ALEXANDER, N.Y. (WKBW) — It was 29 years ago Thursday that Ann Lee Rippel was found dead by Tonawanda Creek in the Town of Alexander. Her killing remains a mystery.
Rippel was last seen alive on the night of April 22, 1997, in Batavia. She was believed to be trying to get a ride to Rochester.
"And that was the last anybody had seen of her until the following morning, when she was found in the creek," Janet Rippel said.
Her body was found the next morning, partially unclothed, with duct tape around her neck and near her mouth. She was discovered by Tonawanda Creek near the intersection of West Bethany and Brookville Roads in Alexander.
The location is about five or six miles away from Batavia. Janet Rippel pointed out that her sister did not have a car or a license, so she believes someone had to have brought her all the way there.
There have been a few leads over the years, but no arrests.
"It's a constant reminder every time it comes along, every year," Rippel said.
WATCH: Sister of Genesee County cold case homicide victim hoping for justice
I spoke with Genesee County Sheriff Joseph Graff by phone on Thursday after he sent out a press release reminding the public about this cold case.
He told me his office just secured a grant from Season of Justice, a nonprofit organization that fundraises to help cold case investigations, to do new DNA testing in this case with Othram, a specialized forensics lab in Texas.
"We're hoping on this anniversary that somebody is willing to bring forward some information and maybe combine that with a new investigative techniques, and the DNA analysis that we're going to do, maybe we can get some answers," Graff said.
Janet Rippel is holding out hope that one day she will know who killed her sister.
"Anyone out there that has any kind of information at all, whether they think it's the smallest little bit of information, it could turn into something huge," Rippel said.
She urged anyone to forward to the Genesee County Sheriff's Office at (585) 343-5000 or Sheriff.Dept@geneseeny.gov. She also would welcome tips to her Facebook page for her sister: Remembering Annie.
"We've always said, you know, hopefully, hopefully, before we go, we can find it, we can find who's responsible for Annie's death," Rippel said.
She also had a message for her sister on this sad day.
"I just said: 'Hey, miss you. Still hoping someday we can find out what happened,'" Rippel said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
