MANCHESTER – As Lisa Post and Moira Black tacked posters showing a smiling, attractive blonde woman to poles and other surfaces at Bunny’s Superette Sunday, a middle-aged man walked over, studied one of the posters, and approached the women.

“Oh yes, I remember her,” he told them. “Saw her walking (to Bunny’s) often. Very nice woman, always smiled, said ‘hi.’”

It’s precisely the kind of response that Post, Black and more than a dozen other family and friends of 2010 murder victim Lynne Melk Brennan hoped for Sunday afternoon. Gathering across the street from 267 River Road, the apartment house in which Brennan was attacked and killed Oct. 12, 2010, the group fanned out with posters and pleas to passersby in hopes of triggering a memory that could help lead police to the young woman’s killer.

“My sister was so pretty, so friendly, it makes it easier for people to remember her,” said Post, the youngest of the three Melk sisters who grew up in Litchfield, Conn. “We’d go shopping, she’d be chatting with the cashiers, asking them about their families and how they are,” she added with a smile.

A teen model who appeared on the cover of American Girl and other magazines in the mid-70s, Brennan was 53 when she was found dead in the apartment. An autopsy ruled her death a homicide, but details of how she died haven’t been made public. Police said recently they continue to allocate manpower to the investigation.

Post, who now lives in the Chicago area, said police “have a lot of pieces to the puzzle,” but the crucial pieces that will solve the puzzle remain elusive.

Before moving to Manchester, Brennan and her husband, John D. Brennan, lived in Hudson for a number of years. Their three boys, Jason, now 27, Drew, 24 and Clay, 22, grew up in Hudson and graduated from Alvirne High School. The couple, married nearly 30 years, was in the process of a divorce when Lynne Brennan was murdered.

Post said the nearly two years of wondering who, how and why has been compounded by the discovery not long before Brennan’s death that her marriage had been fraught with domestic violence. “I kept encouraging her, ‘be independent, be independent,’” Post said. “Here she was, trying to be strong, moving (to Manchester) to try to make a life for herself, then this.”

Post said her sister’s abusive marriage prompted her to invite representatives of local anti-domestic violence agencies on Sunday. Katie Schelzel, director of programs for YWCA New Hampshire’s crisis services, said it’s quite common for relatives and friends of domestic violence victims to be unaware of the abuse, sometimes for years.

When they do find out, guilt usually follows, Schelzel said. “People feel guilty because they had no idea,” she said. “But that’s usually the case, because the abuse almost always happens behind closed doors.”

She and Post said Brennan had been receiving support from the Nashua-based advocacy center Bridges during her divorce and move to Manchester. Post said police have been unsuccessful in subsequent attempts to interview John Brennan, who retained a lawyer shortly after the incident. “It’s very difficult for the family, especially the boys,” Post said of Drew, Jason and Clay Brennan, who took part in Sunday’s campaign.

“Every month that goes by, we just keep thinking, scratching our heads, what happened,” Drew Brennan said. “It’s really hard.”

After college, Drew Brennan said he lived briefly with his mother before she moved to Manchester. “She really liked it here,” he said, gesturing toward the large apartment house on the corner of Monroe Street. When I moved back to Nashua, she wanted to stay here.”

Meanwhile, Post and Black said they were buoyed by the response they got while tacking up and distributing the posters Sunday. “We’ve put almost 300 of them around the city, mostly in this area,” Post said of her sister’s former neighborhood. “One man said he told police about a white car with New York plates (at the time of the murder) but wasn’t sure if it helped,” Post said. “I told him, it doesn’t matter, call (police) again. It might help now.”

The posters, many of them garnished with a lavender ribbon, show Lynne Brennan flashing the bright smile everyone remembers, her family said. Wording includes “Lynne Melk Brennan: Our beloved daughter, sister, mother and friend – we miss you!” and beneath the photo, a plea to help “ … put the killer behind bars.”

In the meantime, Post said, she and others who knew and loved her sister are doing about all they can do – spread awareness, refresh memories, remind neighbors a killer is still at large and hope someone remembers something, no matter how small or unimportant it may seem, and contacts police.

“Anything. Anything at all,” Post said. “The police told us that the tiniest detail sometimes makes the biggest difference. I’m telling people that even if you called (police) before, call again. You might have that piece that solves the puzzle.

“We’re not going to give up until this is solved,” she added. “We want the killer to know that.”

Dean Shalhoup can be reached at 594-6443 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com. Also, follow Shalhoup on Twitter (@Telegraph_DeanS).