The Cigar girl

Mary Cecilia Rogers (born in 1820) was found dead on July 28th, 1841.

Although some sources state that she died in 1838, most sources say she was found dead on July the 28th, 1841.

EVENTS LEADING TO THE MURDER

Rogers was reported to be a beautiful woman who worked at the town's cigar shop in Lower Manhattan. She drew the attention of many famous writers and poets, including James Fenimore Cooper and Washington Irving, as well as Edgard Allen Poe.

Some sources state that in 1838, John Anderson, the cigar shop owner where Rogers worked, was involved in her temporary dissapearance. Sources claim that she disappeared for two weeks and then reappeared in front of Anderson's shop (according to the "Smithsonian Magazine"). She then quit from the cigar shop and started working for her mother in her boarding house.

According to this source, she was claimed to have disappeared twice, the second time she reappeared, what was found was her corpse.

Rogers lived in a boarding house, which was run by her mother in New York. It was reported that 3 days before her body was found, she had told her fiance' she was going to visit relatives.

She did not come back home, but the family assumed she had stayed at the relatives' house because of the bad weather.

The next morning came, and there was no sign of Rogers, at which point the relatives tell rogers' mother and fiance' that she had not shown up and she was not even expected.

Because she had a job at the local cigar store, she was denoted as the cigar girl. This name was used in articles published in newspapers about her disappearance.

Her disappearance was thought to be related either to local thugs or to her fiance', Daniel Payne. Having said this, authorities were not able to find any evidence to prove either of the theories.

CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION

Her partially clothed body was found in the Hudson river by some men walking by. They noticed what they thought was a pile of clothes floating in the nearby river and decided to investigate.

They soon realized that what they had originally thought to be a pile of clothes was actually a 21-year-old half-naked woman.

The remaining of her clothes were later found next to the Hudson, where Rogers' body was found. As authorities had thoroughly searched the area for clues in their investigation, this was a perplexing fact, which led authorities to believe that the clothing was placed after the murder and the search had happened.

POSSIBLE LEADS that authorities had

Payne committed suicide not much later, near the spot where Rogers was found. He left a note that said:

"To the world here I am on the very spot. May God forgive me for my misspent life. "

The only other possible clue that was given to authorities happened at the deathbed of a woman who owned the tavern near the crime scene. She stated that Rogers' death was related to a botched abortion. Although this would not explain the marks on Rogers' throat or why the body was later thrown in the Hudson.

Edgard Allen Poe wrote 'The mystery of Marie Roget' about Mary Rogers' murder. Although he changed the city from New York to Paris and concluded that the murder was committed by a naval officer.

Poe wrote Roger's story in the hopes of finding the culprit, but his detective was never able to settle on a single suspect. The same thing happened to authorities.

Although authorities put in a lot of effort to find the culprit, Rogers' murder has not been solved.

Her ghost was reported to have visited the various suspects which authorities thought to be the culprits at any one time. This was confirmed to be the case when Anderson stated that her ghost haunted him until the day he died.