WORCESTER, MASS. (WHDH) - Loved ones and community members attended a vigil in Princeton Tuesday evening in memory of a woman found dead in the woods while she was out jogging.
Vanessa Marcotte, a Boston University alum who worked for Google in New York City, was found dead Sunday evening, half a mile from her mother’s house. The discovery of Marcotte’s body came hours after her family reported her missing when she did not come home from jogging. Sources told 7News her body had burns to the head, hands and feet. She was found a half mile from her mother’s house.
Marcotte was from Leominster and graduated from the Bancroft School in Worcester. Many of Marcotte’s high school classmates came to Tuesday’s vigil, held at the First Congregational Church in Princeton.
“Everybody really, really liked her,” said high school classmate Justine Popik. “She was just so smart and such a good person.”
Many residents are on edge, saying things like this do not happen in Princeton. Police said the last homicide in the town was around 30 years ago.
“My daughter runs the same route Vanessa does,” said Ruth Bergstrom. “She said she’ll never run again. We all are very nervous about this, it’s a tragedy.”
Police said they have received hundreds of tips but no arrests have been made. Investigators said they do not know if this was a random attack.
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