Criminal cases · Egg Harbor Township and Ocean City
Susan Davis and Elizabeth Perry: the 1969 Parkway killings
No one charged as of a September 2026 account · Later official status unverified
Susan Davis and Elizabeth Perry left an Ocean City vacation on May 30, 1969. Their car was found by the Garden State Parkway, and their bodies were discovered nearby in Egg Harbor Township three days later.
Leaving the shore
In the Daily Register of June 3, 1969, an Associated Press report said Davis and Perry had been vacationing in Ocean City and left about 4:30 a.m. Friday in a convertible headed toward Davis's family in Pennsylvania. The car was found near the Parkway that morning. Searchers found their bodies in underbrush near the vehicle on Monday afternoon. The state medical examiner reported that both died of knife wounds. The women had attended Monticello Junior College in Illinois; the report said Perry had completed her first year and Davis had graduated, with plans to attend Ithaca College.
Ocean City was their vacation departure point. The next day's Associated Press report places the recovery in Egg Harbor Township, Atlantic County. “Ocean City murders” is therefore a shorthand that obscures the recovery jurisdiction. Neither report proves the precise site where the attacks began or the route the women took after leaving Ocean City.
Conflicting early leads
The June 4 report records a security guard's claim that he saw the two women pick up a hitchhiker near a Somers Point diner. It also says state police had spoken with two young men reported to have eaten breakfast with them and released the men after questioning. These are early witness and police accounts, not settled identifications of the last people with Davis and Perry. A July 3 Daily Register report describes another person sought for questioning, but quotes the state police investigator saying he was no more a suspect than many others. Later theories naming a serial killer should not be treated as a resolution of this case.
An A&E account updated September 2026 says no one has been charged. That is a recent media status report; a current statement from the investigating agency or prosecutor has not been located for this archive.
Where the record could go next
The original state police file and Atlantic County prosecutor records could separate documented sightings from later retellings, clarify the exact car and body recovery sequence, and establish current case status. The roadside recovery area is not a public destination and is not placed on the general exploration map. Nothing in the reviewed sources establishes a connection to Carol Ann Hill's 1970 Wildwood case or another regional killing.
Sources and research limits
- Associated Press, “2 Coeds Slain in Atlantic County,” Daily Register, June 3, 1969 — departure, car and body discoveries, and medical examiner's findings.
- Associated Press, “Probe Slim Leads in Girls' Slayings,” Daily Register, June 4, 1969 — Egg Harbor Township jurisdiction and reported diner leads.
- Daily Register, July 3, 1969 — investigator's qualification of a later lead.
- Paula Hendrickson, A&E, updated September 3, 2026 — reports no charges. Its suspect discussion is not adopted as a finding here.
The original police file and current prosecutor case status were not inspected. Research checked October 4, 2026.