was a quick little
little stroll. Yeah. Wow. Interesting, right? Very interesting. So, whatever her reason for leaving the party,
investigators soon learned that Kristen might not have been alone for the duration of her walk. Despite being a
rural route, Route 139 was commonly used by locals as a shortcut across town and
it also tended to be busy with traffic going to the Senica Army Depot and the Golden Buck, which is a pro a popular
restaurant and bar in oid. Mhm. Sergeant Thomas Warren said, "A couple of passing
motorists have told us they saw people in two cars talking to Kristen along the road at about 11:45 p.m. Other witnesses
reported seeing a late7s green or blue sedan on Route 139 right around the time of the murder with one or possibly two
male occupants. And some of the witnesses told police they believed the occupants may have been trying to lure
Kristen into the car. Oh no. I mean, I that's scary that she's just walking by herself.
in the dark. Yeah. Barefoot. Yep. Like that's an unknown area. Yeah. Several witnesses reported seeing the car with
two men inside, but others told investigators they saw quote, "wo young white males walking behind Okonnell
shortly before police believe she was killed." Oh, that's so scary. So, there might have been two people in that car
and then later people said they saw two people walking behind her. Oh, that's really scary. Yeah. The two individuals
were described as being young, slender, with shoulderlength hair, wearing blue jeans, and one was wearing a a jean
jacket. One was described as being around six feet tall, so very tall, and the other was shorter than that person.
And you have to remember like again like the the stuff at the party is very like
strange and some of it is questionable, but you look at this and you say, look at the Allison Botha story and it's like
these Yeah. two people might have things happen at random that tonight they were
going to do this like you know what I mean like I' if I've learned nothing from that I've learned that yeah they
can just decide to yeah and we know I mean serial killers pick pick victims at random and when I don't want to say like
opportunity strikes but that's true they're opportunistic they are opportunistic when they see an
opportunity that they feel like they can get the upper hand in they will take that opportunity so it does and this was
very much unfortunately a situation where two males would absolutely have the upper hand
a young girl who's smaller than them barefoot and doesn't know her way around here. And who knows, they may have
stopped her, struck up a conversation, found out that she wasn't from around here, and that makes it 10 times more,
you know, opportun opportunistic. Her mother also said that she was very trusting and and liked to chat with
people. She was very disarmed and very like would kind of let stuff out like that cuz she believed the best in
people. And she may have even, you know, like said something about the fact that
this wasn't a great night. It wasn't going well. Yeah. Like I'm I want to I'm going home. Yeah. Like she's at a party
where she doesn't know a lot of people. Yeah. Who knows what was said? Who knows? That's the thing. So it's like we
can look at the partygoers and the party situation as like yeah there's some unanswered questions there but like this
is also a very distinct possibility that somebody did take that opportunity there which is so sad.
That's also the unfortunate part of this case is there's just so many variables at play. Yeah. That there was it's hard
to pin it all together. Right. And these two people are still unknown. So it's like you know Oh god. Yeah. The
investigation was tough, but based on the information learned from witnesses, investigators did start putting together
a theory of what could have happened. After leaving the party at James' trailer, Kristen walked about a/4 mile
down Route 139 when she was approached by those two men in the sedan who pulled over to talk to her. After that
interaction, she was seen continuing her walk in a western direction around 12:10
a.m. But the next witness to see her around 12:15 a.m. reported her walking in the opposite direction, indicating
that she was heading back to the party. Okay. Investigators theorized that the driver may have gone a short distance
down the road, but turned around at an abandoned gas station and went back in Kristen's direction. and they believe
she either saw the cur the car turn around or just sensed that something wasn't right. So then she turned around
and started heading back to the party. Okay. So that makes you so sad because that makes you realize that like she was
probably in fear at that moment. Yeah. You know, absolutely. And when she started turning in the direction of the
party, they believe that the men in the car started pursuing her on foot at that
point. Yeah. That's so [ __ ] up. It is really [ __ ] up. In fact, one witness, like I said, reported seeing those two
young men walking about 50 yard behind her around 12:15 a.m. Around 1:15 a.m., so an hour later, witnesses reported
