Marie Coleman was 49 when she was last seen in Philadelphia on January 10, 1959. Initial details about her final movements are sparse, but the investigation shifted more than a year later toward her common-law husband, Thomas E. Burns, after he made statements to others claiming he had murdered and dismembered her and disposed of her remains in the trash.

At an April 1961 trial Burns’ son testified as an eyewitness, saying an argument escalated after Marie allegedly tried to attack Burns with a knife and that Burns struck her on the head with a hammer or an ax. The son also testified that Burns later told him he had dismembered Marie. The trial was the first in Pennsylvania to secure a murder conviction without the victim’s body; Burns was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.

Marie Coleman’s remains have never been recovered. Does anyone have information about Marie’s last known whereabouts or about where remains might have been disposed?