LOUISVILLE, Ky. (FOX 56) — For decades, there was no apparent connection between the deaths of two women separated by more than 2,000 miles.
Now investigators in Kentucky and Oregon are exploring whether the man both women married could connect the cases.
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It was on July 5, 1972 when John Bridges reportedly found his wife, Joyce “Mable” Bridges, unresponsive at their Bent Oak Court home in Louisville, Kentucky. According to authorities, she was taken to Pewee Valley Hospital by “personal conveyance,” pronounced deceased, and taken to a funeral home.
“There was no initial police or EMS involvement,” Louisville police wrote on July 24, 2026.
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However, her body was exhumed in 2015 for an autopsy. According to Louisville police, experts found her death to be a homicide. They didn’t specify the cause or mechanism of death, but given the findings, LMPD Homicide’s Cold Case Unit is continuing its investigation.
More than 20 years later, in July 1993, John Bridges called police again. But this time in Gresham, Oregon.
According to the Gresham Police Department, officers were dispatched after he reported finding his wife, Astrid Bridges, unresponsive outside their home. At the time, the medical examiner ruled Astrid’s death accidental…