In July 1908, the body of 20-year-old Hazel Drew was discovered face-down in Teal’s Pond near Sand Lake, New York. Rumors of secret lovers, missing letters, and powerful suspects turned her death into both a ghost story and, decades later, the inspiration for Twin Peaks.

Source Materials

Jerry Drake, Hazel Was a Good Girl (Clash Books, 2023).

David Bushman & Mark Givens, Murder at Teal’s Pond: Hazel Drew and the Mystery That Inspired Twin Peaks (Thomas & Mercer, 2022)

Murder mystery haunts Rensselaer County 116 years later - WNYT.com NewsChannel 13

Before the Black Dahlia: The Unsolved Murder of Hazel Drew — and What It Reveals About Race, Crime, and Memory | byLawson Brooks | Certifiable | Aug, 2025 | Medium

Who Killed Hazel Drew? The 1908 Murder Case That Inspired Twin Peaks

Murder that inspired ‘Twin Peaks’ solved 100 years later: Book

A Pair Of Amateur Sleuths Believe They've Solved The Century-Old Murder That Inspired 'Twin Peaks'

The murder victim who inspired Twin Peaks haunted me for years... and helped me expose her TRUE killer | Daily MailOnline

Hazel’s brutal murder was all but forgotten. Until she inspired ‘Twin Peaks.’ - The Washington Post