Lisa Ziegert - 20 years later

[1990 UM fan]

On this day 20 years ago, Lisa Ziegert, an Agawam, Massachusetts teacher, was abducted from the gift shop where she worked nights, somewhere between 8:40 and 9:10 pm. Her body was found 4 days later on Easter Sunday. She had been sexually assaulted and stabbed repeatedly in the upper chest. Evidence at the gift shop suggests she was assaulted in the back room. A female witness had heard banging noises coming from the back but never called police. Another witness reportedly saw a red Ford Broncho heading in the direction where Ziegert's body would later be found the night she vanished. She saw a young woman moving around in the back of the truck. She assumed they were partying and then drove off. Police have DNA taken from Ziegert's body and tire track impressions to ID whomever murdered Lisa.

Here is some new articles about Lisa Ziegert: http://www.wggb.com/2012/04/13/lisa-...0-years-later/

http://www.necn.com/04/12/12/Murder-...06&feedID=4206

http://www.wwlp.com/dpp/news/local/h...m-lisa-ziegert

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.s...of_agawam.html

[Steve W.]

I read some comments at the bottom of an article about her last year and it was an Agawam area publication: they commenters stated that there had been two guys that worked at a carpet store (I believe, or a carpet cleaning store, something like that) that was very close to where the gift card shop was that Lisa worked at and they had been seen in the gift card shop at times prior to her rape and murder.

While that isn't really incriminating, the commenter also claimed that after her murder t at least one of those two guys suddenly moved away (they believed that he moved to Hawaii, i.e. one of the Hawaiian islands) and they also claimed to know that one or both of the guys were also involved in drug dealing (or drug operations of some sort).

I know a person can't always believe what they read, but if I had go on intuition, I would say that these comments were legit. I wonder if the police ever looked into these two guys that worked at the carpet place. If this story is legit and I had to take a wild guess, I would guess that these two men described were the two men that raped and murdered Lisa Ziegert.

[dynoguy88]

This case always got to me. And I always felt horrible for Lisa's parents, who seem like very nice, down to earth people. Although nothing can fill the void of losing Lisa, it's good to know they have 3 other children and 5 grandchildren that are around to give them the love that they deserve. And the fact that so many folks from their town and former students still support them and help keep Lisa's memory alive, that can't hurt either.

What always bugged me about this case was how her killer(s) were able to abduct her without anyone noticing. It wasn't that late and the card shop was right in the middle of tons of other businesses. If you stand in front of the shop and look left, you see this...



If you look to your right, you see this...



It's not like this happened in the middle of nowhere. Maybe if it were 11 at night, I could see it as easier to kidnap someone. But not at 8:45. Also, the killers never bothered to lock the door when they walked into the shop. The struggle happened in the back store room and a customer walked in at 9:00 to hear some loud noises coming from the store room.

He had to have been someone from Agawam. And if he didn't know Lisa personally, he must have at least known of her and her schedule since she worked in the card shop alone at nights.

[1990 UM fan]

Originally Posted by Steve W.

I read some comments at the bottom of an article about her last year and it was an Agawam area publication: they commenters stated that there had been two guys that worked at a carpet store (I believe, or a carpet cleaning store, something like that) that was very close to where the gift card shop was that Lisa worked at and they had been seen in the gift card shop at times prior to her rape and murder.

While that isn't really incriminating, the commenter also claimed that after her murder t at least one of those two guys suddenly moved away (they believed that he moved to Hawaii, i.e. one of the Hawaiian islands) and they also claimed to know that one or both of the guys were also involved in drug dealing (or drug operations of some sort).

I know a person can't always believe what they read, but if I had go on intuition, I would say that these comments were legit. I wonder if the police ever looked into these two guys that worked at the carpet place. If this story is legit and I had to take a wild guess, I would guess that these two men described were the two men that raped and murdered Lisa Ziegert.

If they haven't already, then someone should submit this info to the Agawam police

[1990 UM fan]

Originally Posted by dynoguy88

This case always got to me. And I always felt horrible for Lisa's parents, who seem like very nice, down to earth people. Although nothing can fill the void of losing Lisa, it's good to know they have 3 other children and 5 grandchildren that are around to give them the love that they deserve. And the fact that so many folks from their town and former students still support them and help keep Lisa's memory alive, that can't hurt either.

