Dark Downeast - The Murder of Jane Britton (Massachusetts)

Episode Date: April 10, 2023

MASSACHUSETTS, 1969: It was the morning of January 7, 1969 and 23-year old Harvard University graduate student Jane Britton should have been in class to take her exam. A dedicated and standout student of anthropology, Jane wouldn’t have missed a test unnecessarily.Jane was later discovered by her boyfriend and neighbors dead in her bed, the victim of a violent attack. Details of the investigation leaked to the media spiraled into sensational headlines of rumored ancient burial rituals with suspicion cast on Jane’s own anthropology classmates, while other clues at the crime scene led some officials to theorize that the attack was random and opportunistic.Investigators would come up empty handed in the case for decades until finally DNA evidence closed the unsolved mystery of the murdered Harvard Student.View source material and photos for this episode at darkdowneast.com/janebritton Dark Downeast is an audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.Follow @darkdowneast on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTokTo suggest a case visit darkdowneast.com/submit-case

It was the morning of January 7th, 1969, and 23-year-old Harvard University graduate student Jane Britton should have been in class to take her exam. A dedicated and standout student of anthropology, Jane wouldn't have missed a test unnecessarily. Her boyfriend took note of her absence, and as soon as class was over, he went to find Jane at her apartment in Cambridge. Jane was later discovered by her boyfriend and neighbors dead in her bed, the victim of a violent attack. Police chased down what little information they had. Some evidence leaked to the media

spiraled into sensational headlines of rumored ancient burial rituals with suspicion cast on Jane's own anthropology classmates, while other clues at the crime scene led some officials to theorize that the attack was random and opportunistic. Investigators would come up empty-handed in the case for decades until finally DNA evidence closed the unsolved mystery of the murdered Harvard student for good. I'm Kylie Lowe and this is the story of Jane Britton on Dark Down East. Those who knew her described Jane Sanders Britton as talented, with a zest for life. She loved to paint and cook.

She appreciated fine literature and classical music, especially Bach, and she played the organ. She earned her undergraduate degree at Radcliffe College, where her father, J. Boyd Britton, was a vice president. And she was an enormously confident student in her graduate studies in anthropology at Harvard University. Her primary interest was the Neolithic period from 5,000 to 6,000 BC, when the earliest villages were forming and animals were domesticated for use in agriculture. In the New York Times, writer Robert Reinhold summarizes Jane Sanders Britton as, quote, a bright, sophisticated, and purposeful student, and the well-adjusted product of a liberal, educated family and of private schools, a young woman who displayed an earthy character that

made her at ease with pop culture, armed with a sardonic wit often tempered with literary illusions, end quote. Her friends said she wasn't into partying or the drug scene at school, but she did go to parties and was friendly and kind to all characters passing through, even the quote-unquote non-Harvard and Radcliffe types. In 1969, Jane lived in an apartment on the fourth floor at 6 University Road in Cambridge. The building was owned by Harvard University, and the units, though not technically dorms, were largely occupied by students and faculty given its proximity to campus. A Record American article reports that Jane's apartment door was painted with gold leaf

and adorned with a sign with a quote. It said, Maybe, said Mrs. Kiley, she's an archaeologist because she didn't have a sandbox when she was little. September 1968. Jane lived alone in that apartment, Unit 8A, except for her cat and a pet turtle. January 6th, 1969 was a classic New England winter evening for Jane Britton and her beau James Humphreys. They went out to dinner on a double date with some friends and then went ice skating on the Cambridge Common. It was a Monday evening, a school night for the two Harvard University graduate students, so Jane and James returned to her apartment by 10.30pm.m. They talked about the exam that they had the next morning and relaxed with some hot cocoa before James left for the night.

