SODUS, N.Y. — Police have opened a homicide investigation after matching human remains found in 2020 to Judith Geurin, a woman who went missing in Wayne County 33 years ago.

The Wayne County Sheriff’s Office, New York State Police, and the Wayne County District Attorney’s Office spoke at a news conference on Friday about the investigation.

Geurin was last seen on Feb. 20, 1991, in Sodus. All of her belongings were left behind in her apartment. In October 2020 hunters found remains on Garner Road near the Chimney Bluffs. After four years of investigating, police were able to match those remains to Geurin.

“During the course of the investigation after the recovery of those remains, we developed additional forensic evidence that now leads us to classify this case no longer as a missing person investigation, but a homicide investigation,” acting Wayne County District Attorney Christine Callanan said.

Investigators believe she vanished in 1991 from a trailer park in Sodus Point, but it wasn’t until 15 years later when the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office looked into it as a missing-person investigation. Why? They needed enough information to confirm she actually was missing. Fast forward to 2018, when new technology advanced the case, launching more searching and more forensic testing.

News10NBC talked with Judy’s daughter Amy Kusaywa in 2018. She said the mother of five was loving and family-oriented. She also said Judy had trouble coping with the death of her husband and moved to Sodus Point with a new boyfriend.

“I believe my mother was preyed upon by a predator who has a history of violence, and criminal behavior, and I believe that the money ran out from my father’s inheritance, you know, life insurance, the money that she got, and that predator no longer needed her,” she said.

Police didn’t provide details on how she may have died. They’re asking anyone with information that can help with their investigation to call the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office tip line at (315) 946-5800.

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