Lost X : A Generation of Unsolved Femicides/ Lisa Arcudi -1978
In October of 1978, 17 year old Martha's Vineyard native Lisa Gail Arcudi was working as a live-in nanny in Cambridge, studying to be a model at the Academie Moderne in Boston. (Yes, Academie Moderne was a real thing- a relic from the heyday of "finishing schools" for young ladies. It was founded by the Grand Dame of Boston fashionistas, Mildred Albert, who was also one of the founders of the Hart Modeling agency. Both the Academie and Hart were run out of the same building on Comm Ave.)
After tending to her baby sitting responsibilities at her Brattle Street home/work place, Lisa had decided to spend Saturday night, October 28th, with a childhood friend in Brockton. Friday night she had been with the same friends but she had to return to Cambridge for a few hours for her job. She made her way to the Red Line Ashmont Street T Station to catch the BAT bus to Brockton but missed it. A 22 year old male Northeastern college student had also missed the same bus and the two decided to hitchhike to Brockton together.
It took the pair 5 rides to reach the Avon-Brockton line, the destination of the college student. He was dropped off, leaving Lisa with their last ride together, described as a white male in his early 20's driving a maroon, two door sedan. Lisa's hitchhiking friend was the last person to see her alive at around 9 PM. He seems to have come forward immediately in the investigation.
at 2AM in the Winter Street area of East Bridgewater (which is close to the town line with Brockton , off of Thatcher Street), residents heard gun shots. A car was seen parked in the area which sped off toward Brockton. Police did investigate and passing cruisers also heard the shots but nothing was found. At 7:30 AM on Sunday morning, Lisa's body was found just off the road in a field. She was fully clothed but missing her shoes, which were never found. It is believed she fled barefooted to escape her killer. She was killed with 4 shots fired at close range . All the shots hit her from behind.
She was found with no ID but was identified through her contact lenses and her braces.
Lisa's murder is sometimes mentioned in relation to the Bridgewater Triangle- most likely because she was killed within the so called triangle right before Halloween. As far as I can tell her case is unsolved. Save for reporting at the time her body was found, there are no updates.
Several points of observation- it is very unusual for a young female to have been gunned down in this fashion especially if this was an abduction and sexual assault (Initial reports claim there was no sexual assault but that may be based on the fact that she was found fully clothed . Newspapers back then often refrained from mentioning any sexual assault out of respect for the victim and the sensitivity of the subject of sexual assault. Autopsy results would not have been back so quickly and this was 1978 when DNA sequencing was in the future. There is very little information available about her case beyond the first few reports.).
She apparently made it to Brockton. You pass through Brockton to get to East Bridgewater when coming from Boston - considering where she was found. Mr. Maroon Two Door Sedan , from the information available, does not seem to have been identified. Is he an innocent good Samaritan who dropped her off in Brockton and that is where she met with foul play?
A week previous to Lisa's murder, Denise A. Daly, 16, of Willow Street, West Roxbury was found bludgeoned to death with a rock in woods off of Center Street (near what locals know of as 'The Quarry' near Roxbury Latin). Her murder was solved. Dennis Chubbuck, who was known to the victim , immediately a suspect, and fled the state right after her murder, is serving concurrent life terms for First Degree murder with extreme atrocity. Denise's death is mentioned in relation to Lisa's in news articles because they occurred in close proximity in time, were both murders of teen young women, and Lisa disappeared, last seen at first thought, in Dorchester which is close to West Roxbury. Their murders are unrelated.
