September 7, 2006
Justice on hold -
Unsolved crimes confound police, families
Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)
COLUMN:
IN OUR OPINION
It was stunning to see in last weekend's Sunday Telegram the page filled
with the names and faces of the more than 90 people who were murdered or are
missing from across Central Massachusetts since 1970.
The graphic presentation was a striking element of the
10-part series on unsolved murders and missing persons in this region.
The list began with Donna M. Dana, who was 24 in 1970 when she was stabbed
to death in Millbury, and ends with James Notice, 46, who was fatally
stabbed on Aug. 8, 2004, in Worcester.
Some of the cases are well-known, including the murders of Candace Scola,
Molly Bish, Holly J. Piirainen and John Volungis Jr. and the disappearances
of 5-month-old Marlon Devine Santos of Worcester in 1998 and Taj Narbonne,
9, of Leominster in 1981. Others are all but forgotten.
Many of the cases were crimes of opportunity, acts of random violence that
are very difficult to solve, especially as years go by. But others, such as
the murders of Ms. Scola and of Maureen M. Moynihan, 32, and her 4-year-old
daughter, Jennifer, in 1973 in Rutland, are the kind of cases that carry
every expectation that a prosecution will result.
In all cases, it is difficult for the victims' families and law enforcement
officials alike to have the certain knowledge that a crime was committed
without knowing who committed it or - as in the cases of Taj, Marlon and the
other seven missing persons - what exactly the crime was.
The two candidates to replace John J. Conte as district attorney -Joseph
Early Jr. and Daniel J. Shea - promise to bring new blood and energy to an
office that has not had a change in leadership in decades. Both candidates
have announced a variety of forward-looking plans and priorities.
We urge the candidate who prevails to include on his priority list a review
of the 90-plus cases that for years and decades have awaited justice and
closure.
July
12, 2006
Bish
event calls for tougher laws
WILLIAM SWEET; STAFF; The Republican (Springfield, MA)
wsweet@repub.com
WARREN - Supporters of stronger sex offender laws gathered yesterday at the
beach where lifeguard Molly Anne Bish was last seen alive six years ago.
Standing at the shore of Comins Pond were state Rep. Reed V. Hillman,
candidate for lieutenant governor; Warren Police Chief Glenn McKiel, and
Bish's parents, John and Magdalen of Warren. Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, a
candidate for governor, was scheduled to attend but had to be in Boston
because of the fatal accident in a tunnel under the Boston Harbor. Hillman
is her running mate.
Speakers urged voters to press their legislators for swift action on pending
bills.
"It is simply beyond comprehension that the safety of our residents is not a
top priority for the Legislature," Hillman said.
"We are one of the 10 states that are the least protecting its children,"
said Magdalen Bish, whose 16-year-old daughter disappeared from her
lifeguard post at Comins Pond on June 27, 2000.
The girl's remains were found in 2003 off West Warren Road, Palmer. No one
has been charged in connection with her slaying.
"Let us take our children back," Bish said. "Don't let another Molly have to
hurt and be taken from her family."
Sen. Scott P. Brown, R-Wrentham, and Rep. James E. Vallee, D-Franklin, have
authored an omnibus sex offender bill, which has been stuck in the House
Rules Committee. In addition, a newer bill filed by Rep. Karyn E. Polito,
R-Shrewsbury, awaits action.
The Brown-Vallee bill would require that information and pictures of sex
offenders deemed at moderate risk to reoffend (Level 2) be posted on the
Internet, along with those considered at high risk to commit another crime
(Level 3).
The bill would also mandate that sex offenders be classified before their
release from jail, in order to avoid the delay between release and the
posting that exists now.
The Polito proposal, modeled after the Jessica's Law passed in 13 states,
would institute mandatory sentences for those guilty of child rape.
Healey will take part in a statewide effort during the next two weeks to
push for action before the Legislature goes into recess, said Hillman.
June
29, 2006
Molly Bish seen on old videotape
LORI
STABILE; STAFF; The Republican (Springfield, MA)
lstabile@repub.com
WARREN - John Bish knew that a convenience store video of his daughter,
Molly Anne, was taken minutes before she disappeared.
