TULSA, Okla. — The case of a New York woman found murdered in Tulsa still has investigators piecing the puzzle together.
Lisa Bollaert was found dead in 2009 and to this day, there are little answers.
To understand the few details of this case, it’s important to go back to the very beginning.
“Lisa was originally from New York and had walked away from a mental health facility in New York and started hitch hiking her way across the U.S. and ended up here in Oklahoma where she essentially ended up running out of money,” said Lt. Brandon Watkins.
Investigators say Lisa was a bit of a wanderer who also struggle with mental health issues.
She spent some time serving in the U.S. military prior to being diagnosed, and according to Tulsa Police, had spoken with recruiters in Tulsa before she went missing.
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Officers say at one point, she ended up at a women’s shelter in Sand Springs and was last seen walking along the roadway.
“The next thing you know, they found her body wrapped in garbage trash sacks and bound up with tape at 81st and Elwood in a yard,” said Watkins.
Investigators believe Lisa was killed at another location and that her body was later dumped in south Tulsa in the front yard of a home.
“We had gotten called by the owners of the yard. They had called and it looked like this body had been wrapped up in this paper or this plastic. For a few days, they were running news stories to try and determine who she was, and the women’s shelter reached out and said that she had walked away from there,” said Watkins.
Bill Satterfield owns the famous, White House mansion which sits just around the corner from where Lisa’s body was found and says he remembers that dreadful day.
“All I recall is hearing the address where there was a body found on the radio and I tried to drive by. There was police tape, and it was around the corner from me,” said Satterfield.
He says he still wonders what happened to the former military veteran and how she ended up brutally murdered.
‘It’s such a tragedy and for it to happen in such an unusual and safe place and it just seemed as the radio said as I recall that it appeared to just be randomly dumped in this location and that the crime scene was elsewhere,” said Satterfield.
Investigators ran DNA on the trash sacks and tape that bound Lisa’s body, but to this day, they have yet to get a solid lead on a suspect.
“There are so many disturbing elements to this murder that you know it definitely sticks in the minds of all the detectives that were here at the time and have come in since,” said Watkins.
If you have any information about the death of Lisa Bollaert, you are asked to contact the Tulsa Police Department’s homicide unit.
That number is 918-596-9135.
You can also send an email to www.homicide@cityoftulsa.org.
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