Virginia Artrip Snyder Class of 1965. Nationally Acclaimed Private Detective

Virginia Artrip Snyder, FAU Class of 1965. FAU graduate of Government and Politics. She first became a reporter at Fort Lauderdale News and then the Boca Raton News. That career prepared her for becoming a female private eye. In her research of Death Row inmate cases her investigative skills successfully won some acquittals or sentence reductions. Due to that notoriety she became the inspiration for the lead character in the television series "Murder She Wrote" In 1975 Florida Governor Reubin Askew named her an Outstanding Woman of Florida and in 1996 Florida Governor Lawton Chiles claimed her as one of "Florida's Finest" Her papers are forever housed in the Virginia Snyder Collection at FAU's Wimberly Library, including her autobiography. [Note information from Legacymakers: 100 Women of Distinction at Florida Atlantic University. 2016]