LOWELL — It was about four decades ago when 19-year-old Brenda LaCombe walked out of her grandmother’s apartment in Lowell.

She was never seen alive again.

On June 4, 1982 — approximately three weeks after the Lowell teen left her grandmother’s apartment — LaCombe’s partially nude and badly decomposed body was found in a wooded area off Route 111 in Harvard. Her clothing had been shredded and she had been badly beaten.

The condition of LaCombe’s body was so bad, an autopsy was unable to determine the cause of death, only that her death was “not natural,” according to her death certificate.

No one has ever been charged with LaCombe’s murder.

Lacey Kearns, LaCombe’s niece, organized a candlelight vigil that took place outside Lowell City Hall on Saturday night. The event was used as a way to shine light on the now 40-year-old mystery that surrounds LaCombe’s death.

Several of LaCombe’s loved ones, as well as Mayor Sokhary Chau, City Councilor Rita Mercier and Lowell Police Acting Superintendent Barry Golner addressed attendees from the steps of City Hall.

“She was a beautiful, kind person,” said Melissa Economakis, LaCombe’s childhood friend. “We remember you and we always will.”

Kearns points out the 40th anniversary of the tragedy has stirred up emotions in her family. Kearns said that is particularly true for her mother, Barbara Sullivan, who for years after her sister’s death was out knocking on doors and researching newspaper articles searching for answers.

“It’s making her reflect on everything in life after so much time has passed,” Kearns said about the 40th anniversary of the tragedy.

Lacombe was a single mother raising a 9-month-old baby boy at the time of her disappearance and death.

On the day she vanished,…