"We were aware of the tape, but had never seen it," Bish said yesterday.
When he finally saw the tape, a few days ago, it filled him with anguish,
and wanting to see more of his daughter.
"That's my last vision of Molly," John Bish said.
Police believe Molly was abducted from her lifeguard post at Comins Pond on
June 27, 2000. The video, from Xtra Mart in town, shows the last minutes of
his daughter's life.
Three years later, the teenager's remains were found in a wooded area of
Palmer, and the investigation remains open, according to the Worcester
District Attorney's Office.
While Bish treasures that last glimpse of his daughter, it was painful for
him, and his wife, Magdalen, to watch the video.
"It was extremely difficult for us to see that," Bish said. "It was
upsetting for us to look at it."
The video shows Molly with her mother at 9:47 a.m. When they leave it says
9:51 a.m. Molly was scheduled to work at 10 a.m. that day.
Why the tape is being released now, on the sixth anniversary of Molly
disappearance, is unclear. Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte did not
return calls for comment.
"It does give us a timeline and gives everyone a vision of Molly," John Bish
said. "We're hoping it jogs someone's memory."
He said the video doesn't show an unhappy child, or one at odds with their
mother. The video shows Molly leaning over the counter, with her mother
standing next to her, buying water. After the Xtra Mart stop, he said the
mother and daughter went to pick up the lifeguard radio at the police
station at 9:56 a.m.
John Bish said investigators now think the abduction happened within two
minutes of Molly's arrival at the pond. Investigators originally thought the
abduction took place between 10:07 and 10:15 a.m. A boy said he didn't see
Molly at 10:07 a.m., and a woman said she was missing at 10:15 a.m., John
Bish said.
He thinks his daughter walked into a trap of some kind, planned by someone
who knew she would be alone. The Bishes appeared on Larry King Live Tuesday
night, the anniversary of their daughter's disappearance.
John Bish said parents must be vigilant, and cannot be uniformed or naive
when it comes to their children.
April 29, 2001
A SPECIAL CASE?
Bish investigation raises questions of inequities in police
inquiries
FOCUS Missing: Some cases get more attention
Bish case raises serious questions
The security cameras at Xtra Mart on Main Street videotaped Molly Anne Bish
as she walked up to the counter to buy a bottle of water. It was 9:52 a.m.
on June 27, 2000.
Molly left the store and hopped into the driver's seat of her family's
silver station wagon. Her mother, Magdalen, sat next to her in the passenger
seat.
After a quick stop at the police station to pick up Molly's two-way radio,
they drove half a mile up the road to Comins Pond, Warren's community
swimming hole. They arrived just before 10 a.m., as a highway truck poured a
pile of fresh sand on the beach. They talked about the swimming lessons.
Five minutes later, Molly jumped out, carrying her backpack, water bottle
and the police radio.
"Bye, Mom. I love you."
"Bye, honey."
It was the last day anyone in Warren would see the blond, blue-eyed
16-year-old lifeguard.
Molly Bish's disappearance has triggered one of the largest
missing-person searches in Massachusetts history. Thirty detectives have
worked on the case, chasing leads from Maine to Florida. The price tag has
topped $315,000 in overtime pay alone, and estimates of the overall cost
range as high as $1 million.
Meanwhile, missing-person posters of Molly have been circulated in 25 states
and her story has been told on at least five national television shows. This
month, the case arrives at a new plateau as Molly is featured on the "Have
You Seen Me?" postcard, which was sent to 90 million households nationwide.
Such prominent attention is reserved for only a select few disappearances
nationally, although it has characterized Molly's case from the start. But
why did her disappearance attract this level of interest when so many more
cases do not?
Nationally, 750,000 reports of missing juveniles were filed last year and
entered into the FBI's computer database. Only about 1,500 of them - a scant
.2 percent - got missing-person posters issued by the National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children, the federal clearinghouse for such cases.
And just a few dozen of those cases have been featured on "Have You Seen
Me?" postcards.
"It's extremely frustrating sometimes," Ben J. Ermini, case manager for
the center, said about the difficulty in giving enough attention to each of
the almost 6,000 disappearances he reviews monthly.
