A murder mystery haunts Rensselaer County 116 years later

SAND LAKE – Fans of the show “Twin Peaks” know that the 1990 drama begins with the death of Laura Palmer. Her body was found near a lake in a small town. What many people may not know is that the inspiration behind the television show came from right here in the Capital Region. Specifically, it was the small town of Sand Lake in Rensselaer County. Although Laura Palmer’s killer was eventually discovered more than 100 years later, Hazel Drew’s case remains unsolved.

The mystery dates back to 1908. Drew was found face down in Teal’s Pond on July 7, her skull crushed. She was only twenty years old.

Drew grew up in East Poestenkill and went to work for some powerful men in the city of Troy. Some believe she was involved with some of these men. Many agreed that Drew was living a double life. She was widely traveled and dressed far beyond her station as a domestic worker. Her murder drew crowds to the small community, many of whom rented carriages to travel to the pond to see where her body was found. It didn’t take long for investigators to track down their first suspects, and they didn’t have to look far. William Taylor was Drew’s uncle and he lived on nearby Mosher Road.

“Hazel was thought to be in trouble, so she spent part of the winter with her aunt and uncle,” said Sand Lake historian Bob Moore. “So William Taylor was a suspect, a prime suspect.”

There was a large area of ​​woods between the pond and Taylor’s house. “He could have avoided the roadway by taking the body to the pond, but then they dismissed him as a suspect,” Moore said.

Several suspects were investigated and dismissed. A motive for the crime was never discovered. Investigators were accused at the time of ignoring leads and even burying evidence to protect several powerful suspects. The unsolved crime inspired rumors, speculation and, almost 100 years later, a television program.

The unsolved murder has inspired several books and films as the search for her killer continues to this day. Most notably, it inspired author Mark Frost to create the hit television show “Twin Peaks,” based on his childhood summers in Sand Lake. His grandmother told him stories about the ghost of Hazel Drew who legendary haunted the woods.

“It came down to Mark Frost, who worked with David Lynch, hearing stories from his grandmother on Taborton about the ghost of a young woman haunting the hills and, you know, getting him home on time,” Moore said . “So there was a connection.”

A 2022 book, “Murder at Teal’s Pond: Hazel Drew and the Mystery that Inspired Twin Peaks,” claims to reveal who exactly killed the young woman.

Historians and amateur researchers have kept the case alive by examining the events and talking about who the killer might be.

Moore said they’ve gotten pretty close.

“We have done a lot of work. We had roundtable discussions, David Bushman and Mark Evans, the authors of “Murder of Teals Pond,” came to visit us a number of times. We had people from the community come and talk about what they knew and what they had heard from family members, or what they knew about the murder.

NewsChannel 13 did our own investigation. We have contacted the Rensselaer County District Attorney’s Office regarding the status of this now unsolved case. District Attorney Mary Pat Donnelly told us her office is open to reopening the investigation if concrete evidence emerges.

NewsChannel 13 also reached out to the Rensselaer County Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff Kyle Bourgault believes any evidence that could have been in the custody of the sheriff’s office after the initial investigation has been destroyed over the past 116 years.

However, the Sand Lake community is keeping Drew’s memory alive. Maybe she never even left. This month, a ‘Legends and Lore’ marker was placed on Taborton Road, a short distance from where Drew was murdered. It says:

“SPIRIT OF A YOUNG WOMAN SAID TO WALK THROUGH THE FOREST ALONG THE ROAD TO THE NEARBY POND WHERE HER BODY WAS FOUND AFTER A MYSTERIOUS DEATH IN JULY 1908.”

Along with Mark Frost’s grandmother, Moore said he has heard ghost stories about Drew since he became town historian in 2013.

“I got a call from an Albany cop saying he saw something. He called it an apparition at a party not far, maybe 100 yards in that direction,” Moore told us as he stood near Hazel’s final resting place. “He asked his wife who that beautiful woman with the long white dress was, and she thought he was crazy,” Moore said. “He asked someone else, and then he said, ‘I must have done that.’ I must have seen an apparition. ”

That wasn’t the only story.

“There was a woman driving a car through Averill Park, near the Jiffy Mart and the top of the hill…of Orient Avenue, and she thought she had hit someone. It was early evening and she stopped and went back to look, but there was no one there and there was nothing. And I immediately associated it with Hazel coming in on a cart… walking down Orient Avenue.”

NewsChannel 13 asked Moore if he thinks Drew is at peace.

“There are too many unanswered questions,” he says. “If the body of a young woman were found today, that crime would be solved… In 1908, not much attention was paid to it, which is also a crime.”