It was 11.30 p.m. when he said goodbye. Before turning in for the night, though, Jane popped her head into the next-door apartment of her friends, the Mitchells. The police report doesn't give context, but it says that Jane went to get her cat. Maybe they watched the cat when she was away for long stretches of time, or maybe the cat just wandered the hall and ended up at their place. But regardless of why, Jane went to the Mitchells to find her cat, and while there, she chatted with her neighbors about the next morning's exam over

a glass of sherry. She left about 12.30 a.m. and went back to her apartment next door. She got ready for bed, put on her blue nightgown, and turned out the light. On the morning of January 7th, 1969, Jane should have been out the door and heading to her exam, the one she'd talked about with her boyfriend

and her neighbors just hours before. But Jane didn't show up. Her boyfriend James was confused by her absence. It wouldn't have been like Jane, a dedicated student, to miss an exam without any sort of explanation. According to the original police report, James Humphreys tried calling Jane at her apartment that morning, but she didn't answer, so he decided to stop by her place just to check in. He arrived at 6th University Road around 12.20 p.m. and knocked on Jane's door several times, but again, she didn't answer. James checked the doorknob and realized it was unlocked, so he stepped inside. James found Jane lying in bed, the lower half of her body nude and exposed with her head and torso covered with blankets and sheets. Her head was draped with a fur coat. Something looked off about it, the way she was laying there, but apparently James didn't

approach his girlfriend or try to rouse her. Instead, he went to find Jane's neighbors, Donald Mitchell and his wife, who lived just next door. James asked Mrs. Mitchell to take a look at Jane because he thought she might be ill. Two police reports are conflicting here, but either Mrs. Mitchell or her husband was the one to reach for the fur coat covering Jane's head, lowering it just enough to see that she was face down and covered in blood. They draped the fur coat back over Jane's legs and left the apartment in a hurry to call police. At 12.40 p.m., Lieutenant Leo Davenport of the Cambridge Police Department responded to 6th University, along with Officer Lyons. In muddled, cursive handwriting, Lieutenant Davenport detailed what he saw and did at the scene in a written statement. He stated that he met James, as well as Donald and his wife,

who led the officers into Jane's apartment. There, he observed Jane in her bed, legs touching the floor, the fur coat where either Donald or his wife had placed it when they found her there. Jane was very obviously the victim of something violent. Davenport notified his sergeant back at the station, requesting detectives to the scene. Patrolman Benny Capello assisted in the early investigation, questioning Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell about their neighbor. They told the officer that the last time they saw Jane Britton was just about 12 hours earlier, around 12.30 a.m. That's when she left their apartment after a quick drink and conversation. Officer Capello asked the Mitchells

if they'd heard anything that night after she left, any noise or voices or a disturbance, but they hadn't heard a thing. Jane Britton's body was removed and transported to the Watson Funeral Home to await autopsy and toxicology testing. A medical examiner and forensic pathologist issued the autopsy report, finding that Jane died as a result of multiple blunt injuries of the head with fractures of the skull and contusions and lacerations of the brain. If Jane Britton had been sexually assaulted, that information was not released with the autopsy report. Neither her body nor the scene showed signs of struggle, leading investigators to believe

that she was attacked while asleep. The toxicology screen revealed that Jane's blood alcohol was negative, but her stomach alcohol content was 0.08%, meaning that the drink she had with her next-door neighbors had not yet metabolized and hit her bloodstream. This gave a better timeline for the murder. It seemed Jane was killed just shortly after she returned to her apartment. Evidence collected at the scene and details learned from witnesses sent the case in several directions, including a more sensational spin that the press wouldn't let up on. According to officials who spoke to the media at the time, Jane's body appeared to be dusted with a fine reddish-brown powder, and splatters of the same substance was on her sheets as well as the walls and ceiling of her bedroom.

Upon further examination, it was believed that the powder was red ochre. Red ochre is clay pigmented by hematite, a red mineral containing oxidized iron. It's considered the world's oldest red paint, and it adheres to really any surface, including human skin, and doesn't wash away or decay. Red ochre paintings were found in caves dating back to the Paleolithic period, some 285,000 years ago. But red ochre is also commonly found at ancient burial sites. According to Paul Pettit, professor of Paleolithic archaeology at Durham University, who was interviewed by Live Science, the color red was considered in some cultures as a symbol of creation, of life and fertility.