Parents of other missing children simply call it unfair.
"I don't understand why Molly Bish got all the attention, because
basically the same thing happened to my daughter - she just disappeared,"
Dorothy A. Maclean of Rockland said about her daughter, Jennifer Lynn Fay.
Like Molly, Jennifer was 16 when she went missing from her Brockton home one
November night in 1989. She had gone to a baby-sitting job, but never
returned. Initially, police treated her disappearance as a runaway, even
though her mother believed differently.
"They didn't give the case any attention at all. She wasn't a senator's
daughter. She was just a Brockton kid," Maclean said.
So what was it about Molly's case?
Was it the compelling story of a lifeguard lost from her quiet hometown?
Was it the Bish family's active role in assisting and publicizing the
investigation? Was it the family's connections to state officials? Was it
new techniques in handling such cases? Or was it Molly's race and social
status?
Molly's Story
When she arrived at Comins Pond, Molly set up her lifeguard beach chair.
Ten minutes later - at most - the first swimmers arrived. They found the
chair empty, the backpack still there, the water bottle resting in Molly's
flip-flops.
Soon the call went out: the 16-year-old lifeguard had disappeared. She wore
a one-piece blue bathing suit and tan shorts. She was 5 feet, 7 inches tall.
In the weeks that followed, hundreds of officers searched more than 1,200
acres of land with horses, dogs and helicopters. Divers combed Comins Pond.
Dozens of detectives were called in on the case, working 8,000 hours during
just the first month.
"We've had lots of high-profile cases here, but none that have lasted this
long with this amount of information coming in," said Worcester County
District Attorney John J. Conte, head of the investigation. Conte, who has
been in office 25 years, said police have catalogued 4,000 leads
electronically and thrown out thousands more.
Many who have followed the case agree that one of the biggest factors
influencing its size is its striking mystery. Molly's unsolved disappearance
has shattered the sense of innocence in Warren, a tightly knit town of fewer
than 5,000 people midway between Springfield and Worcester.
And there is the notion that Molly represents the suburban archetype: She
played sports, had an admired sense of humor and came from a family active
in the community.
"It just took a life unto itself," said Lt. Peter J. Higgins, a state
police detective in Hampden County who worked on the case in its early
weeks. "People could relate to it. Everybody has their swimming hole they
went to as a teen-ager to hang out."
A Family's Role
But observers also emphasize the role Molly's parents played in keeping
the case alive. John J. Bish, a probation officer and Magdalen M. Bish, an
elementary school teacher and school committee member, have worked to keep
the case in the public eye and raise awareness about abducted children.
They have faced national television interviews and blitz media coverage.
They have held child safety workshops and are beginning to accept public
speaking engagements. Last month, they paid renowned artist Jeanne M. Boylan
to draw a picture of a man Magdalen saw watching Molly a day before she
disappeared.
And people have responded to the family's efforts.
"I want (Magdalen) to know that, as mothers, we have been thinking of her
and want to thank her for showing us that a mother can be so strong keeping
a vigil for her daughter with such grace and unyielding perseverance,"
Jacqueline M. Sears, a mother of three from Southampton, wrote in a recent
letter to the editor.
The Bishes use words like "eerie" and "overwhelming" to describe the
public outpouring over their daughter's disappearance. They say it has
changed their lives.
"It's remarkable, and I don't understand it. But what I do know is that
people seem to connect with us," Magdalen said.
"We ask ourselves, 'What do we do now?' I think about Moll, and what
would Moll want us to do? First and foremost, we've got to be her voice. We
need to speak for Molly and for all children who are missing."
Family Connections
Also influencing the case are the Bishes' friendships with state Sen.
Stephen M. Brewer, D-Barre, state Rep. Reed V. Hillman, R-Sturbridge, and
former state Rep. David H. Tuttle, R-Barre.
The three legislators lobbied for extra funding for the case, and added
personal money to the $100,000 reward kitty for information leading to an
arrest and conviction. Each of them said the Bish family didn't ask for
their aid and that they approached the tragedy as family friends, not
politicians.