seeing two young men who matched earlier descriptions walking eastward away from
the cornfield toward the center of town. Oh, this sounds scary. The two suspects
were seen again 15 minutes later, this time walking in the opposite direction back toward the cornfield. And that was
the last time either suspect was seen. What the [ __ ] Yeah. And the fact that there's like a cornfield involved in
this just makes it even scarier. Yeah. Because I mean this is think of upstate New York. Yeah. And this is like I don't
know why cornfields just free. I mean I know why popular culture has made me fear cornfields. But I mean yeah it's a
it just gives it like a way more chilling. There's a lot of there's a lot of opportunity for cover conceal. Yeah.
Concealment. Exactly. And oid uh New York, just like so people know, is like super upstate New York. Really rural.
It's not very far from Canada. Yeah. I'm looking at it right now and I'm like, damn. Like my Yeah. Yeah. Like I have
family that lives in upstate New York and they don't even live as upstate as this and that felt rural to me when I
would visit. And it's very like small town. Super small town. I mean, we're literally just talked about an abandoned
gas station a second ago, you know? Like that's the vibe here. Yep. So, the initial flood of tips and witness
statements was very useful actually this time in establishing a timeline and developing a theory as to what might
have happened. But it did little to point investigators in the direction of a viable suspect. In fact, within a week
of the murder, investigators had yet to find anybody who even remotely matched the suspects seen talking to Kristen
before the murder. And of course, that contributed to the growing sense of fear in the community. Yeah. Because people
are like, "Oh, there's two suspects here, but no, like they're incognito. No, are they among us? Do they live
here? Are they from here? Who are these people?" Right? And it wasn't Kristen's death alone that made county residents
uneasy, but the fact that Kristen's murder was the fourth unsolved murder in Senica County in a little a little over
a year. Wow. Yeah. Chief Ferdinand Ning uh Ningandri, I hope I said that right, told reporters, "I don't remember it
ever happening here before in my 28 years as a police officer." Wow. And then suddenly they had four unsolved
murders. Damn. Yeah. So, homicides in that part of New York were very rare actually. And the fact that there was no
common link between the ones that had taken place was equally troubling because it suggested that these were
random crimes and like we just said, crimes of opportunity. The growing fear in the community and the lack of
progress in all of these unsolved cases prompted several community meetings and the form uh the formation of a
neighborhood watch program. So at least people got together and were taking care
of one another. Yeah. But after a frustrating week of little progress in the case, the state police finally did
catch a break on August 23rd when an anonymous person called with an unexpected tip. The caller said, "I'm
getting out of town because I told him not to do it. I told him not to do it." You look at uh uh behind the Chevy, the
green Chevy on uh Main Street in Waterlue, and you'll find him. And if you open the trunk, if you open the
trunk, you'll find what you want. What the [ __ ] Chilling. What the [ __ ] Chilling. Yeah. The officer who answered
the call, Trooper DC Ryer, tried to keep the caller on the line by engaging him in conversation, but the voice on the
other end just simply repeated himself, insisting they would quote, "Find what you need to solve the case if they
looked in the trunk." And then he repeated his earlier insistence saying, "I'm getting out of town because I told
him not to do it. I told him not to do it. I'm heading out of town before hanging up." What the [ __ ] Which does
it one feels like this could be the two suspects and one is like freaking the [ __ ] out. Or this could also just be a
hoax. We know people do this [ __ ] We know people love to do that. So, and now it's, you know, gotten kind of known
communitywide that they are looking for two suspects. So, who knows? But given that several witnesses had described
seeing the dark-colored sedan on Route 139 on the night of the murder, it seemed likely that the call was not some
kind of hoax and that the voice on the other end did belong to one of the killers. The problem, however, was that
while investigators knew about the unknown suspect's car, there was also countless dark sedans in this county,
and even narrowing it down to a green Chevy sedan was little help, of course. So with little to go on and no new
evidence forthcoming, investigators turned to the public for help and they placed an ad on the front page of the
local newspaper. The ad said, "Our concerns are what have been seen either Wednesday or Thursday, August 14th or
15th during the night the day or night." And the ad urged Senica County residents
to come forward if they'd seen, among other things, anyone hitchhiking, or had picked up any hitchhikers, saw any
