WARREN - The latest fruitless search effort for missing teenager Molly Ann Bish ended yesterday, but the nearly four-month-old case is not without new developments.

Speaking to reporters following the search, Worcester District Attorney John Conte revealed that law enforcement officers last week impounded a white car similar to one spotted at the pond where Bish was last seen.

"We haven't come up with anything significant this afternoon, but the trail is not cold," Conte said. "There are other areas in Warren that we plan to search once the Legislature approves the additional money for overtime."

Bish was last seen June 27 when the 16-year-old was dropped off by her mother at secluded Comins Pond, where she worked as a lifeguard. Magdalen Bish told authorities that she had seen a white man in his 50s loitering at the wooded recreation area in a white car.

Conte declined to provide any details of the impoundment, however, perhaps because of previous incidents in which false leads led to news media accounts that seemed to point an accusing finger toward Bish's boyfriend at one point, and a Rhode Island convicted rapist who had driven a white car in another.

Since Bish disappeared, some 1,000 acres in rural areas near Warren have been searched, and the blond-haired, blue-eyed high schooler's face has appeared on numerous national television shows broadcasting the story of her disappearance.

Yesterday's search, conducted by 18 members of the Central Masachusetts Search and Rescue Team as well as state troopers, concentrated on the 300-acre Coys Hill Wildlife Management Area.

The parents of the missing girl were on hand as yesterday's search commenced under a brilliant early morning sun. The couple thanked the teams for giving up a glorious fall day to look for their daughter. Later, in an interview in their living room, Magdalen Bish said the prospects of another search were painful.

"There's so many emotions going on," she said. "It's been an emotional ping-pong game each time they search. Today we saw searchers had shovels and rakes, and that is somewhat scary. But we want Molly to come home."

Choking back tears, she continued: "We . . . miss Molly immensely. As parents, one of the most difficult things is to see a search party go because as much as we want to find her, it's frightening."

John Bish said he had a strong desire to join the search, but said he believes having a parent around might impede the effort. "We want to do everything possible because at the end of the day we want to be able to say, `Molly, we tried everything,' but we don't want to hinder the professionals who are trained to search."

A spokesman for the search teams yesterday said the effort was an attempt to cast a wider net.

"Most of the previous search had been centered close to Comins Pond," said Ron Bruchmann. "Coys Hill is well known to Warren residents and we are doing a slow and methodical search for evidence."

Meanwhile, relatives of another missing Massachusetts woman, