WESTFORD, Mass. — The parents of a teenage girl who was killed 35 years ago in a hit-and-run just feet from her Westford home pleaded for answers on what would have been her 50th birthday Tuesday.
Kathy Mayer was struck on Cold Spring Road while walking to a neighbor's house to babysit in February 1981.
Kathy's brother, Michael, heard the noise, and her parents found her lying in the street, struggling to breathe. Bert and Liz Mayer took off their jackets and tried to keep their daughter warm, as they waited for the ambulance. The driver had immediately sped away.
The family held a prayer service on Sunday at a local church. They remembered Kathy as a a beautiful, outgoing, intelligent girl who stood up for her peers who were bullied and had aspirations of becoming a doctor.
In the decades since Kathy's death, there have been no arrests or even any solid leads in the case.
"I don't know how that person can live with themselves, but that's a total what I call coward," Kathy's father, Bert Mayer, said.
"If you hit a dog, you would stop," added Kathy's mother, Liz Mayer. "But you hit a person, and you don't even stop to see is this person okay?"
Just 12 years old at the time of his sister's death, Michael has since grown up and joined the Westford Police Department, promising to work tirelessly on his sister's case and help other families dealing with similar tragedies.
"I went into law enforcement because of this," he said. "We were victims, and I don't want to see that happen to any more people."
Now working for the Massachusetts State Police, Michael said he continues to actively investigate his sister's case.
Westford police said their case is also open, and, though it has gone cold, detectives will follow up on any leads they gather. It is possible, Westford Police Capt. Victor Neal said, that the driver could be dead by now.
"There were probably guys in this department that went to school with (Kathy)," said Neal. "I know my sister did. So, if something does happen, we would follow up on it."
One family that had been walking in the area on the day Kathy was killed, reported a car nearly hitting them. That family said they saw the driver, a man, get out of his car and check the damage before fleeing. The vehicle was described as a 1970s car with four headlights, one of which was out.
But Neal said the detective work in 1981, including documentation and the resources like access to widespread surveillance video, make investigating the case today completely different from 35 years ago.
"A lot of typed notes, handwritten notes, things like that," Neal said. "Just the sketches alone, the paperwork that they used back then compared to now is a big difference."
Without any solid physical evidence, the police department is relying on people coming forward. The Mayers, too, are asking the public to speak up.
They have not moved from their home in the hope that someone will one day knock on their door and accept responsibility.
"We've made the decision, we'll stay here until we're planted next to her at the Fairview Cemetery where she's buried," Bert said.
The Mayers urged anyone with information, no matter how insignificant it seems, to call the tip line they have set up at (512) 81-KATHY. Westford police also encourage tips at (978) 692-2161.
The family also posts updates on the case, as well as pictures and background on Kathy, on their Facebook page, Justice for Kathy, at
[ https://www.facebook.com/Justice-for-Kathy-1456124011282250/ ]
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