Murder in Woodstock

The Search Begins

State Trooper Gregory Trahan arrived at Jon Baker and Judy Nilan's English Neighborhood Road home in North Woodstock on the night of December 12, 2005, shortly after Jon called 911 to report Judy had disappeared. English Neighborhood Road is exactly what the name implies: a winding, curvy rural road that connects to Brickyard Road North towards the east and Rawson Road toward the west. There's an ink blot of a pond not too far from Jon and Judy's country home.

English Neighborhood Road sign

Trooper Trahan spoke to Jon Baker upon his arrival. Jon said he last spoke to Judy at about 3:00 p.m. "I believe she went for a run on area roads near our home," Trahan later reported Jon explaining to him.

"What was she wearing?" asked Trahan.

Jon said, "Yellow-colored windbreaker with a reflective stripe, dark colored spandex type pants, black colored fleece type gloves, gray or white sneakers and ear warmers."

With that, Connecticut State Police began an official missing person investigation. They searched the direct area around the house first. Maybe Judy had gone out in the back, slipped on the snow and ice, fallen, and hit her head. She was perhaps lying somewhere in the woods, unconscious. For the most part, English Neighborhood Road and the region surrounding it is desolate and thickly settled.

Judy could be anywhere.

Meanwhile, as other troopers began arriving at the scene, they retraced the route Judy had "usually taken," one report noted. At first, troopers didn't find much. Not a sliver of evidence to indicate Judy had disappeared.

Jon knew his wife. They'd had a storybook marriage for 20 years, he explained to the troopers. They spent all of their free time together: working on their home, raising a few dogs, bringing up Jon's children. They had been talking lately about opening up their own business, a day care center. Jon had spent his vocational career in the business. He knew it well. What could be better than spending his days with his wife working together?

Still, Jon needed to answer some questions. He was the last one to talk to Judy. He had reported her missing. Was it all part of a ruse? Cops had to think this way. The most common suspect in any missing person case involving a spouse is the other spouse.

Woodstock CT town sign

As the night wore on, State Police K-9 teams, the blue and gold Trooper-1 State Police helicopter, along with additional manpower were brought in to assist in the search for Judy. It was getting colder as the night progressed. Dead of winter. Rural Connecticut. By midnight, temps were set to fall into the teens. Then single digits. They needed to find Judy - fast.