December 16, 2007

Regional digest, Worcester Telegram

Parents receive child ID kits

AUBURN — The Masonic Youth Child Identification Program and local police spent several hours yesterday at the Auburn Mall creating identification kits for parents and demonstrating the way they assist families in finding missing children.

The program has created identification kits for more than 250,000 children across the state since its start in 1988.

The MYCHIP program provides tools to help law enforcement authorities find and identify a lost or missing child. The Masons of Massachusetts, partnering with the Massachusetts Crime Prevention Officers Association and the Massachusetts Dental Association, donate MYCHIP resources to make the service available.

Each kit includes a videotaped interview that can be distributed to the media to reach a large audience. Also in the kit are materials for fingerprinting, tooth print impressions and a cheek swab for a DNA sample.

Dr. David Hart, spokesman for the program, said the dental component and the DNA sample are very effective tools.

October 11, 2006 

BATTLE FOR GOVERNOR
Bishes, other victims' families turn to Healey  

DAVE WEDGE,  Boston Herald (MA)

The families of high-profile murder victims Molly Bish and Joanne and Alyssa Presti threw their support behind Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey yesterday as new questions over Deval Patrick's record on crime emerge.

Laurie Myers, spokeswoman for the victims' rights group VOICES, said she was "disgusted" to learn of Patrick's controversial fight for inmates' rights while a top Justice Department lawyer.

"It makes me sick," Myers said. "If he wants to go represent criminals, that's up to him, but I don't want to see a defense attorney as our next governor."

Patrick has been besieged by criticism for his support of convicted rapist Ben LaGuer and saving a Florida cop killer from death row.

"We are trying to keep criminals in prison longer for these crimes and Deval Patrick has spent most of his career working to get them released early," said Annette Presti, whose daughter and granddaughter were murdered by a Level 3 sex offender in 2004.

Added Molly Bish's mother, Magi: "I don't want another family to have to endure what we've had to go through. The lieutenant governor has been a strong and dependable advocate for victims and . . . willing to be tough on violent and sexual criminals."

Patrick spokesman Doug Rubin said the campaign "understands and respects" the views of the crime victims, but added that "Deval Patrick has worked his entire career to ensure justice in the court system. A lot of his work in the civil rights division and as a private attorney has been on behalf of victims."

August 8, 2006

Bikers ride to raise $11K for Molly Bish Foundation

By Bradford L. Miner TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
bminer@telegram.com

WARREN— If at first it rains, reschedule and try again.

And that’s just what the Molly Bish Foundation organizers did, drawing 584 motorcycles Saturday morning for the rescheduled 60-mile scenic ride through western Worcester County for the benefit of the foundation’s ongoing child safety programs.

John J. Bish and his wife, Magdalen, led this year’s edition of “rolling thunder,” riding with friends.

Overcast skies and the threat of rain kept many bikers away from the June 25 ride, but Saturday’s sunny skies and a light breeze drew motorcycles of many sizes, shapes and vintages, filling the Quaboag Regional Middle/High School parking lot.

Coincidentally the rescheduled ride occurred 13 years to the day after 10-year-old Holly Piirainen of Grafton was abducted from a country road near her grandmother’s summer cottage on South Pond in Sturbridge.

Posters of Holly were tacked to utility poles, and taped up in store windows, offering the $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Holly’s murderer.

State Sen. Stephen M. Brewer, D-Barre, who covered the 60 miles standing in the back of a Corvette convertible, and Reed V. Hillman, Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, who was among the hundreds of riders, raised the ante, each pledging an additional $10,000 to the Holly Piirainen reward fund, bringing the total to $30,000.

Both men had pledged a similar amount toward the $100,000 reward for similar information in the case of Molly, who police believe was abducted the morning of June 27, 2000 within a couple of minutes of taking her place as lifeguard on Comins Pond Beach.

Riders each donated $20 to ride; Mr. Bish said, with the two dates, the event raised $11,000.

The ride is the primary annual fundraiser for the Bish foundation.

August 13, 2006

Parents turn grief into social action

Bradford L. Miner,  Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)

COLUMN: COLD CASES

Seventh of Ten Parts

They belong to an exclusive club that no one would willingly join.

They ride a roller coaster of emotion each time a holiday, a birthday, a family event comes along - the joy of the moment tarnished by the enduring sense of loss.

What the Bish, Piirainen and Gonyea families have in common is the loss of a beloved daughter with a zest for life - and all the promise of the future - until she was abducted and murdered.

Today, they also have in common a question that, after six years, 13 years, 22 years, still begs an answer: Who is responsible for the deaths of their daughters? And will justice ever be served?

Channeling his anger into energy, John J. Bish tells his daughter Molly's story to anyone who will listen, frequently drawing on the resources of national television and radio to reach broad audiences.

When he and his wife, Magdalen, are not traveling across the country telling their story or working for the passage of national legislation to protect children, they are working tirelessly through the Molly Bish Foundation and the Molly Bish Life Guards to provide families with child identification booklets containing the very information they themselves could not provide police when their daughter, a 16-year-old lifeguard, was abducted on June 27, 2000, from the Comins Pond beach in Warren.

On many occasions since the investigation of Molly's disappearance ramped up during July and August 2000, Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte has said, "We are so close, yet so far from solving this case."

After two years of work, taking testimony from hundreds of witnesses and reviewing countless pieces of evidence, a grand jury convened by Mr. Conte wants to continue its work.

The window of opportunity for someone to kidnap Molly from the beach was two to three minutes, Mr. Conte said in a recent interview.

While the number of suspects has not changed from the three considered for some time, additional "persons of interest" have been identified, he said.

Also active are the investigations into the 1993 abduction of 10-year-old Holly K. Piirainen and the 1984 Worcester murder of Patricia Ann Gonyea, 17.

Capt. Peter G. Higgins, head of state police detectives assigned to Hampden County District Attorney William S. Bennett, said the investigation of Holly's abduction and subsequent murder remains active.

She disappeared from a country road, near her grandmother's cottage on South Pond in Sturbridge.

In the 22-year-old case of Patricia Ann Gonyea, Sgt. Gary J. Quitadamo, Worcester Police Department spokesman, said "This case has received a lot of attention and it's an active investigation."

Sgt. Quitadamo said the Gonyea case benefits - as do others - from the forensic and technological advances not available to police in the fall of 1984, when her body was discovered near the Crompton & Knowles factory building on Grand Street in Worcester.

Technology aside, those people closest to the investigations into the Bish, Piirainen and Gonyea murders say the best hope of solving the cases lies with someone coming forward with information - much like the missing piece in a jigsaw puzzle.

