Possible Webster Link Found

Another chapter was added to the nine-year old mystery of Joan L. Webster this week, when police uncovered a body in Hamilton, Mass., that resembles the missing Harvard graduate student.

But police were quick to point out that they had not yet received a positive identification of the remains, saying that chances are good they are not those of Webster, who disappeared in November, 1981.

"We have absolutely no idea who this girl is," said Sgt. Robert A. Smith of the Hamilton police, "We have 100 people it could be."

Smith added that Essex county officials plan to check the body against Webster's dental records in an attempt to arrive at a final identification by Sunday.

Formerly a student at the Graduate School of Design, Webster was last seen at Logan Airport on November 28, 1981, after returning from Glen Ridge, N.J., where she was celebrating Thanksgiving with her family.

Her disappearance sparked an intense year-long search that spanned four New England states and spawned a vast array of highly-publicized rumors as to her whereabouts. The discovery of the Hamilton body was first reported in The Boston Herald, which reported yesterday that the skeleton had been linked to Webster.

The skeletal remains were described by police as those of a 5-ft., 5-inch female with brown hair in her early 20s, weighing 118 pounds. The description roughly--but not exactly--matches that of Webster, who was reportedly 5-ft., 2-inches tall, weighing 122 pounds.

Uncovered beneath a pile of decomposing leaves in a shallow grave near Chebacco Rd., the body was estimated to have been dumped there between two and 10 years ago. Police Chief William D. Cullen told The Associated Press.

The corpse appeared to have suffered a violent beating resulting in a fractured skull, two broken ribs and a misshapen jaw that police suggest may also have been broken. Smith said.

The victim's parents also expressed doubt that the uncovered corpse was their daughter.

"Of course, it's being checked out," said George Webster, "but the location doesn't seem to correlate. Circumstances pointed to her being taken out in a boat and dumped at sea. This is somewhere way up north and that doesn't tie into anything."

According to police, the body was found wearing a 15-inch gold chain and an amethyst ring, and two pairs of boots were found within 50 feet of the victim.

"She does have that type of jewelery," said Webster, "but it is a very common type of jewelery. The boots that were found are muck-ruck boots--heavy, cloggy boots, not the kind she would wear."

Webster's parents declared their daughter legally dead in 1989, eight years after her disappearance.

"We believed all along that she was murdered," said her father, adding that that the paperwork could have been done much earlier.