Bernard Duffy allegedly rapes and murders Loretta Peabody

After having drinks with one Loretta Peabody at a bar and grill on Third Avenue, the defendant [Mahoney, a WPA worker from Northern Ireland] was seen walking with her to a vacant building at 211 East 126th Street. The following day, Peabody’s body was found in the basement of said premises – having been strangled and cut with a knife after an act of sexual intercourse. The defendant alleged that they had had sexual intercourse, but that she had been too drunk to get up afterwards, and that she was “lying on the floor” when he left.