Mr. Conte said the first 48 hours of any investigation are important. In the case of Molly's disappearance, state police detectives were called to Comins Pond several hours after she was abducted, establishing a command post at the police station between 5 and 6 p.m. Molly's disappearance was first treated as a missing person case with a search of the pond and surrounding area.

That compromised potential crime scene evidence.

"We didn't have a crime scene, per se, of any significance because the beach had been thoroughly trampled over," Mr. Conte said.

"We have no way of knowing whether significant evidence was lost or not, but the first-aid kit, Molly's personal items left on the beach, were thoroughly scrutinized.

"We do have more than 8,000 leads in our database, however," he said.

After six years, Mrs. Bish said, she tries to avoid the "what ifs," but still reviews the sequence of events from the time she last saw her daughter in the parking lot at Comins Pond.

It is understandable that Patricia Ann Gonyea's mother, Kathleen Vivlamore of Brimfield Road, Warren, has become a friend of the Bishes and has sought the assistance of the Molly Bish Foundation.

She said she is not in contact with either the Worcester police or retired Detective Lt. John J. McKiernan Jr., who, she said, was her lifeline for many years.

"I could pick up the phone and talk to him any time when he was actively working on the case," she said.

The latest news she received was six months ago when police sent some evidence to a lab for analysis; however, the individual proved not to be in the database.

Mrs. Vivlamore said she is now working with a private investigator recommended by John Bish.

"You never get over it," she said. "I think about Patty Ann every day and seeing justice done, because Patty's death really took a toll on our family. We have no idea who was responsible, and my hope is that someday the police find the person who did this."

"Some days I still have hope, and then on other days I think this person is living a normal life. Maybe he has a family, kids of his own, and doesn't give a second thought to what he did to Patty Ann and our family in October of 1984," Mrs. Vivlamore said.

If not for John Bish and the Molly Bish Foundation, she said, her daughter's case would not have gotten the publicity it has.

"I still have to believe that somebody saw something that night, or the murderer has told somebody something, and that person or persons aren't talking. Maybe someday someone will come forward, and that will be the break in this case that we've been waiting for," Mrs. Vivlamore said.

"I want it for myself; I want to see it before I pass. But even more, I want this for my children," she said.

Four of her six children are still very close and all are supportive of each other.

"You have no idea how difficult it was to raise four other teenagers," she said. "One of my daughters cut herself; the boys turned to drugs and alcohol. Four years after Patty was murdered, I had a nervous breakdown and turned to alcohol."

"I finally realized that the whole family was falling apart and I had to pull myself together. My children needed me."

Mrs. Vivlamore added, "If this could happen to the Bishes, it just proves it could happen to anyone. It doesn't matter whether you're rich or poor, what color you are, or how you spell your name. I still spill a lot of tears."

One of her children, Mrs. Vivlamore said, is now a police officer in California, a career decision that may well have been influenced by Patty's death.

Karen M. Jolin, Holly Piirainen's aunt, said a $10,000 reward has been in place for 13 years, for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Holly's killer.

The reward was increased recently to $30,000.

Mrs. Jolin said she calls Capt. Higgins periodically to see if the Hampden County detectives have any updates.

"We're hoping that he'll be willing to meet with Tom Shamshak to help facilitate the investigation," she said.

Mr. Shamshack, a private investigator and former Spencer police chief, is public safety consultant to the Molly Bish Foundation and is working with the Piirainen family.

Referring to the impact of Holly's death on members of the Piirainen family, Mrs. Jolin said Holly's brother, Zachary, is beginning to volunteer with the Molly Bish Foundation on child identification programs.

Other family members have dealt with the tragedy in their own ways, she said.

Mr. Bish said he considers the recent signing into law of a National Sex Offender Registry to be both a ray of hope for the families of murder victims and a means of protecting future generations of children from sexual predation.

"The National Sex Offender Registry provides consistency of information among all 50 states. All the requirements will be the same in all states and this will greatly enhance the abilities of law enforcement to keep track of convicted sex offenders," he said. "Coupled with an enhancement of the DNA database, I'm very hopeful, very optimistic, that we will see the day when children are no longer abducted and sexually exploited."

The Bishes are among those leading the effort for passage of Massachusetts Senate Bill S2316, known as Molly's Bill, which would change state license plates from the current combination of six letters and numbers to a more easily identifiable symbol with up to four alphanumeric characters.

Program sponsors say that, with current plates, identifying the last three numbers or letters narrows the number of possible vehicles to 1 in 4,288.

With the proposed system, by identifying the color of the car, the symbol and two characters, the number of possible combinations is narrowed to 1 in 123.

Proponents claim the new plates, with larger characters, would enhance the ability of people to identify vehicles involved in crimes, hit-and-run accidents and unsafe operation.

August 6, 2006

Missing children cases hit hard

By Bradford L. Miner TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

It was the first week of May. The day was warm and sunny and the crowds were typical at the MGM-Disney Studios theme park in Florida.

Families hurrying from one attraction to the next moved quickly along New York Street — until the unmistakable hysteria of a woman calling out the name of a lost child stopped people in their tracks.

A block away, the repeated cry built in intensity for several minutes, and then it was over.

The child and mother were reunited and, within a matter of moments, it was business as usual.

According to the urban legend Web site, www.snopes.com, no child has ever been abducted from a Disney theme park.

That would seem to be the exception to the rule, however, based on statistics compiled by the Department of Justice.

Released in October 2002, the U.S. Department of Justice report cited statistics for 1999, a year when an estimated 797,500 children were reported missing; 58,200 children were abducted by non-family members; 115 children were the victims of the most serious, long-term non-family abductions, called stereotypical kidnappings; and 203,900 children were the victims of family abductions.

Robert Hoever, director of special operations at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, said that, while the Amber Alert Program may have the highest public profile among programs aimed at finding abducted and missing children, it is not the only tool available to law enforcement.

Mr. Hoever started working on similar programs in 1985 with the New Jersey State Police. “It’s amazing to me just how far the technology has come in that time,” he said. “There are any number of ways of getting the message out, and thanks to technology all of us have come a long way from the days when the faces of missing children peered out from milk cartons.”

Virtually all of the most effective child-recovery programs in one way or another involve getting a picture of a missing child before the public as quickly as possible, “and in doing so soliciting the public’s help,” Mr. Hoever said.

The Amber Alert is set up to get critical information to as many people as possible, virtually instantaneously, he explained. He added that what people frequently don’t understand is that, if that information is already available to the public through some other source, then there is no need for an Amber Alert.

