The Murder of Yvonne Torch

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The morning of June 9th, 2004 began as a regular day for Yvonne Torch. The 31-year-old woman went to work that day at her business called "His and Hers Hair Salon" in Newburgh, New York. Around 10:00 AM, Yvonne saw a familiar client: her husband's grandmother. That appointment lasted approximately 30 minutes, and the grandmother left the salon before 10:40 AM. The next customer, who arrived around 10:55 AM, stumbled upon a horrific scene: Yvonne was on the floor, laying in a pool of her own blood. It was later determined she had died from blunt force trauma to the head.

Investigators were quickly able to conclude that Yvonne was killed within a small timeframe between salon clients. Still - many other questions remained; namely - who killed her? And why? A motive to kill Yvonne still remains unclear to this day. Yvonne and her husband, Pierre Torch, had lived in the Newburgh area for several years. The two raised Yvonne's daughter from a previous relationship and also had a child of their own. Yvonne opened her salon in 1994 and ran a successful business. By all accounts, she was a beloved member of the community.

Shortly before the murder, Yvonne and Pierre had decided to move their family to Florida. According to Pierre, the two of them were in the beginning stages of planning their move during June 2004. The family would unfortunately never get the chance to start this next chapter, as Yvonne was killed before they even found a new house. 

Detectives thoroughly investigated Pierre as a potential suspect, but he was eventually ruled out. After that, detectives began looking at other potential suspects. In 2022, a detective told Dateline that "there were a lot of possibilities of who could have killed her, but they never really narrowed down the list." It appears that to this day, detectives have not been able to close in on a prime suspect.

Yvonne's murder remains unsolved. If you have any information that could help the investigation, please contact the New York State Police Department at (845) 344-5370 or e-mail crimetip@troopers.ny.gov.
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Sources:
Inside Edition
NBC News
New York State Troopers
Uncovered