Remains found tied to tree in 1974 are identified as girl, 15, as death is ‘linked to serial killer’
Remains found tied to a tree in Florida mangroves in 1974 are identified as missing girl, 15, after DNA breakthrough as death is ‘linked to serial killer cop who beheaded victims’
High school dropout Susan Poole went missing in December 1972 in FloridaA year and a half later, skeletal remains were found tied to a tree in Palm BeachUsing DNA technology, detectives have finally linked her to the remainsCops believe she may have been a victim of serial killer Gerard SchaeferSchaefer was suspected of killing as many as 28 women in FloridaHe died in prison in 1995 after being convicted of killing and mutilating two girlsThe prosecutor who put him behind bars said he made Ted Bundy ‘look like a boy scout’
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Remains found tied up in the mangroves of Florida in 1974 have finally been identified as a teenage girl who went missing a year and a half earlier. Susan Poole (pictured right) was reported missing in 1972
The skeletal remains of a teenage girl found tied with wire to a Florida mangrove in 1974 have finally been identified as another victim of notorious cop serial killer Gerard Schaefer.
Susan Poole, 15, was a high school dropout whose family reported her missing just before Christmas in 1972.
Two years later, skeletal remains were found tied with wire to a tree but they were unidentified for 48 years.
Now, thanks to genetic genealogy testing, police believe they are Poole’s, and that she was another of Schaefer’s victims.
Schaefer died in prison in 1995 after being convicted of killing two girls.
He was suspected in as many as 26 girls deaths and was described by prosecutors as among the most brutal serial killers they had ever come across.
‘[He was] the most sexually deviant person I had ever seen. He made Ted Bundy look like a Boy Scout,’ Robert Stone, who prosecuted Schaefer, once said.
At the time of her disappearance, Poole had been living between the family’s home in a trailer park near Fort Lauderdale and with a friend in a nearby apartment, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Detective William Springer said.
‘Nobody knew where she went,’ he said, noting that her clothes and pocketbook were left at the friend’s apartment.
In June 1974, sheriff’s deputies were called to a remote location in Palm Beach County where human remains were found.
‘She was tied up in the mangroves with wire to a tree,’ Springer said. ‘She was skeletal remains, totally nothing left of her except bones.’
Back then, detectives didn’t have the DNA technology that is now readily available, so the case quickly turned cold, he said.
Officers even shared a computer composite of Poole of how they thought she would look today, in the hope she might still be found alive.
In 2015, investigators submitted DNA to a national missing persons database, which turned up nothing.
Gerard Schaefer was described by prosecutors as one of the most sexually deviant men they had ever seen. One said of him: ‘He made Ted Bundy look like a boy scout’
Detectives have now closed the cold case and believe she may have been a victim of the notorious serial killer cop Gerard Schaefer (shown in court in the 1970s). He died in prison in 1995
Then, in December, Othram, a Texas-based forensics lab that builds DNA profiles using genealogy, contacted the sheriff’s office and said they may be able to help solve cold cases.
In March, the company provided the names of the victim’s mother and siblings. Springer said they provided a DNA sample from Poole’s mother, who was verified as a match.
Now Springer is looking for evidence that connects Poole to Gerard Schaefer, a serial killer who was fatally stabbed by a fellow inmate at the Florida State Prison in 1995.
Schaffer had been a police officer in Wilton Manors, a Fort Lauderdale suburb, and was a deputy with the Martin County Sheriff’s Office at the time Poole disappeared, Springer said.
Schaefer was found guilty of murdering two other girls, ages 16 and 17, who lived near Fort Lauderdale.
Their mutilated and decapitated remains were found in April 1973 in Martin County.
Because of a US Supreme Court ruling, Florida did not have a death penalty in the early 1970s and Schaefer was sentenced to life in prison.
Because of the similar way in which those teens were killed, Springer said he believes Schaefer could have been involved in Poole’s death. Authorities say Schaefer was implicated in up to 30 deaths.
Investigators are hoping to speak to several friends who lived near Poole when she disappeared and could possibly fill in some blanks about her activities during that time.
Springer wants to know if she frequently hitchhiked or whether she had ever confided in them about any kind of relationship with Schaeffer.
For Poole’s mother, who is in her 90s, and siblings, the news has brought some closure, Springer said.
‘The family was happy to know what happened,’ he said. ‘It’s been a long time waiting to see what happened to their sister.’