“When people ask why an Amber Alert was not issued for a particular missing or abducted child, most commonly the information is already out there and the Amber Alert label won’t make a difference one way or another in the child’s recovery,” he said.

Maj. Marian J. McGovern, Amber Alert coordinator for the Massachusetts State Police, said the key to the safe return of abducted children is in getting a photograph of the child to all media outlets as quickly as possible.

She said the Amber Alert has been activated successfully eight times since it was launched in Massachusetts, resulting in the safe recovery of 11 children.

She attributed the 100 percent success rate of the Amber Alert program here to the “diligence and awareness of the people of the commonwealth. They are our eyes and ears.”

Mr. Hoever said that, nationally, the primary methods of dispersing Amber Alerts to the public are radio, television, lottery machines and message signs along major highways.

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children assists with secondary methods, such as cell phones, he said.

“Other systems we use are AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft MSN,” he said.

Mr. Hoever said the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has worked cooperatively with QualComm in establishing the Amber Alert Highway Network, in which some 50 trucking companies across the country are participating.

“They have GPS tracking in their trucks, and when they pass through an area in which there is an active Amber Alert, the drivers will be notified so they can be watching for either the abductor, the child or both,” Mr. Hoever said.

In 1996 the Amber Alert program was established, named for 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was kidnapped while riding her bicycle and murdered in Arlington, Texas.

In Massachusetts three criteria must be met before the state police will issue an Amber Alert.

According to the Executive Office of Public Safety Web site, for an Amber Alert to be issued, an abducted child must be younger than 18 and in danger of serious bodily harm, injury or death. There also must be sufficient descriptive information about the incident to believe that an Amber Alert would help locate the child.

Mr. Hoever said the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children has developed other technology that helps in the location and recovery of missing children.

“Our LOCATOR system is an acronym for Lost Child Alert Technology Resource, and is a poster creation and distribution program, again based on the belief that the most important thing we can do is get a picture of the child out to the public,” he said, explaining that the Web-based program is available only to law enforcement agencies, at no cost.

“It gives them the ability to create online a poster of the missing child and then distribute that poster either by fax or e-mail,” he said.

Maj. McGovern also cited the importance of the LOCATOR program for Massachusetts law enforcement agencies because it gives them the ability to create posters of missing children in cases that do not meet the requirements for activation of the Amber system.

Also in this state, the Massachusetts Grand Lodge of Masons Child Identification Program has created 226,284 child identification kits since the program began, according to its Web site, and the Molly Bish Life Guards have created 114,000 identification booklets. Both organizations keep no information, giving all materials to the families of children who are photographed, fingerprinted and, in the case of the Masonic CHIP program, sampled for DNA and toothprints.

“Clearly, if there are heroes in this story, it’s John and Magi Bish, whose tireless energy each day since their daughter’s abduction has been spent in keeping other children safe,” Maj. McGovern said. The Warren couple started the Molly Bish Foundation to help protect children from abduction after their 16-year-old daughter vanished from her lifeguard job in 2000. Her remains were found three years later on a remote, wooded hillside in Palmer.

Another important tool for finding missing children, according to Mr. Hoever, is the age-progression program. Forensic imaging artists at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children take a child’s photo and add years to his or her appearance.

“After two years, a child’s appearance may have changed dramatically. The artists will age those photos to create an image as to how the child would appear today. With the help of age-progression images, 630 children have been recovered,” he said.

In conjunction with the U.S. Postal Service and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, ADVO Inc. in 1985 launched a program called “America’s Looking For Its Missing Children.”

According to information from the ADVO and Postal Service Web sites, the program’s “Have You Seen Me?” cards, which feature the names and faces of missing children, reach up to 75 million households each week and are seen by more than 120 million people. They have become the most recognized piece of mail in the country.

To date, as a direct result of leads generated by ADVO’s “Have You Seen Me?” cards, 142 missing children have been recovered safely.

While extremely successful and “an awesome tool,” the Amber Alert may not have the greatest success rate among all of the programs targeted at finding missing children, Mr. Hoever said, noting that all programs aimed at bringing children home safely are valuable.

“We do know this: When pictures of a missing or abducted child are distributed, one in six is recovered,” he said.

August 2, 2006 

Bish case to be on TV -
Airing aimed at national audience

Kim Ring, Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)

WARREN - John J. and Magdelen M. Bish will spend part of what would have been their daughter Molly's 23rd birthday watching a Court TV program about Miss Bish's case.

A crew from the "Haunting Evidence" series visited Warren and Palmer in April and filmed as psychic profiler Carla Baron, medium John J. Oliver and paranormal investigator Patrick Burns toured Whiskey Hill, where Miss Bish's remains were found three years after she went missing from her lifeguard post at Comin's Pond in June 2000. They also visited the pond and filmed some segments there.

Producer Tim Robbins of Departure Films said the show focused in part on psychic profiling to try and help determine what type of person might have been responsible for Molly's 2000 disappearance.

"We are in the process of sharing what we learned with Chief (Glenn F.) McKiel," Mr. Robbins said. Chief McKiel and the Bishes took part in the show, he said.

Viewers will not see every minute of the video that was shot, Mr. Robbins said, but transcripts of all the dialogue will be shared with Chief McKiel and the Bish family. The video is edited to fit into the time slot.

"Having seen what work they did I can tell you it's going to be a gripping show and I think it will help," said John J. Bish.

The family will watch the show together after a 6:30 p.m. butterfly release butterflies at Molly's grave site and a 7:30 p.m. memorial Mass at St. Paul's Church in Warren. They have not yet seen the finished program, Mr. Bish said.

Mr. Robbins said the nine-episode season has so far been a success and there are plans for a second season. The show is viewed by 3.5 million to 4 million people during the initial and two repeat airings. The show will air at 10:30 p.m. and reruns on Saturdays at 5:30 p.m. and Sundays at 11 p.m.

There are skeptics who question the use of psychics in investigations, but Mr. Bish said his family is still looking for answers and is willing to try more unorthodox methods if there's any chance new information will surface.

The program also puts the six-year-old mystery back into the national spotlight and the family hopes someone will be inspired to provide clues needed to crack the case.

Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte's office is investigating and a grand jury has been hearing evidence since June of 2004. Mr. Conte's has said police believe Miss Bish was abducted and murdered, her body left on the remote section of Whiskey Hill in neighboring Palmer.

June 28, 2005

Family, friends remember Molly

KIM RING; STAFF The Republican (Springfield, MA), kring@repub.com

The Bish family has provided 100,000 child identification kits in the five years since Molly vanished.