What always bugged me about this case was how her killer(s) were able to abduct her without anyone noticing. It wasn't that late and the card shop was right in the middle of tons of other businesses. If you stand in front of the shop and look left, you see this...



If you look to your right, you see this...



It's not like this happened in the middle of nowhere. Maybe if it were 11 at night, I could see it as easier to kidnap someone. But not at 8:45. Also, the killers never bothered to lock the door when they walked into the shop. The struggle happened in the back store room and a customer walked in at 9:00 to hear some loud noises coming from the store room.

He had to have been someone from Agawam. And if he didn't know Lisa personally, he must have at least known of her and her schedule since she worked in the card shop alone at nights.

Is there a back to the shop? They could've taken her through the back if there is/was. That way no one would see them.

[WishfulDreamer]

This case has always really bothered me. I really hope that, knowing the identity of those two men due to records, the police could get a DNA sample just to be sure.

[dynoguy88]

Originally Posted by 1990 UM fan

Is there a back to the shop? They could've taken her through the back if there is/was. That way no one would see them.

This is an aerial shot of the card shop.



As you can see, the back of the building is connected to a small hill that immediately declines into a parking lot of another building. There is a side door towards the back of the card shop. I suppose her killers could have parked in that driveway that separates the shop and the bowling alley, but they would have had to back out. And it's still such a risk to make no effort to lock the front door once they're inside. They had to get her in the back storeroom somehow.

[WishfulDreamer]

Originally Posted by dynoguy88

This is an aerial shot of the card shop.



As you can see, the back of the building is connected to a small hill that immediately declines into a parking lot of another building. There is a side door towards the back of the card shop. I suppose her killers could have parked in that driveway that separates the shop and the bowling alley, but they would have had to back out. And it's still such a risk to make no effort to lock the front door once they're inside. They had to get her in the back storeroom somehow.

If they didn't drag her or coerce her, they probably asked about an item near the storeroom to get her out from behind the counter so no one through the window could suspect anything. Then quickly pulled her in from there.

[1990 UM fan]

I also find it interesting that Lisa's parents have befriended Molly Bish's parents along with Holly Piirainen's grandmother and Danny Larson's mom. I hope all these families receive closure someday, bless their hearts for pushing for the truth for so long.

[dynoguy88]

Here's another interesting location that's mentioned in the segment.

This is the intersection of Route 75 and Adams Street at the edge of Agawam, not far from the Connecticut border. This is where the woman reported seeing a ford bronco turn off the street (arrow) and drive on to a property that connects to the woods where Lisa's body would be found. The bronco continued driving into the woods and the woman at the stop sign said she thought she saw a struggle in the back between a man and a woman. This sighting happened at 9:15, just 15 minutes after the card shop was found abandoned by a customer. Lisa's body was found just 300 feet into the woods from this spot.



You see something like this and it just feels like confirmation that the killer was from the area. If the killer(s) didn't live at this house or at least know who lived at this house, how else would they know they could drive into the woods from this location? A random killer who didn't know the area wouldn't have taken the chance of turning on to private property like that.

[1990 UM fan]

Originally Posted by dynoguy88

Here's another interesting location that's mentioned in the segment.

This is the intersection of Route 75 and Adams Street at the edge of Agawam, not far from the Connecticut border. This is where the woman reported seeing a ford bronco turn off the street (arrow) and drive on to a property that connects to the woods where Lisa's body would be found. The bronco continued driving into the woods and the woman at the stop sign said she thought she saw a struggle in the back between a man and a woman. This sighting happened at 9:15, just 15 minutes after the card shop was found abandoned by a customer. Lisa's body was found just 300 feet into the woods from this spot.




You see something like this and it just feels like confirmation that the killer was from the area. If the killer(s) didn't live at this house or at least know who lived at this house, how else would they know they could drive into the woods from this location? A random killer who didn't know the area wouldn't have taken the chance of turning on to private property like that.

That's a great point you make there. Have they investigated anyone in that immediate area to see if they are suspects in her murder?

[WishfulDreamer]

I don't believe that a killer would dump a body so close to his own home (though of course, the residents at the time should be checked), but I do definitely believe it was a resident who knew the location well.