The red ochre may have had a symbolic purpose at burial. In some archaeological discoveries, though, the red color could have symbolized something very different. Pettit explained that the presence of red ochre-stained bones of a woman who lived during the Paleolithic period led researchers to believe that the grave contained the remains of a quote-unquote indecent scarlet woman. As an anthropology student, it's not far-fetched that Jane and her classmates would know about the symbolism and uses of red ochre. The previous summer of 1969, Jane had traveled to

Iran on an archaeological expedition. According to Alan Sheehan's reporting for the Boston Globe, the group led by Harvard professor Karl Lamberg Karlovsky, was responsible for discovering Alexander the Great's lost citadel of Carmania. A 1969 case summary by Massachusetts State Police Detective Lieutenant Peter Agnes states that all members of the expedition group still living in Cambridge at the time of Jane's death, including Jane's boyfriend James Humphreys, were given a lie detector test about the killing and presumably about the presence of the red ochre on Jane's body and at the scene, but quote, they all appeared to be telling the truth, end quote. Media reports took the red ochre detail and ran with it, creating sensational headlines and stories. A Berkshire Eagle headline on January 9th reads, Death linked to ancient funeral rites. The piece itself quotes Detective Sergeant John Galligan,

who said that he understood, quote, the red powder indicated an ancient and weird funeral rite may have been performed on the dead girl, end quote. The next paragraph, though, also states that Jane was a talented painter, and the Red Ochre stains could have simply been from that hobby. Red Ochre was not hard to come by, and had mundane uses beyond burial ceremonies of the past. On January 10th, Cambridge Police Chief James F. Reagan ordered a news blackout on Jane's case. No one would be making any statements to the press unless it was cleared through his office. He cited several instances of inaccurate information making it into news reports about the investigation,

including the mention of Red Ochre as evidence of a possible ancient burial rite performed over Jane's body. Detectives worked to either rule out or include those closest to Jane as suspects during the early investigation. James Humphreys had his lie detector test, as did Jane's neighbors, the Mitchells. Police even polygraphed Jane's ex-boyfriend, who lived in Peru. She'd apparently been there visiting him just the weekend before her murder. All of the above were ruled out, and so the circle of possible suspects got wider. Jane's apartment building, 6 University Road, was Harvard-owned, and the building was purchased as part of a real estate development strategy by the university. At the time, at least, they intended to eventually tear it down. A Harvard official said that it was, quote,

in a key location for a national monument, end quote. According to 1969 reporting by Jeremiah Murphy for the Boston Globe, it was adjacent to MBTA Yards, which was a proposed site of the Kennedy Library. It was kind of obvious that this building was meant for possible demolition. Described as seedy and roach infested by the New York Times, Sixth University Road was an affordable and convenient place for students and faculty, but that's about where the amenities ended.

Rents were quite low, even for the time, at $85 a month. The Boston Globe notes that this was about half the average of the Harvard Square neighborhood. The low rent was reflected in the condition and maintenance of the building. Though state law at the time mandated that any building with more than four units have an automatic locking door, the locks at 6 University Road were believed to be inoperable or damaged. Anyone could gain access to the building without much effort if they wanted to, and James told police that Jane was known to keep her apartment door unlocked. Jane's neighbor, a woman named Carol Presser, told the Boston Globe

that the door to Jane's apartment was actually so warped that it couldn't be locked properly. What's more, Carol said that Jane believed her apartment had a gas leak, and so she kept one of her windows open almost all the time. Carol Presser also told The Globe writer Jared Weidman that her apartment didn't have a fire escape, and so she and her husband had a key to Jane's apartment, so if they ever needed to, they could use her fire escape. The front door of the building was unlocked. Jane's apartment, so if they ever needed to, they could use her fire escape. The front door of the building was unlocked. Jane's door was unlocked. Her window was open, and she had a fire escape leading directly into her flat. With the myriad security issues, it was possible that