WARREN - The family of Molly Anne Bish yesterday marked the area near where her remains were found with a white cross made by students at Quaboag Regional High School.

The morning ceremony took place at the same time of day that Bish was discovered missing from her lifeguard post at Comins Pond five years ago.

Last night dozens of family and friends gathered on the Warren common to remember Molly and pray for other missing children. The moment was difficult for Magdalen M. Bish, who recently talked via telephone to Beth Holloway-Twitty in Aruba. Twitty's daughter, Natalee Holloway, has been missing on the island since last month.

"I told her my tears traveled across the ocean," Magdalen Bish said.

Since those initial moments after Molly went missing five years ago, the family has kept the case in the public eye, noting each missed milestone in Molly's life with a vigil or other event. While a Worcester County Grand Jury reviews evidence and talks with witnesses, the family remains hopeful that the story of what happened to Molly will someday be revealed. Still, after a year of work, there have been no indictments or arrests.

As she recounted the last five years, Bish said one night she cried so hard she had to be hospitalized.

"They thought I had a heart attack," she said. "But I kept telling them, 'No, it's a broken heart.'"

State Sen. Stephen M. Brewer, D-Barre, said the mood has changed in Warren.

"We went from panic to helplessness to now, five years later, a quiet resoluteness," Brewer said.

There was praise for the Bish family, who through the foundation named for Molly, has provided 100,000 child identification kits and helped pass new laws promoting child safety.

Last night, Nashville singer and Springfield native Ashley Gearing sang her song, "Can You Hear Me When I Talk to You" which she ended with the words, "We miss you Molly." Palmer High School student Noah Lis and a group of nuns who reside in West Warren also sang.

After the ceremony on the common, the crowd lit candles and walked to Comins Pond, where Molly was last seen.

Police believe the then-16-year-old lifeguard was abducted and murdered. Swimmers arriving at the beach that day found Molly's first aid kit open, a police radio and her shoes nearby but no sign of Bish, who had been dropped off by her mother minutes before.

John Bish has theorized that someone may have feigned an injury and asked Molly for help, then taken her from the area.

A neighbor reported hearing a scream. There was a mysterious white car and the man Magdalen Bish saw smoking in the parking lot the day before.

Two years ago, a break in the case came when a hunter and former police officer led investigators to a blue bathing suit like Molly's on the hillside not far from the Nemaneseck Sportsmens' Club. Days later, police uncovered bones which, through DNA, were determined to be Molly's remains.

Last night, state Rep. Anne Gobi, D-Spencer, said that while Molly's case had a tragic outcome, others have been brought home alive.

"As for Molly, she is home, here in the hearts of the people who love her," she said.

State Sen. Stephen M. Brewer, center, get hugs from Magdalen and John Bish after he spoke about their daughter at a vigil yesterday for slain lifeguard Molly Anne Bish on the Warren Town Common yesterday.

June 27, 2006 

Bish family and friends mark 6th anniversary

WILLIAM SWEET; STAFF; The Republican (Springfield, MA) wsweet@repub.com 

WARREN - Six years later, the mourning for Molly Anne Bish has become a kind of sacrament for this community.

"The hole in my heart has only gotten deeper," said Magdalen M. "Magi" Bish, the mother of the Warren teen, who was honored at a vigil yesterday marking the sixth anniversary of the teen's disappearance.

John and Magi Bish, with friends and supporters, attended a memorial Mass yesterday at St. Paul's Church, followed by a candlelight vigil at the town common.

"Should we do one more vigil?" Bish asked. Yes, she replied: "We need you to come, we need you to hold us up."

Molly Anne Bish, 16, disappeared from her lifeguard post at Comins Pond on June 27, 2000. Her remains were found in 2003 off West Warren Road in Palmer. No one has been charged in connection with her death, a fact that weighs on the family.

"These questions are not answered, and they need to be answered," Magi Bish said. "We know she's safe now, but we don't know why this happened to her."

"Six years is a long time," she said.

Family and friends formed the Molly Bish Foundation, which now travels to fairs and other events throughout New England preparing child identification kits and campaigning for the cause of the missing.

Friends lit candles in honor of Molly as well as others who have disappeared or whose deaths remain a mystery: Holly Piirainen, a Sturbridge child killed in 1993; Lisa Ziegert, a 24-year-old Agawam woman killed in 1992; Jennifer Lynn Fay, who disappeared from Brockton in 1989.

Former State Rep. Reed V. Hillman, now a candidate for governor, urged the crowd to call state legislators in support of the omnibus sex offender bill sponsored by Sen. Scott P. Brown, R-Wrentham, and Rep. James E. Vallee, D-Franklin, whose proposal has been stuck in the House Rules Committee.

"All of you coming here have done half your job," he said.

The Brown-Vallee bill, as well as a newer bill filed by Rep. Karyn E. Polito, R-Shrewsbury, would save more children by toughening sentences for sex offenders, he said.

"Make a call and tell them to move that bill," Hillman said. "Protect our children!"

June 27, 2005

BISH DISAPPEARANCE REMEMBERED ON 5TH ANNIVERSARY

Peter Schworm, GLOBE STAFF

Marking the five years since Molly Bish vanished from her lifeguard station at a town pond, the town of Warren plans to gather to remember the slain teenager this evening. The remembrance is being held a day after a fund-raising caravan of nearly 1,300 motorcyclists rode through Central Massachusetts to help other abducted children come home safely. For John and Magdalen Bish, today's anniversary of their daughter's disappearance remains emotionally punishing. The day sharpens the pain of their loss and the memories of her disappearance, they said.

This year, the continuing investigation into the disappearance of an Alabama teenager in Aruba and last week's news that a yearlong grand jury investigation into their daughter's murder has produced new information has made the day that much harder.

"It's a very difficult time," John Bish said yesterday in a telephone interview. "It's been five years, and you're expecting this horrible experience to end, but it doesn't. It almost seems like it was yesterday."

Following their daughter's high-profile disappearance, the Bishes became staunch advocates for child safety and missing children. They crisscrossed the state distributing child identification kits and urging parents to have their children fingerprinted and photographed and given a dental impression and DNA test.

The family established the Molly Bish Center for the Protection of Children and the Elderly at Anna Maria College in Paxton and the Molly Bish Foundation, and successfully lobbied for a law requiring all felons to submit samples to the state's DNA database.

That work has helped them deal with their grief, Bish said. But seeing the news of another teenage abduction splash across newspapers and television screens has awakened many nightmares. "It's very difficult to watch what's going on," he said. "We feel the pain as if it were Molly all over again."

