Cold Case Solved After 36 Years

Wendy Jerome was 14-years old when she was raped and killed.

Wendy Jerome was murdered on Thanksgiving Day in 1984; photo source.

She was only supposed to be gone an hour.

14-year old Wendy Jerome was delivering a birthday card to a friend who lived nearby in her hometown of Rochester, New York. It was 7 pm on Thanksgiving Day of 1984, and she knew to be home by her 8 pm curfew. When 8 pm came and went, Wendy’s parents wasted no time looking for her. What happened next would haunt them for the next 36 years.

Wendy’s body was found behind a school less than a mile from her home. She had been raped and viciously beaten — and had fought back against her attacker. Despite tremendous efforts by the police to chase down possible leads, they failed to identify a suspect, and the case went cold for over three decades.

Wendy’s murder haunts the city of Rochester

Wendy’s brutal rape and unsolved murder forever changed the citizens of Rochester, and in particular, a girl named Julie Hahn. Julie was 11 years old in 1984 when she learned that “another girl in Rochester had been killed.” Inspired by this case to become a prosecutor, Julie eventually became chief of the Major Felony Bureau in the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office.