This newspaper article from August 14, 1974 was sent to me and it contains information about the crime scene re Teresa Sue Hilt that will make Sue jump up and down across the pond! Hair particles found at the crime scene showed the one who left that hair had a rare scalp disease that makes the hair brittle and fall out. It is called monilethrix.
From Wikipedia: “Monilethrix is caused by mutations affecting the genes KRTHB1 (KRT81), KRTHB3 (KRT83), or KRTHB6 (KRT86) which code for type II hair cortexkeratins.
The disorder is inherited in an autosomal dominant manner. This means that the defective gene(s) responsible for a disorder is located on an autosome, and only one copy of the gene is sufficient to cause the disorder, when inherited from a parent who has the disorder.”
The age of onset, severity, and course may vary from person to person.
There is no cure for monilethrix.
Some have reported spontaneous improvement, particularly during puberty and pregnancy, but the condition rarely disappears completely.
The newspaper article is below. of course, the question now is: do we still have those hairs? Have they been tested for DNA and if so, have those test results been entered into any database?
Teresa Sue Hilt was found murdered on August 4, 1973.
She had been beaten, raped, stabbed, and strangled to death. Her remains were found in her off campus apartment in Maryville, Missouri.
If you have any information that can help the Maryville Police Department to solve the crime please contact Dir. K. Wood at 1-660-562-3209.
There is a reward for information that will lead to the arrest and conviction in this case.
To be continued!