Natalee Holloway, 18, of Mountain Brook, Ala., disappeared May 30 after she left a nightclub in Aruba. She was last seen with three young men whom authorities have detained since earlier this month.

John Bish, 56, said his wife recently sent the girl's mother, Beth Holloway Twitty, a letter offering prayers and assistance, and a care package containing a figure of an angel, a pin with Molly's picture on it, and a dragonfly brooch, the symbol of the Bish Foundation.

"We know where they are the fear, the not knowing," he said. "Normal, rational thinking is just not there. But we urged them to keep hoping that she'll return unharmed." The Holloway family recently left the Bishes a voice message thanking them for their gesture, Bish said.

The Worcester district attorney's office announced last week that the investigation had uncovered new leads in the Bish case, but did not release specifics, citing the secrecy of grand jury proceedings. There have been no arrests. More than 250 witnesses have been called and more than 70 exhibits have been examined, authorities said.

While grateful to the grand jury for its work, John Bish said he has mixed emotions about breaks in the case. He wants Molly's killer to be found and punished, but is wary of reliving the past through a trial. "In some ways, I don't really want a trial," he said. "My greatest concern right now is to bring peace to my family."

Molly Bish, 16, disappeared the morning of June 27, 2000, after her mother dropped her off for work at Comins Pond. Authorities spent weeks searching surrounding woods, interviewed about 20 potential suspects, and posted an artist's sketch of a man who was seen near the pond before she vanished. In May 2003, a blue bathing suit similar to the one she was wearing the day she disappeared was found in woods a few miles from the pond. A search found several bones that DNA analysis identified as Molly's. She was buried that August, on what would have been her 20th birthday.

Yesterday, the police-escorted 55-mile "Ride for Molly" raised about $15,000 for the Molly Bish Foundation, John Bish said. Among the largest local motorcycle rides in the country, it started and finished at Quaboag Regional High School in Warren. Today, family and friends plan to light candles to float atop Comins Pond as a bagpipe plays. The family also plans to release butterflies there.

The Bishes have not slowed their advocacy. Magdalen Bish, who believes Molly was abducted by a sexual predator, recently spoke on Beacon Hill in support of legislation that would tighten restrictions on sex offenders. Representative Peter J. Koutoujian, a Waltham Democrat who filed the legislation, said it would require that sex offenders list secondary addresses and that they be classified as offenders before leaving prison, among other provisions.

Dr. David B. Harte, who created the Massachusetts Masonic Child Identification Program in 1998, has spoken across the state with the Bishes, whom he describes as "absolute stalwarts of child safety in Massachusetts."

"They've raised the entire level of awareness about child safety and child abductions," he said.

June 27, 2005

Ride for Molly backs kids' IDs

WILLIAM SWEET; STAFF The Republican (Springfield, MA), wsweet@repub.com

A dragonfly, the symbol of Molly's spirit, hovered over the head of the motorcycle procession.

WARREN - Sunburned and sweltering, the bikers all responded the same when asked why they drove through yesterday.

For Molly, they said.

"Look at all the bikers here," said Aldo Nolle of Charlton, who was joined by his 180-pound English mastiff, Buddy, eager for the ride in his bike's sidecar. "You're getting together like a family."

Despite a blistering heat, some 1,265 participants registered for yesterday's sixth annual Ride For Molly. Today is the fifth anniversary of her disappearance.

Organizers said they raised $22,740 in registrations, as well as about $13,000 in T-shirt sales. The motorcycle ride supports the efforts of the Molly Bish Foundation, Inc., which runs child identification programs throughout New England.

"Yesterday we delivered our 100,000th child identification booklet, in Fitchburg," Molly's father, John J. Bish, told the crowd.

Bish himself joined in the ride this year. The ride went without incident, though Molly's mother, Magdalen M. Bish, suffered a burn to her leg from a motorcycle exhaust when she embraced a well-wisher.

"I feel like a princess," she said, as a group of bikers rushed to nurse her injury with ice.

As the retinue of bikers departed, a dragonfly, which has become the symbol of Molly's spirit to the family and their supporters, hovered past the leading state police cycles.

Magdalen Bish spoke of her daughter being in heaven. Sadly, she noted, Molly was joined this past year by a friend, Christopher Ducharme, who died in a motorcycle crash in August. The family also honored supporting riders who were claimed by cancer in the past year, William Paolini and Thomas Zimba.

These and other supporters have made the difference, said Bish.

"It's the miracle of love, the circle of love that keeps us going," she told the bikers.

Molly Anne Bish disappeared from Comins Pond on this date in 2000. Her remains were found three years later, on Whiskey Hill in Palmer. A Worcester County grand jury has spent more than a year reviewing the case of the 16-year-old lifeguard. There have been no indictments or arrests.

The ride took bikers through Warren, West Brookfield, Hardwick, Barre, Rutland, Paxton, Spencer, East Brookfield, and Brookfield. Each of these towns contributed police to control traffic.

Sen. Stephen Brewer, D-Barre, ended the 60-mile ride with a crimson cranium, as his Red Sox cap blew off somewhere in Spencer, leaving him exposed to the sun. He was unfazed, however, as he told the crowd of efforts to keep children safe and sex offenders under watch.

"We can't rest until every sex offender is registered," he shouted. "We're gonna hunt you down! You're not gonna take our children!"

Observances continue today with a 7 p.m. vigil on the town common, followed by a walk to Comins Pond, where participants will fill a boat with candles and float it on the water while bagpipers play.

June 26, 2005 

Ceremony slated to mark anniversary of Bish loss

KIM RING; STAFF Sunday Republican (Springfield), kring@repub.com

A vigil tomorrow includes a walk to Comins Pond, where Molly Anne Bish disappeared in 2000.

WARREN - It has been nearly five years since Molly Anne Bish was last seen alive, and while a Worcester County Grand Jury has spent more than a year reviewing the case of the 16-year-old lifeguard, whose remains were found on a remote hillside in 2003, there have been no indictments or arrests.

Tomorrow is the fifth anniversary of her disappearance, and this one is particularly difficult for her family as they've watched news unfold in the case of Natalee Holloway, an Alabama teenager missing in Aruba since May.

"It's very disturbing to hear that this keeps happening and happening and happening," John J. Bish said. "I thought we would see less of it, that we could somehow prevent it."

Magdalen M. Bish said she packed a gift box for Holloway's mother and sent it to Aruba with a friend of hers who is staying at the same hotel. Inside she included a "Caring Angel," a Molly pin, a dragonfly pin, which is the symbol for the Bish Foundation, and a card with a handwritten message offering assistance.