Jane's attacker was a stranger, still unknown to the investigation. Investigators had found one set of unidentified fingerprints in Jane's apartment. They were sent for analysis and identification at the State Police Crime Lab and the FBI. In a time when DNA evidence was still a distant future reality, hoping for a match to that fingerprint was the best investigators could do. The investigation carried on as Jane Britton's family laid her to rest under a blanket of white roses in her hometown of Needham, Massachusetts. James Stack reported for the Boston Globe that plainclothes officers attended the ceremony, sitting among the hundreds of mourners, and investigators even filmed the service in case her killer could be sitting among the hundreds of mourners, and investigators even filmed the service in case her killer could be identified in the sea of attendees. Police sifted through

Jane's diary and personal phone index, where she documented the names and numbers of over 100 people. Dozens of Jane's acquaintances and classmates were tracked down for interviews, and even professors spoke to police to help paint a picture of her life and what could have made her a target for such a brutal attack. But any possible motive evaded police. An investigator on the case told Jerome Sullivan of the Boston Globe, quote, If only we had a motive here, we might get someplace. We have no handle to the case. We don't know whether we're dealing with a psycho, a sex fiend, a junkie, or a prowler, end quote. The murder weapon, too,

was a missing piece of the investigation, but theories emerged about what the killer had used to inflict the fatal injuries. James Stack for the Boston Globe reported that a sharp-edged archaeological stone that had been a gift from the Mitchells to Jane was at first thought to be missing from her apartment and could have been the murder weapon. But that rock was later recovered and ruled out. Other officials speculated that the weapon was a hand hatchet, a cleaver, or a pickhead hammer, the type used by archaeologists. Detectives chased down a lead about a missing leg from a table that was either disposed of by Jane's neighbors or Jane herself. The reports are conflicting there. They wondered, was the table leg used as a weapon that night?

Questions accumulated in the case of Jane Britton like New England winter snowfall, and the wheels of the investigation were spinning in slush. Police had no weapon, no motive, and no suspect. Cambridge Police Chief James Reagan told the Boston Globe, quote, we don't have a hell of a lot, end quote. Though it appeared that the case had frustratingly little to go on, police did have one major angle to consider. Jane Britton's murder was not the first murder at the University Road apartment complex. Police were exploring a possible connection to a then-unsolved murder from six years before in the very same building. In May of 1963, Beverly Simmons was found strangled and stabbed in her apartment.

The similarities in location and victim profile were compelling, but the MO was quite different. At the time, media reports note that police believed the death of Beverly was attributed to the so-called Boston Strangler, Albert DeSalvo, and Jane Britton's murder did not share many of the known characteristics of his crimes. Exactly one month after Jane Britton's death, police would have another possible connection to explore. On February 6th, 1969, 50-year-old Ada Bean was found beaten to death in her third-floor apartment at 41 Linnaean Street in Cambridge, less than a mile away from Jane's apartment building. Both Ada Bean and Jane Britton lived alone.

They were both killed by blows to the head with a blunt instrument, and both women were found in their beds with blankets or clothing placed on their heads. They both appeared to be motiveless attacks. In the case of Ada Bean, though, her apartment had been broken into, and there was no sign of forced entry at Jane Britton's apartment. The two women were also far apart in age. Still, the similarities were impossible to ignore.

Cambridge and state police investigated both homicides in tandem. The scene of Ada's killing also contained fingerprints of an unknown person, and a witness had actually told police of a strange younger man, quote, who was seen in the neighborhood under suspicious circumstances just prior to the killing, end quote. But Spring arrived in Cambridge, Massachusetts without an arrest in either of the cases of Jane Britton or Ada Bean. Though a grand jury heard testimony from about a dozen witnesses in Jane Britton's case between February and May of 1969, Middlesex County District Attorney