strangers or suspicious individuals in the area, or if they quote, saw any cars that aroused their curiosity. Okay. So,
aware that such an advertisement was unusual, state police investigator Thomas Warren was upfront with locals
about the frustrating nature of this case. He said, "We're at the point where we need answers to those questions for
the case to move forward. The fact that she was not from this area and had little contact with the people around
here makes this a difficult case. Yeah. And it does. Yeah. His comments might have been frustrating and probably
sounded like defeist to some, but he wasn't wrong about the difficulty of this case. Kristen, she'd only been in
town for a couple of days and she had never been there before and the only people she knew in this area were all in
the same room at James' trailer on the night of the murder. Damn. That meant whoever had killed her was a stranger to
her. And strangers are obviously among the more notoriously difficult types of murders to solve because there's no
connections, no social ties, nothing to trace victim to killer. Yeah. So, equally problematic was the lack of
evidence found at the scene. Like I said, there was no murder weapon and there wasn't really any forensic
evidence that could point them to a suspect. All they had at that point were some blood and soil samples and they did
have some skin cells discovered on Kristine's body. Okay. But DNA testing was still several years in the future.
We didn't have that yet. Where's that DNA now? We'll get there. Okay. We'll get there and we'll get frustrated as a
group. Oh no. Yeah. So at this at that point in the at this point in the investigation that I'm talking about
now, those samples weren't likely to be of much use for a long long time. Yeah. Of course. So, at the end of August,
Major Richard Tanzi told reporters, "We've had between 220 and 230 leads of various types, and I've assigned several
investigators to the case, but we have no one we term a suspect at this point." That's awful. That many leads and no
suspects. It's unclear whether local police were confident or even hopeful that they'd
eventually find the killer. But what is evident from the statements made in late
August and early September is that without any new information, the case was in danger of going cold. Yeah. In
the few months after Kristen's murder, investigators struggled to make anything resembling progress, much to the
disappointment of the public and to Kristen's family. Yeah. Fire Chief Robert Fiv said people are pretty upset
about this murder. It's changed their lifestyle to being more security conscious. and he was among the handful
of locals who worked to establish a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Kristen's killer, which
they hoped would spur the investigation back into high gear, but it didn't do much. He said maybe this reward will
prompt someone who for whatever reason has not come forth with vital information to do so. But like I said,
the reward would go unclaimed. Leads just kept drying up and the case got colder and colder. So now, desperate for
information, investigators took to local television stations in upstate New York
to urge residents to come forward if they knew anything that could lead to an arrest. They even went as as far as
filming a reenactment of the murder, which aired on Crimestoppers. Wow. Yeah, it was a long time ago. Uh Warren said,
Yeah, different time. Warren said that got some calls, but nothing significant. There's been no breakthrough and again,
no weapon found yet. So, within six weeks now of Kristen's murder, the story had slipped from the front pages of the
papers as we've heard so many times before, disappeared from locals minds, the front of local's minds at least. But
an article in the Democrat and Chronicle reported in late September, it's been less than six weeks since Kristen
Oonnell's nude body was found in a nearby cornfield, but over people don't talk much about it anymore. Wow. It's
sad. That's wild. Sad. And it just like it really speaks to the state of the world at all times. Yeah. That in six
weeks you can about a teenager being found in a cornfield murdered in the nude. Yeah. Like like you're just on to
the next thing. It's always society has always been that way. Yeah. Always been that way. It's sad. But it's It really
is. I think everybody gets swept up in it. Well, and it's gotten much worse now. Like social media and the internet
like There's just always something new. The attention span to these kind of things. It's blink and you miss it.
Yeah, it's so true. But the desire to move on for the murder was obviously deeply frustrating for those who were
involved in the case heavily like Robert Fvu. He said, "I can't understand how people could forget so quickly. To me,
there are so many questions. Someone out there is a person who committed murder.
Who is it? Why? Where are they?" Yeah. And it was a brutal murder. Brutal. her throat was slashed and she'd been
