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Christine James
March 11, 2018
An arrest has been made in the 1986 murder of Tracy Gilpin, of Kingston.
Michael Hand – Photo courtesy Iredell Co, NC.
61-year-old Michael Hand, of Troutman, North Carolina, was arrested on Saturday night, in North Carolina, by Mass. State Police and local police.
Hand will be brought back to Plymouth County, Massachusetts to face murder charges.
15-year-old Tracy Gilpin was last seen alive leaving a party in Kingston, on October 1, 1986.
Her body was found three weeks later, in the Myles Standish State Forest.
Tracy was the sister of Col. Kerry Gilpin, the superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police.
Click here to listen to a March 2016 WATD interview with Tracy’s family and click hereto listen to a May 2017 interview with Tracy’s family.
Tracy Gilpin
“My family and I would like to thank Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz, the Plymouth County State Police Detective Unit, the Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab, the Kingston and Plymouth Police Departments, police in North Carolina, and all of the investigators who have worked diligently over the last 31 years to solve Tracy’s murder. We are also extremely grateful to the members of the public who have provided information to investigators. For the past three decades, we have remained hopeful that Tracy’s murderer would be identified. The much-welcomed news of an arrest in the case leaves us cautiously optimistic that justice for Tracy is within reach. My thoughts today are not just with my own family, but also with all the families who have lost loved ones to violence. We will continue to work tirelessly to find justice for all murder victims.”
Colonel
Massachusetts State Police