John Droney wouldn't comment on whether an indictment was imminent. Quote, I just feel the case has reached a point where it can be better investigated by a grand jury. Some of these witnesses will be going away for different reasons, and we'd like to get certain facts established and placed on the record. End quote. Droney also told the Boston Globe

that there was still no prime suspect. The fingerprints, the red ochre, the countless interviews with witnesses, and those who knew Jane best, none of it led detectives down any real path to answers. Within months, the leads dried up, and soon Jane Britton's case froze over. In 2017, nearly half a century since Jane Britton's murder, the case appeared no further along than in the very first days of the investigation. That's when outside researchers and journalists began digging around for more information. Boston Globe reporting by Todd Wallach in June of that

year details the efforts by independent writers and researchers, including Michael Widmer, one of the original journalists to report on the case. They were working to obtain case documents through formal records requests made to the Middlesex County District Attorney's Office. The requests were all denied. The DA claimed that the case was still active and releasing documents could jeopardize the integrity of the investigation. But it had been 48 years, and Jane Britton's story seemed all but forgotten by the public and investigators alike. The writers appealed each denial,

trying to prove that the investigation wasn't actually active, but the district attorney held strong. In a comment to the Boston Globe in 2017, DA Marion Ryan said that the case wasn't forgotten, and it had actually been revisited in recent years. In 2006, the DA's office had ordered DNA testing, and they had been considering further DNA testing with new technology that had emerged in the recent decade. Ryan had also stated that her office had followed up on tips that came in over the years, telling the Globe, quote, I think the public would be heartened to know the time and effort we continue to spend on these investigations, end quote. Michael Widmer

published an opinion piece in the Boston Globe in January of 2018, asking why DA Ryan was, quote-unquote, stonewalling on the cold case of Jane Britton. In the piece, he talks about a broadcasted debate between himself and D.A. Ryan that aired on WGBH public radio. During that debate, D.A. Ryan claimed that new DNA testing was in fact ordered, and it would be four to six weeks before her office would know if a profile could be developed. But over six months had passed at that point, and the DA released nothing new. Jane's parents had long since passed away, and her only surviving immediate family member, a brother, told the Boston Globe that he remained pessimistic that a killer would ever be found.

Still, journalists and writers and others continued to advocate for Jane's unsolved case, and the pressure on the district attorney's office mounted. In November of 2018, the Middlesex County District Attorney's Office did not release the over 2,000-page Jane Britton case file. Instead, they announced that Jane Britton's homicide had finally been solved. From the November 20, 2018 media release, Middlesex District Attorney Marion Ryan announced today that Michael Sumter, a career criminal with ties to Cambridge, has been identified as the person responsible for the 1969 murder of Jane Britton. Using DNA testing, investigators were able to initially exclude other potential persons of interest

and affirmatively identify Sumter as the perpetrator of this crime. Sumter has been linked to two other homicides of women in the Boston area. The 22-page report by the DA's office outlined the key details of the case already known to the public, as well as pieces of the investigation that were never revealed in the almost 50 years that Jane's case remained unsolved. The report also summarized the DNA evidence that ultimately led to the man responsible for Jane's death, Michael Sumter. The report notes that on the very first day of the investigation, January 7th, 1969, a resident of the apartment building went to police with a tip. The resident reported that they heard someone on the fire escape leading to Jane's apartment.

A second witness told police that they saw a man roughly six feet tall and 170 pounds running in the street around 1.30 in the morning, just an hour after Jane had returned home from her nightcap. The rough physical description of the stranger matched Michael Sumter's appearance in the early 70s. He was 5'11 and weighed 185 pounds when he was arrested in 1972. The physical description matched, but of course, investigators had more than that. According to the report, advanced DNA testing by the Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab in 2017 was able to obtain a YSTR profile from the original swabs for the first time in the history of the investigation. YSTR stands for Y-Chromosome Short Tandem Repeat. In simple terms, it's a DNA marker on the Y chromosome that repeats itself in a specific pattern, and it's useful for identifying male lineage as they are passed down from father to

son. The YSTR profile from the evidence was submitted to CODIS, the Combined DNA Index System, and soon after, the crime lab found a match to a sample on file for Sumter, who was then an already known serial rapist and killer. Sumter lived in Cambridge as a child and went to public school in the district. He had a girlfriend in the area in the 1960s, and in 1967, he worked on Arrow Street in Cambridge, about one mile from Jane's apartment. Sumter also had a list of terrifying attacks to his name, some attributed to him through DNA testing only after he died in 2001. According to the timeline of his offenses, Jane was Sumter's first victim in a string of violent homicidal and sexual attacks, and she was one of three homicides connected to him. However, he was never arrested