"She's probably being inundated with love and prayers and hope," Magdalen Bish said of Beth Holloway Twitty. "And she should open her arms and take it in, because she's going to need it."

The Bishes waited three years, always hoping Molly would be found alive, before her remains were discovered. A hunter and former police officer led investigators to a bathing suit like Molly's on Whiskey Hill in Palmer in May 2003.

An intense search of the hillside led them to several bones which, using DNA analysis, were determined to be Molly's. Police believe the teenager, whose prom photograph was seen across the country during the search, was abducted and murdered.

Tomorrow, the Bish family will mark the anniversary of Molly's disappearance with a memorial on the town common with special songs by Nashville singer and Springfield native Ashley Gearing and Palmer High School student Noah Lis.

The vigil will conclude with a walk to Comins Pond where Molly vanished from her lifeguard post on June 27, 2000.

At the pond, they will fill a boat with candles and float it on the water while bagpipers play, John Bish said. Family members will release butterflies at the pond. The event begins at 7 p.m.

As the Bishes mark the anniversary, the grand jury continues its work.

While the waiting can be frustrating, John Bish has said his family understands that the investigation into such cases is a lengthy process.

"We know you have to be in it for the long haul," Bish said after a recent missing children's day event in Boston.

The Bishes have testified before the grand jury twice. Some of the 250 witnesses who've sat before the panel include Molly Bish's then-boyfriend Steven Lukas, a handful of Warren police officers and Park Commissioner Edward Fett.

Former police officer Timothy McGuigan who led police to a bathing suit like Bish's, sparking the search that found her remains, also testified.

There has been little word from Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte in recent months.

A call to his office last week went unreturned, though a press released faxed to The Republican said "not a day goes by without a lead being pursued."

In the release, Conte wrote he cannot release information at this time because of the secrecy rules of the grand jury.

"I know this time of year is especially difficult for the Bish family," he wrote, adding his praise for the work the Bishes have done to "make the world safer for all children."

A foundation named for Molly Bish has provided tens of thousands of identification kits to children.

Anna Maria College in Paxton has opened the Molly Bish Center for the Protection of Children and the Elderly, and another facility operates at Mt. Wachusett Community College in Gardner.

The Bishes remain hopeful someone connected to Molly's disappearance will be found.

A $100,000 reward in the case remains available for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a suspect.

June 25, 2005

Bish Foundation remains vigilant - Finding children continues to be group's mission

Bradford L. Miner, Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)

WARREN - John J. Bish Sr. reflected yesterday on the continuing efforts of the Molly Bish Foundation to help police in the recovery of missing and abducted children.

Mr. Bish said it hardly seems possible that five years have passed since his daughter, 16-year-old Molly Anne Bish, was abducted the morning of June 27, 2000, from the town beach at Comins Pond, where she worked as a lifeguard.

The Bish family has planned a candlelight vigil at 7 p.m. Monday on the town common to remember Molly in song and prayer. A candlelight procession from the common to Comins Pond will be accompanied by the Quaboag Highlanders. At the pond, against a backdrop of candles floating on the surface, a single bagpiper will perform "Lullaby of Mother and Child."

Mr. Bish said on countless occasions he has stood on the beach at the pond, next to the lifeguard chair built by Eagle Scout Chris Klunk and members of Scout Troop 142, and second-guessed his decision to encourage Molly, an athlete who loved life and loved to help people, to follow in the footsteps of her siblings and become a town lifeguard.

He said the family was "cautiously optimistic" about Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte's recent announcement that a special grand jury, empaneled more than a year ago to look into the abduction and murder of Molly, was pursuing "information previously unknown to investigators."

"Of course, we'd like to see the grand jury bring forth an indictment and bring the person responsible for Molly's death to justice," he said.

"It's always been our hope that this investigative grand jury would organize the leads, preserve the evidence, gather statements, and further define Molly's case to focus on one or more suspects, and I don't think we could expect any more than that," Mr. Bish said. "Suffice to say that new information and the possibility of a new direction is always welcome news."

Mr. Bish said he never expected a dramatic development or change in the overall investigation of his daughter's murder, but said the grand jury has proved to be worthwhile.

Pledged to seeing that no other family should have to experience the anguish, despair and sense of loss that accompanies the disappearance and death of a child, Mr. Bish said he girded himself from the outset to the task of producing photo and fingerprint identification kits to help police search for and recover missing children. At 99,644 child identification kits and counting, he said, one or more teams of Molly Bish Life Guards are booked every weekend from now until year's end throughout Massachusetts and neighboring states, producing identification booklets.

When asked by police for simple information the day Molly disappeared, the family was at a loss to provide it in a form that would have been immediately helpful.

"Time passes very quickly, but that day is as fresh in my mind as if it were yesterday," Mr. Bish said.

"Certainly the role of the media has been extremely helpful in keeping Molly's story alive, as well as the stories of missing and abducted children across the country. Children deserve the opportunities to have fun and be kids, go to the beach, and do all those summer things that kids do. But as we have seen time and time again, there is no substitute for parental vigilance," Mr. Bish said.

"Comins Pond is a great spot for kids to go and have fun. And we hope that Warren is a safer community for the benefit of all of our children, but again, parents simply need to be aware to the dangers that are out there," he said. "In most cases, it's as simple as kids having a buddy with them."

Mr. Bish said he still does not know what happened to his daughter from the moment she was dropped off by her mother, Magi, that morning in the parking lot at the pond.

"It is a haunting question. And we will always second-guess some of the decisions we made. Magi and I are always vulnerable to those things we might have done differently to have protected her," he said. "I would give my life to bring Molly back, no more or no less than any father would do for his daughter."

According to information provided by the foundation, Monday night's vigil will include Ashley Gearing, a Springfield native and Nashville recording artist, who will sing "Can You Hear Me?"

August 13, 2004

Bish says media kept hope alive

LORI STABILE; STAFF The Republican (Springfield, MA), lstabile@repub.com

Molly Anne's father said early media coverage is important in the case of a missing child.

PAXTON - When John and Magdalen Bish's teen-age daughter Molly Anne disappeared from her lifeguard post at Comins Pond in Warren June 27, 2000, police advised them not to speak to the media.

After two weeks, Magdalen Bish said they didn't want to wait anymore. They wanted to tell the story.

"The media became a lifeline to hope. . . . We could not let the public forget Molly," she said.