stabbed multiple times and she was stripped at some point, you know. But for many of the residents of OD and the
surrounding towns, Kristen's murder aroused serious fears that they would much rather not have to confront. So, I
think that's why people just push that to the back of their mind. A nice pattern of avoidance. Yep. Local
resident Bonnie Palmer told a reporter, "There's an awful lot of people here that are still scared. It's something
that's very ugly and you want to forget it. So you put it in the back of your mind and you don't talk about it. Yeah.
It's human nature. It is. So while the public had begun moving on from the murder, investigators with the New York
State Police continued to follow up on every tip they received. In early 1986, Richard Tonzi and one of his fellow
investigators actually got approval to travel out of state and rein some of the early witnesses. After they got a new
lead, that new information may have come to light. Tanzi was very hopeful that this could have been their best lead
yet, but that lead and the supposed new information ultimately led nowhere and he found himself right back to where
they were in August 1985. I hate this. I know. After 6 months of investigation, police became decidedly less optimistic
in their prospects of catching the killer. Senior investigator Robert Fenor said in uh February of 1986, "We've got
very, very little to go on. The physical evidence is almost nothing. We've got no
fingerprints, no suspects, no identification, no leads, and no witnesses. Damn. By that point,
investigators had traveled to six different states to interview potential witnesses and review similar cases even.
But after doing so, they were still no closer to cracking the case. Wow, this is brutal. And it really isn't a lack of
effort, it seems. Yeah, it seems like they were really trying. Right. In the months and now years that followed
Kristen's death, the investigation lost steam, of course. But throughout that period, her parents, Phyllis and Michael
Oonnell, kept their own investigation going of their daughter's murder in hopes of finding the killer. Yeah.
Almost immediately upon learning of Kristine's death, they hired a private investigator. But the result of that
investigator's report has not been made public. In August of 1986, a year after Kristine's murder, Phyllis and Michael
actually traveled to OID in the hope that their presence might inspire somebody to come forward. On a visit to
the crime scene, Phyllis told a reporter, "You always hope that you can see something nobody else has noticed."
Of course, I can't imagine being like in that position. They must have been so frustrated. They must still be so
frustrated and just like desperate for anything. To the Okonnell, the lack of progress in the case was unfathomable,
which obviously Michael said, "It might not have been a person who lives in Oid,
but someone who lives 20 or even 100 miles away, but knew the area around here. It's just very hard for us to
grasp the concept of this being a random thing. Yeah, of course. Investigators did acknowledge that it was possible
that Kristen was the victim of a serial killer and they insisted that they were checking similar crimes reported around
the country, but still they weren't getting anything. Jesus, really? I know. So, the following August 1987, the
Okonnell were back in OID on the second anniversary now of Kristen's murder. And
this time they were in the company of two psychics that they hired back home in Burnsville. I don't blame him. I
don't either. At that two years of unanswered questions, I would be going to psychics myself. Michael told a
reporter, "The information they have supplied us with thus far has provided a couple of very strong leads, and we hope
this will be resolved in a short period of time." Oh man, the hope. I know. The psychics agreed with Michael Oonnell
sentiment though. One of them said, "The feelings and psychic impressions in this
area are as strong as they were two years ago. My impression is that there are people who have substantial
knowledge of this murder. I mean, I don't think that was, you know, how I feel about psychics at crime
scenes. I think that's a little uh Well, I could also say that. That's the thing.
Yeah. It's like, okay, that wasn't I don't know if that was a prediction so much as a commentary on just something
that is common knowledge. Yeah. Yeah. But the psychics who came to oid with the Okonnell may have given them hope
that their daughter's murder would be solved. But as we know, we're here today talking about it. Years passed without
an arrest or even a suspect. And this is awful. In 1993, tragedy struck again when Michael Oonnell died unexpectedly.
At the age of 51. Oh, super young. Super young. He never obviously learned who was responsible for his daughter's
death. Damn. Yeah. So now, for years, Kristen Oonnell's case was shelved as investigators shifted their attention to
new and more pressing matters. But then in early 1996, a hair sample found on Kristen's body led investigators to a
man named Gary Harris. He was a former OD resident who was 15 at the time of the murder. Okay. According to Senica
