The summer of 1977 began fading into autumn, and in New Jersey, it was almost time for college classes to begin. Twenty-five-year old Sigrid Stevenson, a graduate student in music, had just returned to the campus of Trenton State College (now known as the College of New Jersey), but found that the family she’d been staying with had not come back from their vacation yet. Seeking a place to stay, she rode her bicycle to Kendall Hall, which housed the campus theater. Sigrid had been known to sometimes sneak into the building after hours to play the piano, and thought perhaps she could sleep there for one night.
It was Sunday, September 4th, and the theater was empty, having last played host to the cast and crew of a production of the Archibald MacLeish play J.B., a retelling of the Biblical story of Job. Kendall Hall had presumably been locked after use, but apparently it was well known for not being terribly secure.
Shortly before midnight, a campus security guard passed Kendall Hall, and noticed a bicycle chained to a fence outside. He decided to enter the theater to investigate.
On the theater stage lay the battered dead body of Sigrid Stevenson, partially concealed by the piano’s white dust cover. She was nude, and her wrists were bound behind her back. She had been savagely beaten to death with a blunt instrument; her injuries were reportedly so severe that her skull was caved in.
Upon the blood-spattered stage, authorities recovered a few of Sigrid’s belongings, which included a wallet containing traveler’s checks and cash, indicating that robbery had not been the motive. An autopsy also determined that Sigrid had not been sexually assaulted.
The brutality of the crime seemed to suggest a personal vendetta, but despite intense questioning and polygraph testing of hundreds of fellow students, no compelling suspects could be found. Sigrid had by all accounts been a perfectly friendly young woman, but was something of a loner, and had few close friends.
In the ensuing decades, the murder of Sigrid Stevenson has taken on an aspect of legend, and numerous reports of “hauntings” at Kendall Hall have been claimed. Sadly, none of the reported spirits or visiting psychics has brought detectives any closer to discovering who killed the young music student, and more than forty years on, her grim death is still unsolved.
Crime Immemorial 