NEW YORK — The remains of a New York schoolteacher who disappeared nearly 28 years ago have been discovered hidden in a false basement wall in the house where she lived with her husband, police said on Tuesday. JoAnn Nichols was 55 years old when her husband James reported her missing in 1985, police in Poughkeepsie, New York, said. He died in December of natural causes, they added. The remains were found when a contractor was asked to clean out the wood-frame house in Poughkeepsie, about 65 miles north of New York City. The house was filled with hoarded items and garbage, they said. The remains were identified as belonging to the missing woman on Monday through dental records. James Nichols told detectives he last saw his wife when he left for work at IBM in December 1985, according to Poughkeepsie Journal archives. Her body was discovered wrapped in a sheet and plastic bag, tied with rope and placed in a fetal position inside a plastic container that was found in a false wall, said Kari Reiber, the county's medical examiner. The location where she was found was enclosed, which might have helped hide the body's existence, she said. — Reuters