County District Attorney Donna Cathy, Harris was quote seen in the area where Okonnell was staying on the night of her
murder. Huh. At the time of the murder, the hairs were only identifiable as belonging to a black male, but Harris
came to the attention of investigators after he was arrested for an armed robbery in New York in 1996. Okay.
Unfortunately though, a month after announcing Harris as a suspect, the lab results came back as inconclusive on the
hair sample. And investigators were forced to rule Harris out as a suspect. [ __ ] Mhm.
Although nearly 15 years would pass before the Okonnell case was back in the news, the testing of the hair sample in
1996 was a strong indication that forensic evidence could very well be the thing that solved Kristen's murder.
Absolutely. And I still believe it could be. Oh man. By the time the case was back in the headlines, 25 years had
passed. And in that time, like we know, scientific and techn technological advances had made it possible to solve
cold cases with the evidence that had just been sitting on shelves for decades at that point. We've seen it happen so
many times. Look at the Golden State Killer. Yeah. In Kristen's case, like I said, blood samples and skin fragments
had been collected from her body that could lead to her killer. But as it turned out, things wouldn't be quite as
easy as submitting the samples for DNA testing. Why? In August 2009, New York State Police had received approval of
funds for up to $40,000 in order to hire a Dutch forensic lab known for their pioneering
work in touch DNA. Let's go. And that's a type of analysis that can identify an individual from a like the smallest
sample. But the problem was that the New York State Health Department refused to
allow investigators to contract with the Amsterdam based company because they weren't certified in New York.
Come on. In his statement to the press, District Attorney Richard Swinhardt told
reporters, "We feel this is our last best effort to solve this case. We are very frustrated with the bureaucracy of
the Department of Health and that they won't take a worldleading lab where the lab people have testified in other
states in our country as experts on homicide cases and won't let them at least examine the evidence while they're
being certified." Yeah, that's New York. Get it [ __ ] together. That's get it [ __ ]
together. That's suspicious. That's real [ __ ] suspicious. Yeah. Why the [ __ ]
Why? Yeah. Are you kidding me? That doesn't make any sense. That's infuriating. It doesn't make any sense.
Kristen's family was equally frustrated with the state's decision to deny the testing until the lab applied for and
received certification in New York. Kristen's brother, Kyle O'Conor, said, "They're railroading for their own
purposes. There could be no other reason." Yeah. Why the [ __ ] would you stop that? and he said they're, and this
is a quote from him, they're covering something up. They haven't come up with a good viable reason why this should not
be allowed. And it's wild to me that they're like, you know, you look shady. So if they're if you're not covering
something up, guess what? You look like you're covering something up. So it's like, you should probably move this
forward so that you can stop everybody from thinking you did something [ __ ] up. Yeah, exactly. Because right now, I
think you did something [ __ ] up. Well, the family was again disappointed in 2010 when they learned that a forensic
scientist who had been named in an evidence falsification case possibly handled evidence in Kristen's case. Shut
up. Possibly the [ __ ] up. This scientist is said to have falsified data in multiple cases and then went on to
falsify records to cover up that fake data. I am speechless. which like I'm serious.
Like why why you are [ __ ] with people's lives. Like just do your job. Phyllis said I mean my god this is an
important job they're doing and how could they allow this and not be supervised properly. It's just beyond
me. Yeah. But what I will tell you is that there's a petition we are going to share on socials and in the show notes
and it surrounds all of the DNA testing in Christine's case and it goes into more detail about the issues that the
family has faced trying to get the DNA tested. Okay. And importantly, most importantly is asking the New York State
Health Commissioner to approve that lab. Let's go, [ __ ] I'm going to share it and we are all going to sign
out of everyone annoy the [ __ ] out of them until they do this because like what are you doing? Come on. Like come
on. There's literal DNA. Like what are you doing? And it's degrading the more it sits. Exactly. And it's like you just
waiting for it to degrade. That's Well, that's exactly but also this specific lab like they're pioneers in this. They
are. Exactly. Like they know what they're doing with this. So it's weird that you're not allowing them to even
look at it while they're getting sick. Like come on. Not even really giving a valid reason. No, it's shady. And if you
