Who killed Karen Ramsey? New York police have a new clue in the mysterious 1980 disappearance.
PATTERSON, N.Y. -- New York State Police have opened a murder investigation into the death of Karen Ramsey, whose body was found wrapped in plastic under concrete more than 40 years after she disappeared.
Police identified the remains after they were discovered by workers excavating a site in Patterson in April.
Police determined Ramsey disappeared in May 1980, when she was 25. They said they've looked long and hard for a missing persons report on her, but it's unclear if one was ever filed.
However, police did find real estate records from the condo complex in Brewster where Ramsey and her husband, John Ramsey, lived.
Ramsey's signature appears on document dated more than a year after she vanished, police say
As first reported by the Albany Times-Union, the couple's signatures appear on a 1977 document when they purchased the condo and when it was sold in September 1981 - more than a year after police believe Ramsey vanished.
When comparing the "Karen Ramsey" signatures, they do not look particularly similar.
Records show John Ramsey sued his wife for divorce in August 1980. He also took out a 1980 legal notice claiming his wife abandoned him and their infant.
John Ramsey died in 2022. His obituary states he married a woman in October 1981, just days after his Karen Ramsey's signature appeared on the condo sale deed.
State police said they're working the case and are determined to figure out how Ramsey wound up buried eight miles from her home.