"This was more than just a family we represented in the Legislature, this
was a family we knew and had close relationships with. Of course I'm going
to be there for my friends," Tuttle said. "Did we use our positions to help
them out? We probably did. Did we do it intentionally? I don't think so."
The Bishes admit they are "fortunate" to have the state officials as
friends, but believe the investigation got most of its momentum from the
public.
"I don't feel that we got preferential treatment. I just think we knew
people who helped us because they knew us," Magdalen said. "I think in
smaller towns people are more connected. Because of that, from the very
beginning we had a lot of people feeling this sadness and it just grew."
"I take this very personally," added Hillman, whose 17-year-old daughter
knew Molly. "It could have been my child."
The Cost
Because so many detectives early on were asked to work "around-the-clock" on
the puzzling disappearance, Conte used up most of his $384,000 overtime
budget for the year in just two months. In January, state officials approved
giving him $250,000 to replenish the account.
"Precious few" missing-person investigations get this amount of spending,
acknowledged Brewer.
Conte estimates that the case has cost at least $315,000 in overtime
spending. That does not include the detectives' base salaries, or the costs
for canine, foot and helicopter searches, as well as laboratory forensic
services, he said.
State Police Lt. William Kokocinski, (a detective with the state police cold case unit who helped with the Bish investigation). a
Worcester County detective who worked on the case during the first couple of
weeks, estimated that the investigation's overall cost could top $1 million.
Conte said he thinks that figure is "a little high," although he said he
couldn't estimate the total cost.
When asked if a similar disappearance from a city like Worcester or
Springfield would have gotten the same treatment as the Bish case, Conte
said, "We've given the same level of investigation to other cases."
"Because this case hasn't come to a conclusion, people ask, 'Why are you
spending so much money?'" Higgins added. "But what if it was your child?"
Magdalena's Child
Magdalena M. Rodriguez of Lynn has spent years pondering the factors that
influence missing-person cases because she, too, lost a child. Her
6-year-old son, Jesus De La Cruz, disappeared Sept. 28, 1996. He was last
seen walking with his bicycle alongside a man and a dog near his home.
The Lynn Police Department led the search and subsequent investigation. In
the two weeks following the disappearance, the four local detectives on the
case got help from two FBI agents and two State Police troopers. They
arrested Robert C. Levesque, the man last seen with the boy, on other
charges, although they did not have enough evidence to charge him in
connection with Jesus' disappearance, police said.
But after the first couple of weeks, Rodriguez believes police lost sight
of her missing son.
Rodriguez, a single mother of four other children who works as a Spanish
interpreter, said she believes the fact that her family is Hispanic
influenced the case. Police gave Rodriguez an hours-long lie-detector test
and began investigating the possibility that Jesus' disappearance was linked
to drugs and that he was being held for ransom.
"It was easier to blame me than to do their job," Rodriguez said. "Hello,
this is a Spanish family. The attitude around here is that if you are
Spanish, you sell drugs. It's a kid who disappeared; that's what is
important. The police don't feel it. It's not their blood. It's only we who
feel it."
Lynn Det. Capt. Joseph H. Rowe defended his handling of the case and the
questioning of Jesus' mother. He said his department's focus was always on
recovering the boy.
"We explored every possible lead that came to our attention. As a result,
there were some very tough questions we had to ask the boy's immediate
family. To do anything less would be not doing our job, even though it
offended some people," Rowe said.
He added, "For anyone to think that race played a factor . . . well, it's
just so untrue."
James P. Lusher of Westfield said he also has bitter feelings about what
he sees as inequities in the level of attention given to certain cases.
His 16-year-old, mentally impaired son, Jamie, was last seen Nov. 6, 1992,
while riding his bicycle from his father's house to visit his grandmother in
Blandford. Police initially treated the case as a runaway.
"There never was a big, organized search. They had state police out there
for a couple of days, but after that it was basically me and my wife and a
friend of mine looking," Lusher said.
Westfield Police Chief John A. Camerota, who led the Lusher investigation,
said he regrets that his detectives hesitated before considering the case an
abduction, but he disagrees with the father about the size of the search.
Police dogs, helicopters and officers on foot searched the more than 10
miles between Jamie's home and his destination. They even drained a pond, he
said.
