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A year after the murder, investigators still hadn't made any arrests. Hundreds of interviews had been conducted, and dozens of polygraphs had been administered, but no suspects had been named. Although they were still actively pursuing all tips that came in, detectives had been unable to develop any solid leads.
The Granbury Police Department was small, consisting of just 13 officers, but most of them had known Holly. They were frustrated by the fact that they had been unable to catch her killer, and vowed to keep working the case until they obtained justice for Holly. Although they were short on leads, they were confident that the physical evidence obtained from the crime scene would be enough to convict the killer once he was identified. Investigators made sure to resubmit the fingerprints from the crime scene to the FBI on a regular basis, hoping that they would eventually find a match.
In 1991, officials from the Granbury Police Department announced that they were offering a $5,000 reward for information leading them to Holly's killer. This was in addition to the $1,000 still being offered by the Hood County Crime Stoppers, and detectives were hopeful that the additional money would be enough for someone with information about the crime to finally come forward. Although several tips were called in, none of them helped identify the killer.
The state of Texas went online with the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) in 1993. As soon as the system was up and running, detectives submitted the fingerprints obtained from the crime scene, hoping that they would finally get a match. The system contained the fingerprints of everyone who had been arrested in Texas, and investigators believed that someone as violent as Holly's killer had to have an arrest record. Unfortunately, there were no matches for the prints in AFIS.
Although detectives desperately wanted to find Holly's killer, her case stalled after 1993 and seemed to go completely cold. The Granbury Police Department continued to offer a $5,000 reward for information, but they received only a few tips a year. They followed up on each tip that came in, but no new leads were developed.
In 2004, investigators admitted that someone who they had considered a suspect during the earliest days of the investigation was still considered a person of interest, but they had obtained a lawyer and were no longer cooperating with detectives. They hoped that advances in DNA technology might finally help them link this person to the crime scene, but to date there have been no arrests.
It's possible that Holly knew her killer, as investigators have described her murder as a very hands-on, physical killing. The fact that there were no signs of forced entry meant that Holly likely let her killer into the station willingly. She certainly would have opened the door to someone she knew, but she may also have opened it for someone she thought was in need of help She was the kind of person who always went out of her way to help other people, a trait that may very well have gotten her killed.
Holly's family has continued to do everything possible to keep her case alive. One of her sisters stated that they could see blood under Holly's fingernails as they prepared to bury her. Although it's possible it was Holly's own blood ? it was an extremely bloody crime scene ? it's also possible that Holly fought hard for her life, and that the blood they saw belonged to her killer. The family has expressed interest in having Holly's body exhumed to see if any usable forensic evidence can be obtained, but to date the Granbury Police Department hasn't attempted to do so.
Holly Palmer was just 23 years old when she was brutally murdered in 1988. She was in the process of realizing her dreams of becoming a business owner, but this was taken away from her by a killer who has never been caught. Her family has been waiting for justice for nearly 33 years. If you have any information about Holly, please contact the Granbury Police Department at 817?573?2648.
At the dawn of the twentieth century, Florence Evelyn Nesbit- a willowy, copper-haired beauty was the most recognizable face in America ? even before the sensational murder trial that immortalized her. Much like Marilyn Monroe later in the century, Evelyn Nesbit was an icon of her age, created and consumed by the public's insatiable appetite for private sin and public scandal She was America's first bonafide sex goddess.
Merely a month or so after moving to New York with her widowed mother and younger brother ? buried in a mountain of debt, 15-year-old Nesbit's soft-featured, youthful face soon became ubiquitous, to be seen on postcards, tobacco cards, calendars and chromolithographs.
She often posed for famous illustrators in costume ? a wood nymph, a gypsy, a Grecian goddess, a geisha girl ? she was always clothed and the resulting images were not overtly sexual, though there was a pin-up suggestiveness about them that no doubt contributed to their popularity.
Charles Dana Gibson, famed for his ?Gibson Girl,? sketched a picture of Evelyn with her hair streaming down to form a question mark. He called his illustration The Eternal Question.
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