The Connecticut Shoebox Murder Mystery: America's Oldest Cold Case
The next day the Hartford Daily Courant reported that, “He thought nothing strange until his dog approached the box and acted in a strange manner.” On the morning of August 8, 1886 local resident Edward Terrill and his dog were on a walk down a dirt logging road through wooded farmland on the outskirts of the town of Wallingford, Connecticut. Terril noticed a wooden box about thirty inches long and twelve inches wide resting under some bushes on the side of the road. It seemed like the wooden box had fallen off a cart on its way into town. Black lettering on the outside of the wooden box indicated that it had originally been meant to contain a, “dozen pairs of finely stitched men’s shoes.” As Terril approached closer to get a better look his dog started whining, howling and frantically sniffing at the air. Terrill walked right up to the box and the frenzied excitement of his dog increased with each step that he took. When he bent down to examine the box he was taken ...