"We've done so much on this case, which is why it's so frustrating. We've
done everything we can," Camerota said, adding that the case remains active.
Still, Lusher thinks police would have done more if Jamie's story was more
like Molly's.
"They spent a lot of money on this case, that's for sure," he said about
the Bish investigation. "People always feel a lot more sorry for little
girls than little boys. I think that's what keeps the interest alive."
According to Conte, though, one of the most important factors keeping the
Bish investigation alive is the strength of the leads. Even 10 months after
the disappearance, police continue to get useful tips about the case, which
is very uncommon, he said.
But what happens if the leads dry up and the case remains unsolved? When
will investigators downgrade the priority of the case, or hand it over to
detectives who specialize in long-term, unsolved mysteries? And what if
detectives simply can't find that critical clue that Conte hopes will pull
the investigation together?
ABOUT THE SERIES
Today: The disappearance of 16-year-old lifeguard Molly Bish has received
attention nationwide and treatment from law enforcement officials that only
a select few missing-person cases receive. What are the elements about this
case that make it stand out?
LOOKING FOR CLOSURE
Investigators pursuing all leads
ROSS GRANT,
Union-News (Springfield, MA)
In the weeks following Molly Anne Bish's disappearance last summer, two
dozen detectives laid siege to Warren's 100-year-old Town Hall.
The yellow brick building became the central brain in the search for
Molly.
In one meeting room, police worked over theories among rows of
telephones, computers and file boxes. A bulletin board displayed their
jumbled puzzle pieces: drawings of a suspect, layers of notes and
letters, photographs of someone modeling a swimsuit like the one Molly
wore, and a large cue card that read "Polygraph Test in Progress."
They tacked a giant poster against one wall, showing what 13 suspects
were doing 12 hours before and after Molly's disappearance. Their alibis
were written in bright boxes along a time line.
A map in one corner of the room showed where police had searched for
clues or a body in the woods around Warren. Another map showed the beach
around Comins Pond. It was the last place Molly was seen on June 27,
2000.
The 16-year-old lifeguard disappeared less than 10 minutes after her
mother dropped her off for work. Screams were heard at the pond that
morning, but there were no signs of struggle. There was no blood, hair
or clothing at the scene, said Worcester County District Attorney John
J. Conte, who leads the investigation.
"It was a mystery, even for us," he said. "Even the lack of forensic
evidence would drive you to a certain point, because that's so unusual."
Indeed, the mystery drove the investigation, helping it become one of
the largest missing-person searches in Massachusetts history. It has
cost more than $315,000 in overtime pay, and as much as $1 million
overall.
Police used to be much more reluctant to initiate large searches,
detectives say. Many police departments had a policy of waiting 24 hours
or longer before investigating any disappearance. But because speed is
such a critical factor in solving missing-person cases, federal
authorities prohibited waiting periods in 1990.
Statistically, in 74 percent of child abductions that end in murder,
the child was dead within three hours of the abduction. In 91 percent of
the cases, the children were dead within 24 hours, according to a 1997
study by the Washington State Attorney General's office of 600 U.S.
abductions.
In Molly's case, 10 months have passed and the disappearance remains a
mystery. With few concrete developments, the investigation has moved out
of Warren's Town Hall, and the staff of detectives on the case has been
cut from 30 to six or eight.
Conte is still optimistic about solving the case, but he has had to
consider other questions: What happens if the leads stop coming? When
will he hand over the investigation to the state police "cold case"
unit, which specializes in unsolved murders and abductions?
"We haven't been able to come up with the thing that will pull this all
together," Conte said.
Detectives gathered the bulk of their clues during the first 48 hours
of the investigation, he said. But they also made some of their most
important decisions during that period.
Police searched for Molly with dogs, boats and helicopters. But after
coming up empty-handed, they had to make a critical choice that would
dictate the rest of the investigation: Was Molly abducted or did she run
away?
It is a common question for police around the country, who last year
issued about 750,000 reports of missing juveniles. But it also has a
common answer: 95 percent of those disappearances were treated as
runaways.
