Patricia Shea was a 40-year-old physician’s assistant from Rockaway, Queens who disappeared after leaving her apartment the evening of Sunday, July 25, 1982. Between 10:30 and 11:00 p.m. she answered a call for help from an elderly, infirm neighbor known as Aggie and went to assist her in an adjacent building. The last confirmed sighting was about 11:15 p.m. as Shea headed toward that building.

The following evening a jogger in Prospect Park, roughly 12 miles from her home, found Shea’s body in the bushes. She had been strangled with a thin nylon cord and hog-tied; a man’s shirt was found nearby. Detectives noted the bindings were so tight she may have tightened them while struggling. Early in the inquiry Aggie repeatedly said a blonde man hurt Pat, but her health prevented providing more detail. Shea’s then-boyfriend had an alibi and was ruled out; speculation about links to other unsolved strangulations has been reported but no definitive connection was established. The NYPD reopened the file for review in 2015 and persons of interest have been identified, but no arrests been announced.

Did anyone in the Rockaway or Prospect Park area around July 25–26, 1982, ever see a blonde man near Shore Front Parkway or in the park that night who might help explain what happened?