MAYVILLE, N.Y. — Pam Wakeley was just 18 at the time her younger 14-year-old sister, Patricia "Patty" Fairbanks, went missing in November 1972, after leaving her house in Jamestown. 

What You Need To Know

  •  There are about 40 unsolved cases in Chautauqua County, with evidence for about half

  •  The oldest case is the 1972 alleged murder of Patty Fairbanks

  • The Unsolved Crime Unit recently got a grant to help process evidence

Patty had gone to what used to be a drug store a block away. She was short a few cents when she got there, so she ran home to get more money and headed back out, but never made it to the store.

"It was terrible," said Wakeley. "We were hollering out the door [and] we went looking."

Patty's body was found a month later near her home, covered with snow.

"She'd been strangled and her voice box had been crushed," Wakeley said. "Her head had been bashed into the ground with a cement block."

More than 50 years later, Wakeley still has a tough time coping, especially since Patty's case has yet to be solved. 

"You don't get over the grief, and thinking of the terror and violence that she must have experienced," said Wakeley.

"The oldest case we have 1972, Patty Fairbanks," said Tom Di Zinno, senior investigator, Unsolved Crimes, Chautauqua County Sheriff's Office.

Di Zinno and Tom Tarpley make up the Chautauqua Unsolved Crimes Unit, complete with evidence for 20 out of 40 cases.

The unit recently received a $100,000 grant to work with crime labs for forensic testing, as blood, DNA and other analysis is now much more advanced.

"We have great hope for it," said Di Zinno. "There's no guarantees. We could use that money to enhance the stuff we have, to actually do more work at the same time and to take work that's already been done and go the next step."

Investigators have developed what they call "murder books" and a Facebook page for tips and information.

Both Toms come from California, and serve as a fresh set of eyes.

"What cases do we have that have the best potential for solving? And we also look at which ones are really at the core of the angst of the community," said DiZinno.

One of those cases is Patty's. She's buried in nearby Lakewood, and her grave marker reads "Man Can Kill The Body But Not The Soul." 

Wakeley has a picture of it full of flowers, grateful for the grant and the detectives helping her find some answers. 

"You never give up hope," she said. "That's something that's always in your heart. It won't bring her back, [but] at least it would give me some peace to know what happened. It's important to me that her killer is identified and at least it's a little bit of closure."

Other more well-known cases the unit is also working on includes the murder of Yolanda Bindics, and the longtime disappearances of Lori Bova and Corrie Anderson.