don't want to look shady, let them test you. If you don't want to look shady, then let them do it. Despite the best
efforts of the Okonnell family, though, investigators even and several high-profile politicians actually, uh,
it appears that the skin fragments discovered on Kristen's body still have not been submitted for shameful as [ __ ]
That is shameful. Many many like even politicians have been calling on the New York State Health Department being like
just allow this. Just sign off on it. Ah, can't let up on that. Yeah. Can't let up. Can't. But now, 40 years after
her daughter's death, Phyllis Okonnell worries that her daughter's case will never be solved because of this. I can't
let that happen. And soon she worries that there will be nobody left to advocate for Kristen. In 2023, she said,
"I promised Kristen till the day I die, I will be after who killed her." And after four decades, her message
remains the same as it did the day she learned her daughter was murdered. She said, "Don't keep secrets. Don't keep
something like this going because maybe the next person might be your daughter and you will know the kind of pain it is
to lose a daughter and especially through murder." That just like destroys my soul.
Everyone go sign that petition. I'm going to we're going to put it in the show notes and we'll share it on socials
as well. Um it's a long link so if I read it here it's just it'll get lost. So, I'll put it in socials and again on
the show notes. Yeah. So, it'll be right at the bottom of this episode in the show notes. You'll be able to see it and
link it. There'll be a link. We'll literally like you can click the link. Yeah. So, you can click it. And then
also again like Ash said in the socials we will do it because that [ __ ] everywhere. I want this I want
them to have to move on this. I want them to have to move on this. And I want Phyllis at least to be able to see the
movement on this, right? And not have to live every day worrying that like she's
going to pass away someday without knowing what happened to her and that she's going to that this DNA torture
sitting there, right? That must be the most frustrating thing in the entire world. The DNA is sitting there and the
lab is sitting there who has the technology and to at least try to do this, right? Right. Just give it a shot.
What the [ __ ] are we doing stopping murders from being solved through red tape? [ __ ] that. Yeah, it it shouldn't
even be a thing that it shouldn't be a thing. So, definitely sign that petition. And also, anybody with
information about this case because somebody out there knows something. Somebody saw something. Somebody knows
something. Somebody Yeah. Any information, anybody with any information is asked to contact the New
York State Police. And that number is 585398-4125. Again, 585398-4125. Damn. I want this case to be solved. I
want them to submit that DNA. I want that to at least be put into motion. Yeah, it's got to Nobody's saying that
it's like that 100% it's going to work, but why the [ __ ] not try? Why not try?
Why not try? And like, hey politicians and everybody and whoever's like red taping this, if you're listening, her
dad died without knowing what happened to her. Her mom shouldn't have to die without knowing what happened to her
daughter. And what if this was your kid? Like her mom said, what if this would you want that DNA sitting on a shelf and
and just because of red tape and [ __ ] bureaucracy, it doesn't get submitted to a pioneering lab that could
potentially give you the answers you need? Would you be fine with that? Because you'd be like,
like was that what you would do? No. Like, no, you would. If it was for you, you'd be slicing through that red tape.
Exactly. So, cuz it's not yours. You're You don't give a [ __ ] But put yourself
in somebody else's shoes. Empathy, people. It's so frustrating. I know. It really is. I really I hope that we get
news soon that I just want this to move forward. It's got to It's got to Yeah. 40 years and her family has no [ __ ]
answers. Like, come on. like her parents lost a child, her brother lost a sister.
Come on. Let's go. And somebody's just out there walking around. Let's go, bro. Let's go. Let's get this moving. Come
on. You guys are [ __ ] powerful as hell. You are, by the way. Yeah, you are powerful. Go sign this petition,
everybody, because we asked if you were able to to share and donate to the Allison Botha um fundraiser. You guys
surpassed her goal. Yeah, you blew it up. You blew it up. You're powerful as [ __ ] We can get this [ __ ] to happen.
You get [ __ ] moving and you get [ __ ] done. And we've seen you do it before. One thing about morbid listeners, they
get [ __ ] done. So, we know you guys can do this. You're badass [ __ ] and you give a [ __ ] So, do it. Exactly.
And with that being said, we hope that you keep listening and we hope you keep it weird. Keep it so weird that you sign
the [ __ ] out of this petition and you get everyone in your goddamn life to sign that [ __ ] too. Let's go. Sign it.
Bye bye. [Music] [Music] [Music]

