According to the Globe, the Boston University alumna had been visiting her mother from NY when she went jogging around 1pm on Sunday (7 August).
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The body of 27-year-old Vanessa Marcotte was found a half-mile from her mother’s home Sunday night.
Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. told reporters yesterday a dedicated tip line police set up for the investigation has been flooded with calls – launching investigators to follow up on hundreds of leads. Her hands, feet and part of her head were also burned. “We are all very nervous”. “We would ask people to pay attention to their surroundings”. “Any information you have may be relevant to this
investigation”, Early said.
Police said they did not know if the attack was random or if Marcotte was targeted.
“We have a terrible set of facts, a frightful set of circumstances right now”, Early said Monday.
Early said the autopsy was completed. While police and officials have remained tight-lipped, some news reports say Marcotte’s body was found naked and burned.
Investigators have not ruled out a possible connection to an unsolved slaying last week of a jogger in Queens, Early said. “During her three semesters volunteering with us, Vanessa always went above and beyond to support her student”.
“We just feel bad for the family”.
Early said Marcotte traveled from NY to Princeton frequently to visit her family. Sunday was the day she went for a walk.
At the vigil, people hugged and cried in each other’s arms.
“A genuine person”, Marcotte’s high school friend Justine Popik said. “It should never happen to anyone my age”.
BU professor Steve Quigley, who taught Marcotte in his new media class in 2010, said she knew then that she wanted to focus on search engine marketing in her career. Marcotte said he last saw his daughter on Saturday when they went out to dinner together.
Worcester County Sheriff Lew Evangelidis said the vigil, which was exclusively music and prayer, was full of sadness. “I can’t sleep. I can’t imagine how they can”.
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“In honor of her being a beam of light and for the family”, Bennett said.
