GODFREY – Lewis and Clark Community College’s Criminal Justice program held a garden bench dedication Thursday, in remembrance of a pair of Monticello Women’s Junior College students who vanished on Memorial Day weekend in 1969. Elizabeth Perry, of Excelsior, Minn., and Susan Davis, of Camp Point, Pa., both 19, met as Monticello students and were vacationing in Ocean City, N.J.
The women were last seen on May 30, 1969, at a restaurant in Sommers Point, N.J. A state trooper later found their blue 1966 Chevrolet convertible abandoned on the Garden State Parkway and had it towed.
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Three days later, their bodies were found about 200 yards from the highway. Although law enforcement has followed many leads and theories over the years, the case has not been solved and the investigation remains open.
After learning about the story, L&C Criminal Justice Associate Professor Jessica Noble decided to engage her students in a service project.
“We decided to create a memorial garden and bench outside of Haskell Hall on the Godfrey Campus,” she said. “The area will help the community at large have a place to reflect and take a moment of silence for the two women and other crime victims.”
Criminal Justice student Rosie Gogue believes the bench dedication is not only meaningful for the women who were murdered but to every woman who is victimized without cause.
“This stresses the importance of raising awareness of cases that have gone cold,” she said. “One day, we hope that justice can come for these families.”
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