The Music Box Murder: How an Unnerving Gift and a DNA Profile Solved a Cold Case
What happens when the husband is the ‘good guy’ for 25 years?
We’ve all gotten that cringey gift. Maybe it’s lingerie we wouldn’t feel comfortable wearing. Or a piece of jewelry that borders on gaudy. Or a sweater we wouldn’t be caught dead in. Most of the time, we shrug it off. We might not be crazy about the fire-engine red garter belt or the ginormous rhinestone earrings but we love our guy and it makes us smile because, hey, he tried.
Less often, we get those gifts that make us wonder if we know the giver as well as we thought we did. Sometimes they may even haunt us. When 22-year-old Gary Schara gave his young wife a music box he bought at Brittany’s Card and Gift Shoppe, Joyce didn’t think much of it at first. She loved trinkets and Gary knew that. He told her a “little old lady” with gray hair had sold it to him and she had no reason to doubt his story.
That is, until a pretty, blue-eyed woman who worked at the Agawam store disappeared during her night shift in April of that year. Lisa Ziegert had a mass of curly chestnut brown hair and a mischievous smile. The 24-year-old was a vibrant, fun-loving person who had many friends and a steady boyfriend.
