[1] According to friends and acquaintances of Hopkins, he enjoyed cruising along the New York State Thruway and stopping by college towns in his Chevy Nova, often wearing a cowboy hat and a military coat in an attempt to pass himself off as a trooper.
[1] Hopkins' first confirmed victim was 19-year-old college student Joanne Pecheone, whom he abducted on January 12, 1972, while she was walking through an isolated wooded path towards her apartment in East Utica.
He then drove her to an isolated section of railroad tracks in Mohawk, where he subsequently raped and then stabbed her multiple times, before burying the body in a shallow grave.
Hopkins shoved a sponge in her mouth to prevent her from screaming, knocked her on the head and then stabbed her in the back, but before he could finish her off, he was frightened off by a nearby logger who was marking trees for a harvest.
[13] He remained incarcerated at the Great Meadow Correctional Facility in Comstock, New York until March 11, 2000, when he killed himself by slashing the back of his legs and wrists with a razor.
While pointing out that DNA evidence was inconclusive, McNamara noted that the similar modus operandi, eyewitness testimonies and footprints were exact matches to Hopkins.
[1] Following his identification, there have been speculations that he could have had other victims, with one prominent theory being that he killed 17-year-old college student Katherine Kolodziej in Cobleskill in 1974, but so far, authorities have been unable to link him to this or any other crimes.