Laura Kempton's apartment

This is the apartment where Laura Kempton was murdered.

It is located at 20 Chapel Street in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Kempton was last seen entering her first-floor apartment during the early hours of September 28th, 1981, after a night out with friends.

Later that morning, at around 9.30 a.m., a police officer named Ron Grivois discovered her remains after he visited the address to serve her with a court summons for unpaid parking tickets.

Grivois had been able to look inside her apartment because one of the panels on the wooden door was missing.

The 23-year-old beauty school student had suffered massive head trauma. It is believed that her attacker struck her on the left side of the head with a glass bottle.

There were also signs that she had been sexually assaulted.

The killer had tied her ankles together with an electrical cord and wrapped a telephone wire around her neck and shoulder. Following the murder, he covered her body with a blanket and mattress.

Various items were collected from the crime scene. These included a cigarette butt, a glass bottle, and a pillow.

DNA

Following the emergence of DNA profiling, the authorities were able to retrieve a male profile from some of these items. However, they failed to find any matches.

Although detectives pursued various suspects over the years, every lead seemed to hit a brick wall. As a result, Kempton's murder became one of those frustrating cold cases that is occasionally mentioned in the local newspaper.

In 2017, there was an attempt to track down her killer using forensic genealogy. This failed, as the method of comparing profiles was still somewhat limited.

Five years later, in 2022, the technology had advanced enough to allow for more advanced testing.

Ronney James Lee

On July 20th, 2023, it was announced that investigators had identified Ronney James Lee as the prime suspect in Kempton's murder.

Unfortunately, it was far too late to bring him to justice, as he had died of a cocaine overdose on February 9th, 2005, at the age of 45.

At the time of the murder, Lee was 21 years old. He had served in the US Army until May 1981 and was working as a security guard in Portsmouth between June 1981 and August 1982.

In 1983, he was linked to five separate burglaries, four of which involved residential properties.

Four years later, in 1987, he was convicted of charges relating to burglary and sexual assault.

Lee served time in state prison between December 1987 and July 1990. Following his release, he reportedly lived the remainder of his life in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Link to Tammy Little's murder

Kempton's death has long been linked to the murder of another Portsmouth Beauty School student named Tammy Little. Little (20) was found dead in her Maplewood Avenue apartment on October 19th, 1982, just over a year after Kempton's killing.

Like Kempton, she had suffered massive head injuries.

The investigation into Little's death is still ongoing.

Although Lee died before he could be charged with the murder, the news provided a level of closure for Kempton's family. It also brought an end to a case that had gone unsolved for more than 40 years.