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50 years later, police seek answers in 1973 killing of 19-year-old Tewksbury woman
Five decades after Judith Merenda Cadorette was found murdered in Andover, officials are asking for help solving the cold case.
Five decades after Judith Merenda Cadorette’s body was discovered in a wooded area in Andover, investigators are using the anniversary of her murder to ask for help cracking the 1973 cold case.
Cadorette was last seen on July 2, 1973, at the Holiday Inn near Routes 38 and 495 in Tewksbury, Massachusetts State Police said in a news release. A 1977 Lowell Sun article indicates Cadorette — a 19-year-old divorcee six weeks shy of her second wedding — joined friends at the Wamesit Drive-In in Tewksbury the night she was last seen alive.
Her body turned up four days later in Andover, near the ramp from Route 93 South to Route 133 West, state police said. Cadorette had been strangled, The Boston Globe reported at the time.
Cold cases:
Within days of Cadorette’s killing, Andover police told the Globe that they’d identified suspects. Years later, however, the case remains unsolved.
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“We’re just as frustrated as anyone else,” then-Essex District Attorney John P.S. Burke told the Sun in 1977.
Cadorette’s parents, Anthony and Alice Merenda, waited indefinitely for justice for their daughter.
“I will never go to the grave until the day they find the murderer,” Alice Merenda told the Sun in 1977. “Why, oh why, did they do it?”
State police said Cadorette frequented the drive-in, Holiday Inn lounge, and Pewter Pot restaurant in Tewksbury. She had long, dark hair and poor eyesight, police said.
Authorities have asked anyone with information on the case to contact Andover Police Sgt. Mark Higgenbottom at 978-623-3500, Tewksbury Police Det. Sgt. Michael Donovan at 978-851-7373, Massachusetts State Police Lt. Peter Sherber at 978-766-5823, or the Essex District Attorney’s Office at 978-745-6610.
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“We are always looking for evidence, leads, witnesses and new information in any murder case, no matter how many years have passed,” Glen Johnson, a spokesperson for the Essex DA’s office, said in a statement. “We hope this sad anniversary may prompt some advancement in the case, to bring justice for Judith and those who knew and loved her.”
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