The Long Island Ripper



Maureen Brainard-Barnes of Norwich, Conn., left home on July 12, 2007, telling her family that she was going to spend the day in New York City.

She was spotted in Manhattan, then never heard from again.

Only 25, she had already led a rough life, allegedly working as a prostitute. Brainard-Barnes had once fractured her nose, and, later, the fingers of her right hand. She had a scar on her face and another on her forehead. A scar on her abdomen was a relic of the Caesarian delivery of her daughter, also commemorated by the pink letters in a tattoo spelling "Nicolette." Other tattoos, gray and black lilies and a red rose, adorned her body.

Freckled, bespectacled Maureen Brainard-Barnes stood just 4'11 and weighed a slight 105 pounds. Friends described her as a good mother and a trusting person. But trying to support her daughter and trusting the wrong person left her dead on a beach, finally discovered on a cold day in late 2010.