Often police - like war medics practicing triage - have to decide
quickly how they will handle a disappearance. The rule of thumb is that
unless there are signs of foul play, the case is classified as a
runaway, since the time required and the difficulty of large
investigations makes them hard to justify.
"Police are faced with a pretty daunting task because there are a lot
of runaways," said David Finkelhor, a University of New Hampshire
professor studying missing-children cases for the U.S. Department of
Justice.
And such critical decisions can spark controversy. Parents, who are
often surprised when a child runs away, routinely argue against that
assessment and the minimal investigation that usually follows, he said.
A number of Massachusetts families harbor bitter feelings about what
they call botched searches for their missing children.
In trying to determine if a child ran away, police look for the
classic signs, such as if the child had an abusive home life, prior
runaway attempts, drug use or a new boyfriend. Most disappearances have
at least some of these characteristics. In Springfield last year, there
were 1,200 cases of runways. Only four or five of the cases lacked the
common elements.
To see if Molly had the telltale signs of a runaway, police searched her
bedroom, read her notes and spoke to her friends. They gave her
boyfriend a polygraph test.
Although she had some teen struggles, Molly was also very close with
her family and active in Warren's small community. And police said there
was strong evidence against the runaway theory.
Molly left her shoes and backpack at Comins Pond, and she hadn't cashed
paychecks from her job. Also, her first-aid kit was left open at the
beach, leading investigators to theorize that someone approached her
feigning injury and then grabbed her. And there was the suspicious
stranger in a white car who was seen at the pond watching Molly the day
before she disappeared.
"We all believe that she was violently abducted. The resources
devoted to this case are based on the assumption that she did not run
away; she was kidnapped," said state Rep. Reed V. Hillman, R-Sturbridge,
who headed the Massachusetts State Police for three years before his
election to the state Legislature in 1999.
Conte added that there is almost no evidence to support the runway
theory at this point, "only hope."
But while those working on the Bish case may be confident that they
made the right decision in treating it as an abduction, others haven't
been so lucky.
Jamie Lusher, 16, was last seen Nov. 6, 1992, when he left his Westfield
home to ride his bicycle to his grandmother's house 10 miles away.
Police initially thought he had run away, only later to decide that he
was probably kidnapped.
The same thing happened to Jennifer Lynn Fay, a 16-year-old from
Brockton who disappeared in Nov. 14, 1989, after leaving her home for a
baby-sitting job. Because she had run away before, police had good
reason to classify her case as a runaway.
In those instances, though, Fay called home hours after leaving to make
sure her family knew where she was, said her mother, Dorothy A. Maclean
of Rockland. Now, almost 12 years after the disappearance, Maclean still
hasn't heard from her daughter.
Police now think that Jennifer might have been abducted. A few months
ago, they tracked down her old boyfriend for questioning. The interview
yielded new clues, but not enough to overcome the lack of hard evidence,
Brockton Det. Michael Damiano said. He said detectives keep coming back
to the same question: "If she's not alive, then where is her body?"
It's a problem that also confounds the Bish case. Even if investigators
have a solid kidnapping suspect, the chances of getting a conviction are
slim without a body, said Lt. William Kokocinski, a detective with the
state police cold case unit who helped with the Bish investigation.
"You can have all the circumstantial evidence you want against a
person, but you need a body for a conviction," he said.
Conte agreed that it will be hard to make a move before finding a body.
Still, he doesn't plan to give up the investigation to the cold case
unit any time soon.
"We're not going to quit until we say, 'We don't have any more leads;
there's nothing more we can work on.' That's not the case here. I mean,
we have leads. It is extremely unusual to have a case that is this old
where the trail isn't cold," he said.
But despite the ongoing investigation, people close to it say they are
frustrated and exhausted. Disappearances like Molly's, with so many
unknowns, drive investigators and officials, sometimes to the point of
breaking, said Lt. Peter J. Higgins, a state police detective in Hampden
County who worked on the case in its first weeks.
"It's hard to explain to someone how frustrating a missing-person
case is, especially with a child missing. Police are geared to solve
cases and it's hard when you can't," he said.
In unsolved searches, detectives have to communicate with grief-stricken
family members as they are dealing with their own feelings of failure,
he said.