On the night of August 14, 1985, twenty-year-old Kristin O’Connell left a party in Ovid, NY to go for a walk. Two days later, her nude body was discovered near a cornfield along a rural county road; she had been stabbed in the chest and her throat was cut.

The unsolved murder of Kristin O’Connell has baffled local New York investigators for decades. At the time of her murder, Kristin had traveled from Minnesota to New York to visit a young man she’d met a few months earlier while on Spring Break in Florida. According to witnesses, Kristin wasn’t wearing shoes when she left the party and she wasn’t carrying a purse. Several witnesses reported having seen Kristin walking that night between 11:30 pm and 12:15 am, when she was seen talking to one or possible two men in a car. Roughly ten minutes later, several people reported hearing a loud scream coming from the area where her body was discovered.

In the decades since Kristin’s murder, police have interviewed dozens of witnesses and followed up on thousands of leads, yet the case remains no closer to being solved than it was in the days following the discovery of the body.

Please sign the Petition to override the decision to not permit 'touch DNA' to potentially solve this cold case! visit https://www.change.org/p/family-demands-dna-testing-by-othram-labs-in-the-kristin-o-connell-cold-case

Thank you to the Incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research and Writing support!

References

Allen, Matha. 1985. "Slain woman's parents seek comfort from her letter." Star Tribune, August 18: 35.

Associated Press. 1987. "Psychics seeking slues to 1985 murder in Ovid." Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, NY), August 22: 12.

—. 2009. "DNA may solve '85 slaying." Press and Sun-Bulletin (Binghamton, NY), August 13: 1.

Democrat and Chronicle . 1985. "Police ask help in Ovid murder." Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, NY), August 20: 11.

Democrat and Chronicle. 1985. "Lab to test items from slaying." Democrat and Chronicle , August 19: 7.

Ebert, Alex. 2009. "A Burnsville mother won't let her daughter's murder case go cold." Star Tribune, August 13.

Gillis, Jackie. 2023. What happened to Kristin O'Connell? March 2. Accessed March 2, 2025. https://www.mytwintiers.com/news-cat/local-news/what-happened-to-kristin-oconnell/.

Lighty, Todd, and John Hartsock. 1985. "Brutal slaying shakes Seneca town." Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, NY), August 18: 1.

Pfifer, Jim. 1996. "Police suspect imprisoned man for 1985 murder in Ovid." Star-Gazette, January 28: 1.

Pittman, Mark. 1985. "Minn. woman found dead in Seneca." Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, NY), August 17: 1.

Ritter, Carol. 1985. "4 deaths, few answers in Seneca." Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, NY), August 22: 14.

—. 1986. "Parents on pilgrimage of grief." Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, NY), August 16: 1.

—. 1985. "Slaying no longer the talk of Ovid, but investigation, reaction continue." Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, NY), September 25: 11.

Shaw, David. 2009. "Police seek help on cold case." Finger Lakes Times, August 13.

—. 1986. "Kristin O'Connell's murderer thwarts police." Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY), February 21: 1.

—. 1986. "Murder case takes police out of state." Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY), January 8: 14.

—. 1985. "Cops place an ad in hunt for killer." Syracuse Herald-Journal, August 29: 1.

—. 1985. "Police hope TV reenactment of killing will help solve case." Syracuse Herald-Journal, September 13: 15.

—. 1985. "Slaying's legacy: a bounty and fear." Syracuse Herald-Journal, August 30: 95.

Connect with Wondery http://wondery.com/shows http://facebook.com/WonderyMedia http://twitter.com/WonderyMedia http://instagram.com/WonderyMedia

Brief Summary

The episode covers the unsolved murder of Kristen Oonnell and her family's ongoing quest for justice.

Key points

Kristen Oonnell's Unsolved Murder. The case of Kristen Oonnell, an unsolved murder that infuriates many.
Kristen's Profound Reflection. At just 10 years old, Kristen wrote about the nature of death.
The Awkward Change of Plans. Kristen's plans change unexpectedly when she arrives in New York.
James' Shocking Revelation. Kristen learns that James has a girlfriend after traveling to see him.
Kristen's Disappearance. Kristen goes for a late-night walk and doesn't return, raising concerns among friends.
Search Efforts. A search team is dispatched after Kristen is reported missing, but the outcome is tragic.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Death is a subject pushed aside, never talked about.

Kristen's reflection on death at age 10.

8:54WatchMar 31, 2025

Tension

75/ 100High tension

More from Morbid | Podcast

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.