Patricia Eve Gaugler, a 28-year-old Caucasian woman from Pottstown, Pennsylvania, died while traveling to join family in the Richmond, Virginia area in the fall of 1980. On September 29 she was last seen about 3 p.m. at a Sunoco gas station in Ashland near Interstate 95. Later that day firefighters responding to a brush fire off Greenwood Church Road discovered her body on a gravel trail in an area now known as Wesley’s Court; her car was found on a dirt road nearby.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled her death a homicide. The autopsy determined the cause of death to be upper airway burns due to immolation; there were no other wounds and no signs of sexual assault. It could not be determined whether she was conscious when the fire began. Dental records confirmed her identity. No suspects or arrests have been publicly identified, and the Hanover County Sheriff’s Office continues to seek information.

Did anyone in the Ashland or Hanover County area in late September 1980 notice anything unusual that afternoon or evening?