Former FBI Profiler: Vanessa Marcotte's Murderer Likely 'Still in the Area'

WORCESTER COUNTY, MA—There has been little talk on the investigation into the murder of 27-year-old Vanessa Marcotte, murdered while home visiting her mom in Princeton.

Marcotte was discovered dead outside in Princeton on Sunday, Aug. 7. An employee at Google's New York City office and Boston University alumna, Marcotte went missing during a jog while visiting her mother in Princeton. A K-9 police dog found Marcotte's body about a half-mile from her mother's home that night, and investigators say she was last seen on Brooks Station Road that afternoon.

By Aug. 12, the public was informed that a DNA sample had been reportedly submitted by authorities as a possible person of interest in the murder of Marcotte, WCVB-TV News reported.

On Wednesday, Sept. 7, the Worcester District Attorney’s Office and Massachusetts State Police reassured the public that they were continuing to intensively investigate the homicide of Marcotte. DA Joseph Early said that investigators were "making progress" days after the murder, and announced a tip line that brought in thousands of tips.

Since, there has been little to no information in the progress of the case.

A former FBI profiler has pored over the evidence and clues, and has weighed in on the case. Fox 25 News reports that Mary Ellen O'Toole, who worked on high-profile cases such as the Unabomber and the Zodiac Killer, reviewed the evidence in the murder. Combined with her expertise, she said that she thinks the attacker didn't know Marcotte, but was familiar with the park in which she was set on fire. She believes the attacker is still in the area and "has gone back to his everyday life."

O'Toole suggests that the killer likely burned Marcotte to hide evidence, but also could be for sadistic reasons, or out of curiosity. Leaving Marcotte outside partially nude, "like she is garbage," along with the violence, she says the attacker saw her not as a human being, and is consistent with a sociopath.

Read the full story on Fox 25 News.

Photo via WHDH Channel 7-News