The Bishes attended yesterday's "Partnerships for the Protection of Children and Elderly: Media and Law Enforcement" event at Anna Maria College's new Molly Bish Center. Their daughter's remains were found in a wooded area of Palmer in spring 2003. Her killer has not been found, and a grand jury is investigating.

Speakers were Jordan Levy, radio personality and former mayor of Worcester; Kim Ring, a reporter with The Republican; Mark McCulloch of the Ware River News; Kathy Curran, Channel 4, WBZ Boston; Monson Police Chief Curtis M. McKenzie; and Warren Police Chief Glenn McKiel. abc40's James Polito moderated the event.

The often contentious relationship between the media and law enforcement was discussed, as well as how to improve it. Polito said the press and police share the same goals of seeking truth and justice, but their interactions are sometimes like oil and vinegar.

"We are not the enemy. We are the ones that help much more than hurt," McCulloch said.

McKiel said that he wants to cooperate with the media. He said he was sometimes overwhelmed during the Bish investigation, especially when details he wanted to keep quiet leaked out.

Ring said the worst thing a reporter can hear are the words "no comment." "All quiet," a familiar echo of dispatchers, is another, she said.

"The dispatchers are a line of communication from us to you. There are small pieces of information that can be released to us," Ring said. "If we don't get information from the cops, we're going to get it from somebody else and the cops will want to counter that. Bystanders are not going to be as accurate."

Ring stressed the importance of getting information today, not next week when a chief is back from vacation. McCulloch defended the media's need to talk to families after a tragedy. "We need to know the emotion, because the emotion will drive the debate. One emotional story can change the law, Megan's Law proved that," he said.

McKenzie said he gives out his home and cell phone to reporters so he can be reached at all times, adding his relationship with the media is based on mutual trust.

Bish said celebrating Molly Anne's birthday and holding vigils helped keep her name in the public eye. Law enforcement and the media "have been key players in this sad and unfortunate story," Bish said.

In an emotional end to the conference, John Bish invited others affected by similar tragedies to the front of the room, including Maureen Lemieux of Grafton, grandmother of Holly Piirainen, and Dee Ziegert of Feeding Hills, mother of Lisa, to watch a slide presentation of missing children. Piirainen was abducted from Sturbridge in 1993. Her remains were found in Brimfield. Lisa Ziegert was murdered 12 years ago.

John Bish said early media coverage is important in the case of a missing child. He said his hope has been renewed with each successful Amber Alert. In an Amber Alert various government agencies team up to inform the public of a child's abduction using television, radio, freeway signs and other media outlets.

August 3, 2004

Molly's free spirit feted - Bishes, friends observe birthday that never came

Bradford L. Miner, Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)

WARREN -- Molly Anne Bish would have been 21 yesterday, and more than likely celebrating with the people she loved most -- her family and friends.

It was that close circle of friends who gathered at St. Paul Cemetery in the sultry stillness of a summer evening, coming together as they have so many times in the past four years to lend comfort and strength to the Bish family.

Magdalen Bish, Molly's mother, laid 21 yellow roses on her grave, friends and family members spread rose petals on the grave and her brother, John, placed a pinata nearby, one of Molly's favorite birthday traditions.

The gathering at the cemetery, followed by a Mass of remembrance at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in West Warren not only celebrated what would have been her 21st birthday, but the first anniversary of her burial, which was marked a year ago by a Mass at the Cathedral of St. Paul in Worcester and burial next to her grandmother, Anna, on a hillside facing west toward her South Street home.

On that occasion, hundreds of butterflies were released.

In the gathering dusk, 21 monarch butterflies were set free, symbolic of Molly's free spirit.

The 16-year-old lifeguard was last seen alive June 27, 2000, when she reported for lifeguard duty at the town beach at Comins Pond. State and environmental police found her remains in June 2003 on a wooded Palmer hillside.

While a special grand jury convened by District Attorney John J. Conte continues to interview witnesses, her killer remains at large.

State Rep. Reed V. Hillman, R-Sturbridge, attended the services and said the world is a better place and a safer place as a result of the Bish family's loss and their subsequent pledge to keep other children from harm through the work of the Molly Bish Foundation.

``As those butterflies took flight, I asked them to look for the person who took Molly's life and let justice be served,'' Mr. Hillman said.

Technical difficulties with a portable CD player interrupted the musical selections at the cemetery and Mrs. Bish quipped that that's what happens without the benefit of a rehearsal. David Whitney, one of those at the graveside service, made the analogy that Molly's life was like an interrupted song.

Through her tears, Mrs. Bish said it had been ``a difficult week, a very difficult day,'' and later at the church read a list of 21 gifts that, given the opportunity, she would give her daughter on her birthday.

Not a typical birthday list, it included her senior year at Quaboag and graduation, another Christmas looking for that special tree, another soccer season for the Quaboag goalie, time with her sister, Heather, and brother, John Jr., her niece, Mikaela's hand to hold as they climbed trees and lay on the lawn at night watching falling stars.

``I'd give you a special day with each of your friends, a day at college, a winter snow and a day at the tallest mountain with your snowboard. I'd give you one more night where I could hold you in my arms. I give you my love until we are together again ... and I give you joy and peace,'' she said.

At St. Thomas, about 150 people gathered for the Mass and Molly's friends were called upon by Mrs. Bish to light 21 candles in memory.

Of the lighting of the 21 candles on the altar, Mrs. Bish said, ``Lighting these candles reminds us that light guides us and gives us courage and strength.''

Molly's sister read a poem by e e cummings.

Mrs. Bish said it was appropriate that family, friends, acquaintances and residents of the community had gathered at St. Thomas Aquinas to celebrate Molly's life.

``It was Father Becker (Rev. Daniel J. Becker) who came to the rescue when we needed a place to hold our thousand-crane vigil,'' she said, recalling the service where thousands of folded cranes were offered in the hope that Molly would be found. It was several months after that service that the discovery on the Palmer hillside of a scrap of blue bathing suit became a catalyst for the comprehensive search that resulted in the discovery and recovery of Molly's remains.

``Her spirit will always be here with us,'' Mrs. Bish said.

Her father, John J. Bish, closed the service with a reading from Winnie the Pooh, a quote often read at vigils on the common during the past four years.

`` `Christopher Robin?' whispered Pooh. `Yes, Pooh Bear?' `I'll never not remember you ... ever,' '' he said.

June 28, 2004

In memory of Molly - Bikers come out for annual event

Bradford L. Miner,Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)

WARREN -- The fifth annual Ride for Molly returned in triumph to her hometown yesterday, four years to the day the 16-year-old lifeguard was reported missing from the town beach at Comins Pond.

