How Investigators Solved Lisa Ziegert's Case

Genetic evidence was needed to solve the 1992 rape and murder of 24-year-old Lisa Ziegert, according to investigators. But, the killer's written confession unexpectedly landed into their laps.

Their big break came decades later, in 2017, when Gary Schara's girlfriend handed over incriminating evidence to detectives.

"There were three separate letters," Massachusetts State Police Trooper Noah Packer said "One was essentially a confession letter. Another letter was a testamentary will. He also sent a letter of apologies for the Ziegert family."

Authorities closed their case against Schara in September of 2017 after examining his residence and discovering DNA evidence that matched the crime scene.

Says Pack, “We knew that we were gonna solve this case with a DNA match. We didn’t expect to solve this case by somebody writing confession letters.”

How Zeigert Died

On April 15, 1992, Ziegert, a recent college graduate and teacher's aide, went missing from her second job at a gift shop in Agawam, Massachusetts. Her car, keys, and coat were left at the store, and when she didn't show up to her work at Agawam Middle School the next day, the police was called.

Ziegert's body was discovered four days later, on Easter Sunday, off the side of Highway 75 in a rural area. She had been sexually abused, and an autopsy found that she died from a stab wound to the neck.

She fought hard, but eventually succumbed to her injuries. Investigators had no leads on the killer for months and years after that, and the case remained cold for 25 years.

The outpouring of love and sympathy was astounding. More than a thousand people stood in the rain for five hours at Lisa's wake to pay their respects. While Agawam mourned, authorities continued their probe. Three important phone tips, according to Captain Campbell, helped define a time frame:

The first call came from someone who had been there at 8:20, made a transaction, and had a time-stamped receipt. There was nothing out of the ordinary, nothing that made them think they should call the cops. The second individual was a customer who arrived at 9:00 a.m. She discovered it open and the lights turned on, but no one was inside. The woman stated that she did hear some noise in the back room.

That seemed like a smashing noise to her. She waited a minute and then left because no one came out. This indicated that Lisa was in the store about 9:00 a.m. and was in the back room. 

A witness who works near the card business provided the third tip. The woman was on her way home at 9:15 p.m. on the night Lisa was murdered. This witness spotted what authorities believe was the killer's vehicle. She also mentioned that a guy and a woman appeared to be arguing in the rear seat.

The vehicle drove off the road and began driving toward the location where Lisa's body was subsequently discovered. At the time, the woman assumed it was just a carload of youngsters and continued driving. Police are continued hunting for new evidence that could lead to the capture of Lisa Ziegert's murderer. 

Arrest of The Killer 25 years Later

Based on DNA phenotyping, a composite image of a possible suspect was produced in 2016. That composite was one of the reasons officials put Gary E. Schara on their short list of suspects.

Gary Schara had been a person of interest in Ziegert's death since 1993, but he wasn't arrested until his then-girlfriend, Noelle DesLauriers, handed up letters he had written to the police.

In September 2017, then 50-year-old Gary Schara pled guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 2019 by a Hampden County Grand Jury, bringing Ziegert's case to an end.