There are four unresolved murders on the books in Bangor – Trevor Sprague in 2006, 8-month-old Aisha Dickson in 1997, Peter J. Bassett in 1988 and Effie MacDonald in 1965.

With the population of Maine’s third largest city about 32,000, the numbers are relatively low, but “any that are unsolved are too many,” Lt. Tim Reid, who leads Bangor Police Department’s detective division, said Thursday.

All four are considered “cold cases” but remain open with active ongoing investigations, except for the murder of MacDonald who was killed 43 years ago, Reid said.

. Effie MacDonald was a 54-year-old chambermaid at the Bangor House when she was brutally raped and strangled to death with her nylons on March 18, 1965. Her murder happened in a room on the third floor of the downtown hotel and sent a wave of terror through the community, prompted by speculation that she was killed by the Boston Strangler, whose activity in Boston was just hitting a peak in 1965.

. Peter J. Bassett, 39, was an off-duty Bangor mail carrier who was shot and killed outside of Judy’s Bar and Grill on State Street on Aug. 13, 1988. Police found his body, still clothed in his postal uniform and with a gunshot wound to the head, several hours after he got off work.

. Aisha Mariah Dickson was beaten to death in a Bald Mountain Drive apartment on Jan. 6, 1995. An autopsy revealed that nearly every bone in her 11-pound body had been broken in her short life, save for her spine. Her mother, father and grandmother were in the apartment at the time of her death, but each hired a lawyer and refused to talk to police, leaving investigators little to work with.

. Trevor Sprague, 34, was a transient from Lubec whose body was found burning under the Harlow Street bridge March 7, 2006. Police are releasing few details about his death, but have deemed it a homicide.

“Cold cases are assigned to detectives for additional follow up, with a new set of eyes, a fresh set of eyes, to see if there is anything we can do with it,” Reid said. “That’s why they rarely get closed.”

Det. John Robinson is leading the investigation on the Dickson case, Det. Tim Cotton is in charge of the Bassett case and Detective Brent Beaulieu is handling the Sprague case.