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Vanessa Marcotte Update: Investigators Receive New Tips In The Massachusetts Jogger Murder

By Amy Feinstein
Published on: 03:54 PST, Nov 23, 2016

It has been over three months since the body of jogger Vanessa Marcotte was found in a wooded area of Princeton, Massachusetts, and no arrests have been made. But now, Princeton police are saying that they are in search of a dark-colored SUV and its driver that were spotted near the crime scene when Marcotte was attacked.

Google employee Vanessa Marcotte was visiting her mother’s home in Princeton when she was sexually assaulted, strangled, and set on fire in an area park, according to the Inquisitr. Though foreign DNA was found on Marcotte, authorities have been unable to match it to anyone in the local or national database. Around the same time as the Marcotte attack, jogger Karina Vetrano was also attacked and killed while running in a Queens park in New York. Though authorities do not believe that Marcotte and Vetrano were attacked by the same man, the two women are approximately the same age and share a physical type. There have been no arrests in the Vetrano case either.

Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. announced this week that there was new information available in the investigation of Vanessa Marcotte’s death, according to the Boston Globe. Marcotte’s body was found near her mother’s home in Princeton on Brooks Station Road on August 7th. It was confirmed through DNA that Marcotte’s attacker was a man, and it is likely that Marcotte left her attacker with at least scratches and bruises, as there is evidence that she fought back.

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Early’s office wants the public to know that this is not a cold case.

“State Police detectives and Princeton police have asked that area law enforcement agencies be vigilant and mindful of this homicide investigation when interacting with men operating or occupying a dark-colored SUV.”

Anyone with information is asked to call the dedicated tip line at 508-453- 7589.

WCBV says that the information about a dark-colored SUV has ignited a new round of tips from the public, who are still eager to help. The man they are looking for would have had bruises, cuts and/or lacerations on August 7th, and he might have been driving a dark SUV. Massachusetts State Police spokesman Dave Procopio wants the community to know they are still eager for new information.

“Our hope is that those (new tips) that have come might reinforce or advance other information we already had. We are thinking quality, not quantity, at this point, and the detectives are working diligently on every piece of information.”

Procopio told the local CBS affiliate that they believe that Marcotte’s killer is familiar with the local area. He believes that the attacker is familiar with rural Massachusetts.

Vanessa Marcotte was found dead, naked, and partially burned in the woods after she failed to return from a jog.

At the time of her death, Vanessa Marcotte was living in New York, and working for Google. Marcotte was raised in Massachusetts and graduated from Boston University. Tips have continued to come into the local police, who said that the dark-colored SUV was likely parked near the area where Marcotte’s body was found. Over one thousand tips have been called into authorities, but no arrests have been made in the violent attack on Vanessa Marcotte.

Marcotte’s attacker is said to have sexually assaulted her, and then set her hands and feet on fire. None of Marcotte’s clothes were ever found, and it is thought that he took her clothes and shoes with him when he fled.

[Featured Image by Larry Smith/Getty Images]

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