Three decades after a Hyattsville teenager was strangled and her body dumped into a D.C. alley, authorities are looking into the possibility she knew her killer and that her death was the result of consensual sex gone wrong.
Eileen Kelly was a bright, pretty 18-year-old woman when she disappeared on Dec. 13, 1974.
She was supposed to get on a bus to her parents’ home to sign loan papers for an AMC Gremlin automobile.
Her partially clad body was found in a District alley two weeks later.
Until last month, authorities assumed that she was kidnapped, tortured and raped. But poring over records last month, investigators may have found a new explanation that had been hidden in plain sight.
“Eileen Kelly’s body didn’t have any real serious signs of trauma. There were no indications that she fought back,” said Anita Boss, a forensic psychologist who is helping the D.C. police on the case. “It kind of suggested that this was consensual sex that went wrong.”
Detective James Trainum leads the D.C. police department’s cold case unit. He said Kelly may have been experimenting sexually. If that’s true, he said, she probably knew her killer.
“She could have been taken advantage of by someone who was older and a lot more experienced,” Trainum said.
The new theory has refocused investigators’ attention on Kelly’s circle of friends, Trainum said. Authorities are fanning out to interview some of those old friends.
Boss said the new theory could make it easier to discuss Kelly’s killing with suspects.
“It’s possible this person would feel very guilty,” she said.
Authorities are not betting everything on their new theory. On Tuesday, investigators submitted microscope slides from the crime scene for DNA testing.
The slides had been stored and forgotten at the medical examiner’s office. They were uncovered earlier this summer, Trainum said.
Police are asking for anyone with any information on Kelly’s death to call Trainum at 202-727-5037.