or charged for any homicides in his lifetime. He did, however, face charges and prison time for rape before he died. The DA's 2018 report also cleared up one of the more sensational and enduring details in the case, the presence of red ochre at the scene and on Jane's body. It turned out that the red ochre was nothing more than a red herring, that is, just a piece of distracting but unrelated information. Jane Britton's only surviving immediate family member, her brother Boyd Britton, released a statement via the Middlesex County DA's office upon the conclusion of her case. It reads, A half-century of mystery and speculation has clouded the brutal crime that shattered Jane's promising young life and our family. As the surviving Briton, I wish to thank all those friends, public officials, and press who persevered in keeping this investigation active,

most especially State Police Sergeant Peter Sennett. The DNA evidence match may be all we ever have as a conclusion. Learning to understand and forgive remains a challenge. Portions of the case file were finally released to the public upon the closure of Jane's case. The pieces included photos of Jane and her apartment, snapshots of her Harvard Law School notebook that she used for her old-world Paleolithic course, and there was also a photo of a handwritten note by Jane to an unknown recipient.

Her words sound almost plucked from a song or a poem. It reads, By the time you get back, the picture in your mind of me may be quite fuzzy around the edges. That's alright. Remember me any way you like, but remember me. Love, but you already know that anyway. J.B. 1966. The closure of Jane Britton's 1969 homicide 50 years after the fact, is another tick in the win column for modern-day DNA analysis in long-standing cold cases. As a journalist myself, though, I have to wonder if the case

would have been solved when it had if not for those writers and researchers putting pressure on the Middlesex County DA's office to release the case file. I'm also left to wonder about what I think is a loose end in this story, a case adjacent to Jane Britton's and, for a time, a case that was investigated with a possible connection in mind. Attention on Ada Bean's murder, which occurred just one month after Jane and less than a mile away, appears to have faded with little resurgence in the last 53 plus years. Her name was mentioned in a few pieces covering the closure of Jane's investigation in 2018, but that year prosecutors told the Boston Globe that nothing in their investigation suggested that Michael Sumter

was also responsible for the homicide of Ada Bean. Ada's name is included in a document by the Cambridge PD listing homicides in Cambridge between the years of 1959 and 1989. The document notes that some records were damaged or destroyed during a significant flood at the 5 Western Avenue police headquarters, and so some of the information about the cases was either incomplete or missing entirely. For Ada's case, the only details listed are the date of her homicide, February 6th, 1969, her address, 41 Linnaean Street, and one sentence about the case, bludgeoned to death in her apartment. It's the same exact one line that describes Jane Britton's solved homicide two places up on the list. I reached out to my contact with the Cambridge Police Department to ask about Ada's case. Detective David Atherton informed me, as I expected, that the district

attorney's office leads the unsolved cases such such as Ada's, and any information that can be provided would come from them. But he told me he'd check the status for me anyway. Three days later, I got an email back from Detective Atherton. Quote, I have been informed the case is unsolved and still active. End quote. I've submitted a public records request to the Middlesex County DA's office in hopes of learning more about the case of a 50-year-old woman

whose death has remained unsolved now longer than she was even alive. Maybe they'll give them to me on first try. Maybe they won't. But at the very least, it'll be a friendly tap on the shoulder, reminding investigators that we haven't forgotten about Ada. If Jane Britton's case can reach a conclusion after half a century, maybe closure is possible in Ada Bean's death, too. To be continued... you're listening right now. The best way to support this show is to leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Facebook and share this episode or any episode with your friends. If you have a personal

connection to a case I should cover, if you are a member of a family or law enforcement, please contact me at hello at darkdowneast.com. Thank you for supporting the show and allowing me to do what I do. I'm honored to use this platform for the families and friends who have lost their loved ones and for those who are still searching for answers in cold missing persons and homicide cases.

I'm not about to let those names or their stories get lost with time. I'm Kylie Lowe, and this is Dark Down East.