Murder in Woodstock

A Credible Witness

Off-duty Connecticut State Police Trooper Todd Stevens, who was in the area of English Neighborhood Road that afternoon near 4:30 p.m., filed a report that corroborated the interview state police conducted with Judy's neighbor. Stevens just happened to be driving through the area around that same time. When he approached the intersection of English Neighborhood Road and Cherry Tree Corner, a road that led into the eastern part of Woodstock toward Route 169, a popular main road running through town, Stevens said he saw Judy Nilan jogging. How did Stevens know it was Judy? After all, it could have been any number of joggers who frequent the same roads.

Stevens knew Judy through "various professional contacts" he'd had with her throughout the years and immediately recognized her. Here, though, Stevens was the first to report that Judy was wearing some sort of headgear: "a dark colored hat or similar headgear," he reported, "a bright yellow windbreaker and black running pants."

There was that headband.

When Trooper Stevens passed Judy and continued north onto English Neighborhood Road, he saw something else, he said. He later described it as a Ford Escort or Mercury Tracer station wagon traveling east, by him, heading in Judy's direction. The car was beat up, painted shabbily with black primer. A "white male," Stevens said, was driving the vehicle. There was no one else in the car with him.

Area near Spinney's estate

Thus, with the evidence the state police now had, it appeared that Judy had taken a right onto Redhead Hill Road—and there was a black car on her tail. This was the point, it could now be determined, unless someone else came forward with conflicting information, at which Judy had disappeared. There were skid marks, state police knew, on Redhead Hill Road, alongside a headband that was, sadly, confirmed to be Judy's later on that night.

Troopers then set out to search that region of Redhead Hill Road for more evidence. Maybe someone accidentally struck Judy and sent her air bound into the woods? Perhaps she was lying in the snow, unable to move?

Taking into account there wasn't that much blood on the road and in the snow, Judy could still be alive.