Three Years Later, Frug Probe Remains Open

Three years after law professor and Radcliffe Bunting stabbed to death in a nearby Cambridge neighborhood, police still do not know who did it or why.

Hypotheses about the motive for the crime include everything from political differences to the revenge of former students over poor grades, said Jill Reilly, a spokesperson for the Middlesex County District Attorney's Office.

The case remains open, and hundreds of people have been interviewed in connection with the investigation, Reilly said.

But for now, investigators see no clear motive, few leads and too many suspects.

No avenue of inquiry has yet been ruled out, according to Reilly. She declined to comment on the specifics of any of the leads, however.

"We feel there are people out there who know about this," Reilly said. "So I can't go into details about what we do or don't know."

She also would not comment on whether my members of Frug's family are under investigation.

The murder of Frug, a feminist legal scholar who was a pioneer of the controversial Critical Legal Studies movement, capped a wave of violent crime the set all of Harvard on edge in the spring of 1991.

In just the first two weeks of April 1991, there were two sexual assaults on women in the Cambridge area, a rape in the Harvard housing complex on Linnaean St. and a kidnapping attempt in the parking lot of the Porter Square Galleria.

Frug was stabbed seven times with a serrated military knife in the abdomen, pelvis and thigh. According to theforensic investigation, each one of the woundswould have been enough to kill her.

Frug was a Bunting Fellow at Radcliffe Collegeat the time of her death. And her husband is LawSchool Professor Gerald E. Frug, making the crimeseem uncomfortably close to home forHarvard-Radcliffe students and faculty.

"We even get calls for the escort service whenpeople want to go outand get an orange juice," then-President Derek C.Bok said at the time.

But more than the violence of the crime set itapart from the other assaults on women thatspring.

There was no evidence of sexual assault ormotivation. The assailant stole nothing of Frug's,leaving her handbag lying on the sidewalkuntouched.

And the attack happened in the middle of themorning in one of the safest neighborhoods inCambridge, near the Bunting Institute, not farfrom the house of Governor William F. Weld '66.

Police found the murder weapon, a K-barmilitary knife with a serrated edge, a day afterthe killing. The knife was free of blood ortissue, but matched the wounds on Frug's body,according to the police report.

Although Reilly could not comment on whetherthe knife has yielded any clues to the assailant'sidentity, calls by The Crimson found that similarknives are commonly available at local sportinggood stores

Frug was a Bunting Fellow at Radcliffe Collegeat the time of her death. And her husband is LawSchool Professor Gerald E. Frug, making the crimeseem uncomfortably close to home forHarvard-Radcliffe students and faculty.

"We even get calls for the escort service whenpeople want to go outand get an orange juice," then-President Derek C.Bok said at the time.

But more than the violence of the crime set itapart from the other assaults on women thatspring.

There was no evidence of sexual assault ormotivation. The assailant stole nothing of Frug's,leaving her handbag lying on the sidewalkuntouched.

And the attack happened in the middle of themorning in one of the safest neighborhoods inCambridge, near the Bunting Institute, not farfrom the house of Governor William F. Weld '66.

Police found the murder weapon, a K-barmilitary knife with a serrated edge, a day afterthe killing. The knife was free of blood ortissue, but matched the wounds on Frug's body,according to the police report.

Although Reilly could not comment on whetherthe knife has yielded any clues to the assailant'sidentity, calls by The Crimson found that similarknives are commonly available at local sportinggood stores