Dateline: The Music Box - Who was Lisa Ziegert and what happened to her? Disturbing details of the 1992 incident, revealed 

Dateline NBC episode titled The Music Box has revisited the details of a disturbing 1992 homicide, and the name of the victim was Lisa Ziegert, a young resident of Massachusetts, USA. She used to serve as a teaching assistant at a local middle school (and was also engaged in some part-time job) when, all of a sudden, tragedy hit the 24-year-old shortly after she wrapped her shift at work.

Per Dateline, Lisa was a jolly young woman who was really good with little children (even her students from Agawam Middle School). Her brother reportedly mentioned in a statement to the correspondents of the case, saying:

"She was kind of a big kid herself. She was ready to enjoy life and see the silliness in things."

Thus, the tragic end of such a person naturally came down with a wave of shock upon the entire town. According to reports, Lisa was discovered dead close to Route 75, adjoined by forests all around. Consequently, April 1992 saw the start of a case that would rage on for more than two decades until the police had a crack at the puzzle and arrested Lisa Ziegert's killer in 2017.

The official synopsis of Dateline: The Music Box, per IMDb, reads:

"After Lisa Ziegert is abducted during her evening shift at a gift shop, local detectives, state police and the FBI work relentlessly to find her and solve the case after decades."

Who was Lisa Ziegert and how did she meet her fate?

Lisa Ziegert was an inhabitant of Agawam, Massachusetts, and she used to work at a local institute named Agawam Middle School as a teaching assistant. However, she would keep herself busy during the evenings by working at a local store going by the name Brittany's Card and Gift Shoppe.

Things were going well for the 24-year-old woman until April 16, 1992. That was the day when she missed work (at school) without prior notice. What initially seemed like a rain check turned out to be something more when her co-employee at the local store, Sophia Maynard, called.

She mentioned to the police that Lisa had left behind all her belongings at the shop before she left. Moreover, the doors of the shop were also unlatched, which naturally raised suspicion. Things became more grim when no one found any trace of her, and Lisa's mother, Dee Ziegert, along with her sister Lynne, called out for a search party.

As reported on Dateline, every nook and corner of the town was searched for four consecutive days until, on April 19, 1992, Lisa's lifeless body surfaced off Route 75. Everyone was shattered to see the condition in which she was discovered. It was around 2 in the afternoon when investigators retrieved Lisa's body, and there were several stab wounds all over her body.

However, Lisa seemingly succumbed to a wound very close to her neck, and the location where she was found lying dead was close to the gift shop where she worked. According to Sgt. Wayne Macey with Agawam Police (now retired):

"She is partially clad, she has a pair of boots on and some of her clothing had been pulled down. "

Once her autopsy reports came in, the officials confirmed that Lisa struggled to save herself, and the wounds on her limbs suggested that she put up self-defense. According to Dateline, Lisa also suffered sexual assault right before she died.

How did the investigators catch Lisa's killer?

The investigation into Lisa's tragic end started off soon after, and DNA samples of another person's blood along with sperm cells were retrieved from her body. However, unfortunately, a long hiatus followed, as there were no breakthroughs despite all the research, and the case went totally cold.

More than two decades passed by (25 years, to be precise) until the first big crack in the investigation came in 2016–17. Old files were dug up, and not only did the police find a DNA match (with the sample found on Lisa's body), but they also received surprising confessions (in writing).

According to Massachusetts State Police Trooper Noah Packer’s statement to Dateline:

"There were three separate letters. One of them was essentially a confession letter. Another letter was a last will and testament. He also left a apology letter for the Ziegert family."

The name that eventually came up was Gary Schara, a 50-year-old local resident whose confession letters were turned in by his girlfriend to the investigating officers. Not only did he accept his gruesome crimes, but he also sent an apology to the deceased's loved ones. As a result, Schara was eventually convicted of first-degree murder and later pleaded guilty to the same in court.

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Also read: Dateline: Part of the Plan - 5 harrowing details about Nathan Paet's tragic fate, explored

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