Episode 80: The Murder of Rita Curran
Rita with her family
24-year-old Rita Curran was known as being very sweet and “almost painfully shy”. She was a beloved second grade teacher and was taking primary education classes at University of Vermont, and she had recently put herself out there and joined a barbershop quartet.
On July 19th, 1971, Rita returned home from rehearsal with the quartet to her ground floor apartment in Burlington, Vermont and began getting ready for bed, declining her roommate’s invitation to go grab a late dinner. When her roommate Beverly returned to their shared room at around 1:00am on July 20th, she discovered Rita’s naked and beaten body. There weren’t any signs of forced entry, but the girls didn’t usually lock their door. Robbery was also ruled out as Rita’s purse was untouched.
When Rita’s roommates and Beverly’s boyfriend were ruled out as suspects, police turned their attention to a neighbor but this lead turned out to be a dead end. Other young women in the area had been reporting mysterious phone calls, peeping tom’s and break ins, and two women were attacked leading up to Rita’s murder. Rita had also been receiving phone calls where the only sound on the line was breathing.
Despite thorough investigation, including exploring Ted Bundy as the potential perpetrator, Rita’s murder remains Vermont’s oldest cold case.
Anyone with any information on the murder of Rita Curran is asked to please call the Burlington Police Departments’ cold case tip line at 802-540-2421.
Image sources:
hiimted.blog - “The Unconfirmed Cases: Rita Patricia Curran, 1971”
burlingtonfreepress.com - “Rita Curran’s death remains unsolved: Here’s how you can help”