Police Solve 28 Year Old Capital Region Cold Case

Police Solve 28 Year Old Capital Region Cold Case

Update 1/19/23: At a press conference Thursday morning, police identified Jeremiah J. Guyette as the likely killer of Violet Filkins. He would have been 17 at the time. In 2019 he committed suicide a day after police went to his Rosendale home to question him about the murder. East Greenbush Police Detective Sergeant Michael Guadagnino said an ex-girlfriend of Guyette helped police to solve the case:

The ex-girlfriend that came forward really had never thought about the statements that Jeremiah had made to her. She was watching cold case homicides on Netflix, saw that and it sprung her attention. She started googling different stuff and saw that Jeremiah had lived in East Greenbush during the time of Violet’s murder, put two and two together and once we got that tip we were able to basically dissect Jeremiah’s life, the different places he lived and then run with that information.

News 10

NewsChannel 13 was first to report that police in East Greenbush were finally able to close a case that has haunted the town since 1994.

On August 19th of that year, 81 year old Wilomeana “Violet” Filkins was found beaten to death in her apartment. Police believe she was killed two days prior during a robbery in her home, which was located at Coventry Apartments.

East Greenbush Police along with New York State Police continued investigating over the years. Approximately three years after the murder, a caretaker at a remote cemetery in Nassau discovered items that had been dumped in the area. Seeing as to how the area was known only to locals, they believed the killer lived in that area.

In 2019 a tip led police to the town of Rosendale in Ulster County and a man named Jeremiah Guyette. Guyette lived in East Greenbush at the time of the murder and police went to speak to him. The following day Guyette killed himself.

It’s not yet known what the tip was that brought police to Guyette, but a police press conference is expected to answer some of those questions Thursday morning.

feature photo: New York State Police/Canva

📣 Read more!