"It's one thing to work hard for a week and go home with some
satisfaction. But these guys couldn't. It takes its toll," Higgins said.
For Molly's family and Warren residents there is a need for closure.
Part of it is missing Molly, Magdalen M. Bish says, but the other part
is not knowing what happened to her.
"This is like a bad nightmare. You're in a movie that you can't get
out of," she said. "The only thing I can relate this to is in the
concentration camps, when they took the children from their parents.
There's nothing worse than to lose a child."
To deal with their grief, the Bishes have focused on helping other
families prepare for the unthinkable. They have held workshops to make
sure parents get fingerprint records of their children - which they
didn't have for Molly - and to teach children how to deal with
strangers. They are also pushing for the sex offender registry to become
publicly available in Massachusetts.
"People who prey on children know what they're doing. That's where we
have to be smarter. We don't have to be scared, we just have to be
smarter," Magdalen said.
And like other officers who worked on the case, Warren Police Chief
Ronald J. Syriac said the disappearance has changed the way he thinks
about his job, and his small police department. Even though Warren has
fewer than 5,000 residents, he thinks the town is ready to hire a police
detective.
"You feel helpless," said Syriac, who has been Warren's chief for 11
years.
"As a police chief I'm responsible for the safety of the people in this
town. Something happened to Molly Bish's safety. I feel like I failed.
You're always thinking, 'What should we have done differently?'"(PHOTO
1) Warren Police Chief Ronald J. Syriac visits Comins Pond, where
16-year-old Molly Bish was last seen.
Molly Bish disappearance by the numbers
Following is information that relates to the disappearance of
16-year-old lifeguard Molly Anne Bish
305 Number of days that have passed since Molly disappeared.
$1,000,000 An estimate of the number of dollars spent on the case.
5-10 The number of minutes Molly was alone at the beach the morning
she disappeared.
2,733 The number of Internet sites through Lycos.com containing
information about Molly.
3,000 The approximately number of cards and letters sent to the Bish
family since Molly disappeared.
30 The number of State Police detectives who have worked on the case.
6-8 The number of detectives working on the case now.
8,000 The number of hours police worked on the case in just the first
month.
13 The number of lie-detector tests police have given to suspects.
15,434 The number of reports of missing people filed in Massachusetts
last year.
876,313 The number of reports of missing people filed in the United
States last year.
154,341 The number of reports of missing people filed in the United
States in 1982.
Sources: Worcester County District Attorney John J. Conte, The
National Center for Missing and Expoloited Children.
ABOUT THE SERIES:
Yesterday: The disappearance of 16-year-old lifeguard Molly Bish has
received attention nationwide and treatment from law enforcement
officials that only a select few missing persons cases receive. What are
the elements about this case that make it stand out?
Today: The search for Molly Bish has been one of the most extensive and
expensive investigations in Massachusetts history, but nearly a year
later, there are no answers and no closure. Will there ever be? WITHOUT A
TRACE The disappearance of MOLLY BISH - PART 2 of 2
Saturday, June 25, 2005
Bish Foundation remains
vigilant
Finding children continues to be group’s mission
By Bradford L. Miner TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
bminer@telegram.com
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?”
May 25, 2004
Bish jury gets testimony
KIM RING; STAFFThe Republican
(Springfield, MA),
kring@repub.com
WORCESTER - The men who last
year led police to a bathing suit in the Palmer
woods testified before a Worcester Grand Jury looking into the Molly Anne
Bish case.
Ricky Boudreau of Hardwick and Timothy McGuigan
of Auburn were called before the Grand
Jury yesterday. Boudreau said he spent about
10 minutes explaining how he found the bathing
suit while hunting near the Nemaneseck
Sportsmen's Club late in 2002 but never realized Bish was wearing a blue bathing suit when
she vanished from her lifeguard post at Comins
Pond in Warren in June 2000.
An extensive search of the area sparked by the
discovery, led police to Bish's remains.
"It was the same things the cops asked me,"
Boudreau said of his testimony.
When he later met McGuigan, who was writing a
book about Holly Piirainen, a young murder
victim who'd been kidnapped from Sturbridge
several years ago in a case that remains
unsolved, Boudreau realized the bathing suit
could be Bish's.