Paul Valley of the East Brookfield Police Association, which sponsors the annual event with the assistance of the Hayden Lodge of Masons, said the event drew 1,674 motorcycles, 2,441 riders and raised more than $31,000 for the Molly Bish Foundation.

The motorcycle ride is the primary fund-raiser supporting the continuing work of the foundation in producing child identification kits and presenting child safety programs.

At dusk, friends of the Bish family gathered on the common for reflection, prayer, song, the release of 50 butterflies and the lighting of candles in Molly's memory.

Magi Bish, Molly's mother, told the smaller than usual gathering, ``There's a lot going on. These are busy days and there are fewer of us, and no one could imagine this journey four years later.''

``Four years is a long time to miss someone you love,'' she said, repeating something she told the assembled motorcyclists nearly 12 hours earlier.

She thanked those gathered around the bandstand and asked them to ``keep us in your prayers as the grand jury continues its work ... that one day the person responsible is put away and never again has the opportunity to harm a child.''

John J. Bish Sr., Molly's father, reflected on the humble ``kitchen table'' beginnings of the Molly Bish Foundation and Life Guard Center and thanked friends and family for continued support in ``saving one child at a time.''

Andrew Pryor, the father of Sarah Pryor, also lauded the Molly Bish Foundation for working to make children safer in a world where predators continue to prey on young children such as his daughter, Molly, and Holly Piirainen.

``Seeing all those bikers gathered this morning to once again help the work of the foundation was very uplifting,'' Mr. Pryor said.

From 7:30 a.m. on, Harleys and Hondas, Triumphs and Suzukis, Indians and BMWs roared up Old West Brookfield Road from the center of town, converging at Quaboag Regional High School for the planned 10 a.m. start of the ride.

By the time the local and state police motorcycle escort started the ride, motorcycles had been backed up on Old West Brookfield Road and some people estimated that more than 2,000 motorcycles covered part or all of the route. Riders came from throughout the New England states.

John and Magi Bish rode in a convertible with Maureen Lemieux, Holly Piirainen's grandmother, and Mr. Pryor. They were driven by Douglas Cloutier, event sponsor and member of the East Brookfield Police Department.

Molly's brother, John Bish Jr. rode a 2001 Suzuki GSX R-1000 he recently bought.

The elder Mr. Bish told the crowd gathered behind the school at the conclusion of the 60-mile ride through western Worcester County that it was appropriate that the ride began and ended at the regional school where Molly completed her junior year in June 2000.

``For a while after Molly's death, our family could only ask `Where is God in all of this?' '' Mr. Bish said.

``You soon discover that you know God loves you by the people he puts in your lives,'' he said.

Looking out from the temporary stage set up on the bed of a tractor-trailer, Mr. Bish told the crowd, most dressed in black leather and jeans, ``You have no idea how important you are to us.''

``Without your continued financial support year after year, we simply would not be able to carry on the work we do,'' he told the crowd.

Mr. Bish said the foundation, with an office at 200 South St. in West Warren, has now created more than 80,000 child identification booklets in Massachusetts and the bordering states and that this morning he would call in an order for an additional 25,000 blank ID booklets.

He said the work of the foundation continues unabated and in the coming weeks, the Molly Bish Life Guards will fan out and create booklets at 35 different locations.

Mrs. Lemieux said it was gratifying to see continued large and enthusiastic turnouts for the Ride for Molly.

``This really helps keep the foundation alive and the important work they do,'' she said.

State Rep. Anne M. Gobi, D-Spencer, rode with James Mazik of Hardwick and she said she was gratified both by the large turnout of riders and the fact that the ride was again staged in Molly's hometown.

``It certainly doesn't hurt either that we have a beautiful day. The weather is perfect for riding -- sunny, cool, and a light breeze,'' she said.

In addition to her own comments about the importance of the foundation's work to keep children safe, Mrs. Gobi read a statement on behalf of state Sen. Stephen M. Brewer, D-Barre, who was in New Jersey for a family event.

The first motorcycle ride, in September 2000, began and ended at the Warren Community Elementary School on South Street, less than a quarter-mile from the Bish home. Money raised that year was donated to the Bish family to be used at its discretion. Until this year, the annual motorcycle fund-raiser had been staged at the North Brookfield elementary and high school grounds.

Police Chief Glenn F. McKiel said he was glad to have the Ride for Molly back in Warren.

``We're very excited. It's our opinion the ride belonged here in the first place and we did everything in our power, working with the East Brookfield Police Association, to make that happen,'' Chief McKiel said.

The change in venue, he said, had the cooperation of the regional school district, town officials and residents.

The chief said he had expected to be able to accommodate 3,000 motorcycles on the school grounds, but by the time the ride got under way, motorcycles were backed up onto the southbound side of Old West Brookfield Road.

With the exception of a minor accident at the start of the procession just beyond the school entrance, the ride was trouble-free, according to riders, sponsors and police officials.

April 25, 2004 

Dozens attend ID event for children

PATRICK JOHNSON; STAFF Sunday Republican (Springfield), pjohnson@repub.com

SPRINGFIELD - Two days after the Worcester County district attorney announced a grand jury to investigate the death of Molly Anne Bish, the West Warren teen's father quietly continued his work preserving her memory.

John J. Bish and volunteers with the Molly Bish Foundation appeared at Lowe's Home Improvement Center on Boston Road yesterday as part of the foundation's child protection program. Dozens of children had their fingerprints and photographs taken and placed on file for use if any are someday victims of an abduction.

It was one of three child protection programs scheduled yesterday and one of dozens planned for coming months throughout the state, Bish said.

The renewed publicity over his daughter's case has led to an increase in parents and children coming out to foundation programs. "Hopefully, no one will be using them," he said.

Lowe's department manager Sue Williams said the turnout had been fabulous. With more than two hours remaining, nearly 90 children had been fingerprinted and photographed.

Bish said he welcomes the grand jury investigation of the West Warren teen's slaying, calling it the most significant development in the investigation since Molly's remains were found in a wooded section of Palmer a year ago.

Molly Bish, then 16, was working a summer job as a lifeguard at Comins Pond when she disappeared June 27, 2000.

Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte said last week he plans to convene a special grand jury that will view evidence, subpoena witnesses, hear testimony and possibly issue an indictment. Bish said the grand jury may force some people to testify who have so far not been cooperative with police, which the family finds disturbing.

"It will be tough on our family . . . reliving the events of Molly's disappearance. We need to know what happened to her and who did this to her," he said.

"That person is still out there and it is really possible they could try to hurt someone else."

July 2, 2000