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Family, Friends Pay Final Respects To Murdered Princeton Jogger

LEOMINSTER (CBS/AP) — Hundreds of family and friends paid final respects to Vanessa Marcotte who was killed while out for a run near her mother's home in Princeton.

A funeral Mass was held Tuesday morning for the 27-year-old at Our Lady of the Lake Roman Catholic church in Leominster. Saddened neighbors looked on from their lawns showing support for her grief-stricken family.

"God bless them, I hope they get through this with the least amount of pain, but I know that's not going to happen," an area resident said.

vanessa marcotte
Vanessa Marcotte's casket is brought into Our Lady of the Lake Roman Catholic Church in Leominster Tuesday. (WBZ-TV)

Marcotte's body was found on Aug. 7 in the woods near her mother's home in Princeton several hours after she went out for an afternoon run.

State police say they've received more than 600 tips in their investigation, but there have been no arrests.

"Somebody knows something out there. That's key that all these little tips out there will amount to something," said Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella.

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The special tip line for info about Vanessa Marcotte's murder. (WBZ-TV)

Marcotte grew up in Leominster, graduated from Boston University and worked as an account manager at Google in New York City.

"I want to help that family any way I can," a Leominster resident said. "I'm a stranger but I would just love to go up to that family and ask them anything I can do for them, even though I did not know her."

She will be buried at Woodside Cemetery in Westminster.

According to her obituary, the family is asking for contributions to be made in Vanessa's memory to Harlem Grown in New York, Tutoring Plus of Cambridge, Inc., or to the Matt Light Foundation for Crohn's Disease.

"Every day of the week, every minute, she had love. And that was really the hallmark of her life," said Mazzarella.

(TM and © Copyright 2016 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2016 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Kim Tunnicliffe reports

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