MINI-DOC: Family Struggles with 35-Year-Old Cold Case

Izzy DiNunzio

Izzy DiNunzio, Reporter

The 1985 murder of former Middletown resident Lisa Berry remains unsolved. Information about her case is included in Connecticut’s cold case playing cards, which are distributed to state inmates. (Contributed)

MIDDLETOWN — Thirty-six years later, the pain left by Lisa Berry’s murder hasn’t gotten any easier for her family to handle.

Berry, a former track and field standout at Middletown High, went on a jog on July 31, 1985, just a month before she was set to attend Amherst College on a scholarship. She never returned home that night, and days later, Berry was found dead in less than three feet of water in the woods near Cromwell.

Police still haven’t solved Berry’s murder, making it one of an estimated 260,000 cold cases in the United States. Berry’s family, like many others, simply want closure to help ease the pain of their loss. Those who loved Berry agreed to talk about their pain, frustration, and memories of Lisa Berry.