The two men went to the area and located the
suit which was collected by police the next day.
Boudreau's sister, Shelly Vadnais, along with
State Trooper Robert Benoit and McGuigan's
former roommate Jay Harrington of Ware, were
also in court yesterday.
The Grand Jury proceedings are
secret and not open to the press or the public.
Worcester County District Attorney John J. Conte
has said the investigation could take up to one
year and may involve as many as 100 witnesses.
June 22, 2003
T&G
Staff, Worcester
Telegram &
Gazette (MA)
Molly Ann Bish Timeline
2000
June 27, 9:45 a.m.: Magdalen A. Bish drops off
16-year-old Molly at omins Pond in Warren..
June 28: More than 200 searchers look for Molly;
police investigate suspicious off-road tire
tracks.
June 29: State police begin questioning 6 or 7
possible suspects; hot line set up; search area
expands.
July 6: District Attorney John Conte distributes
composite sketch of man in white car drawn from
Magdalen Bish's recollections.
July 8: $20,000 reward offered for information
on Molly's disappearance.
Aug. 4: Side search of pond reveals no body,
plans to draw down pond put off.
Aug. 16: Conte announces 13 individuals have
been given polygraph tests, including some sex
offenders; gives no results.
Aug. 24: John and Magdalen Bish begin the
family's ongoing KidCare ID program.
Sept. 10: More than 1,000 motorcycles raise
$18,344 for the Molly Bish Fund with a 60-mile
`Ride for Molly`. $10,000 added to reward.
Dec. 4: Legislature approves $250,000
supplemental budget funds to pay for continuing
investigation of Bish case. Conte announces
reward is up to $100,000.
2001
March 19: Conte distributes new sketch of man in
car drawn by nationally-known artist Jeanne
Boylan.
March 28: Bones found in remote remote area of
Warren turn out to be animal bones, not human.
June 20: Conte announces seven of the 13 lie
detector tests given failed.
2002
Oct. 2l: Magdalen Bish is among parents of
kidnapped children meeting with President Bush
in Washington.
2003
Jan. 29: Conte announces that a five=member task
force headed by Lt. Thomas
Greene will speknd the next three months
working exclusively and intensively on the Bish
investigation.
May 19: Conte announces the finding of a blue
bathing suit similar to the one worn by Holly
off West Warren Road; new searches triggered.
May 30: Headband similar to those worn by Molly
found in the Quaboag River in Warren.
June 3: Arm bone said to be from someone 14 to
20 years old found on remote hillside in Palmer.
June 9: Conte announces that DNA tests prove the
bones are Molly's; teeth found also match those
from Molly's dental records.
January 30, 2003
Conte announces new Bish task force
Bradford L. Miner, Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)
WARREN -- It's been 21/2 years, dozens of
suspects and more than 8,000 tips, leads and
clues since Molly A. Bish, 16, disappeared from
Comins Pond beach where she worked as a
lifeguard.
Now Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte's
office is ready to redouble its effort to
unravel the mystery of the teenager's
disappearance on the morning of June 27, 2000.
Mr. Conte said yesterday that Lt.
Thomas Greene had been named to head
up a five-member task force that would spend the
next three months working ``exclusively and
intensively'' on the Bish investigation.
``They will be looking at every viable lead,
every single suspect. They may interview some
people again and for certain they will be
spending time in Warren. We expect this review
will take three months and that's the time we've
committed to it,'' he said.
``The one thing that hasn't changed, that may
change as a result of this effort, is that
virtually from the beginning we've been so
close, yet so far from solving this case,'' Mr.
Conte said.
``Not only are we going back to review all of
the information from the last 21/2 years but, in
the process, perhaps find that key piece of
information that allows us to solve this case,''
he said.
As for the Team Adam program, Mr. Conte said any
initiative in the direction of helping with
child abduction is a step in the right
direction.
He cited the expertise state police detectives
brought to the investigation from day one and
said that since then investigators had become
that much more experienced.
``Knowing what it takes to put together an
investigation of this magnitude, summoning the
technological resources to organize the flood of
information we received and continue to receive
is invaluable,'' Mr. Conte said.
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