[dynoguy88]

Originally Posted by WishfulDreamer

I don't believe that a killer would dump a body so close to his own home (though of course, the residents at the time should be checked), but I do definitely believe it was a resident who knew the location well.

Agree. Killing someone and then dumping the body 300 feet from your home wouldn't be so smart. But I think the killer(s) could have known the people who lived at that house at the time so they would know about the entrance to the woods from their property. The time of the sighting just gives me that feeling.

[Steve W.]

I think at least one of the two guys (I'm convinced two guys were part of this) was a local guy (born and raised) or someone who had lived there for awhile. I'm not sure if that would be the case for the other guy.

Does anyone know the name of the carpet business that was nearby the card shop back then?

[Zoneboy]

Link


(FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com) - It is very possible that you never heard of the Tammy Marie Lynds case.

Tammy was a 15-year-old Springfield girl who vanished one night in July 1994. Tammy snuck out of her house to meet some friends and was never seen alive again. A few months after Tammy disappeared, in October 1994, Tammy's remains were discovered in a wooded area a few miles from her home.

For some reason, Tammy's case never got the media attention that other similar cases received. In 1992, Lisa Ziegert, 24, was abducted out of a gift shop in Agawam. Lisa was sexually assaulted and stabbed to death, her body discovered a few weeks later near a dirt road in Agawam.

In the summer of 1993, Holly Piirainen, 10, was abducted from Sturbridge. The little girl's body was found months later in Brimfield, just a few miles away.

And in June 2000, Warren lifeguard Molly Bish, 16, was taken from Comins Pond. Molly's remains were found three years later in Palmer.

All of these other similar cases in Central and Western Massachusetts received massive media exposure. But for some reason the Tammy Marie Lynds case did not.

Richard Lynds, Tammy's father, reached out to FOX 25's Bob Ward earlier this year when the Piirainen case was back in the news. He asked about his daughter's case, and he wondered it appeared to fall by the wayside.

The only answer I could give him was that I would feature Tammy's case on NE Unsolved, and maybe that might lead to something.

Tammy was a good kid who was pretty much like any other teenager. Tammy was in high school, and after a family trip to Florida, decided she wanted to be involved in the space program when she grew up. In other words, Tammy had plans for herself.

Tammy Marie Lynds left behind, in her room, a diary. And one of the final entries is dated just about a week before Tammy disappeared. The entry talks about how Tammy snuck out of her house to meet her boyfriend in the middle of the night. She wrote she stayed with him for a few hours, and then snuck back into her house. Tammy wrote that she walked past a few bars on her way to the boyfriend's house and that some men who were leaving the bar made her feel uncomfortable.

On the night Tammy disappeared, Tammy confided to her younger sister, Allison, that she was going to sneak out again after their parents fell asleep. Only this time, Allison told me, Tammy wasn't going to her boyfriend's home. Instead she was going to meet up with him in some nearby woods. Allison added that Tammy was very nervous almost scared, yet Tammy was determined to meet up with him that night. Allison told me she never knew why Tammy was leaving the house, or why Tammy was so nervous.

All these years later, Allison and Richard are desperate to find answers. During the initial investigation, Richard said Springfield detectives took a hard look at him as a possible suspect. Richard denied having anything to do with his daughter's disappearance and death.

Tammy's sister, Allison, rejects the notion outright, as well. Allison told me she watched her sister unlock the backyard gate and walk down the street the night Tammy disappeared. It's a memory that haunts Allison to this day.

By the way, the woods where Tammy was found was not the same wooded area where Tammy planned to go the night she disappeared.

It is baffling how this case has gone unsolved so long.

After meeting with Hampden County DA Mark Mastroianni, there is renewed interest in finding Tammy's killer. DA Mastroianni has created a new unit dedicated to cold cases, and now Tammy's case is now one of the unsolved cases getting a fresh look. Her case is also featured on the DA's website.

Wouldn't it be great if, after all these years, Tammy's family could get justice?

If you have any information about the disappearance and murder of Tammy Marie Lynds, please contact Mass State Police at 413.505.5993 or Springfield, MA Police at 413.787.6355.

You can also send a text. Text your tip to: 274637. Text SOLVE, then your message.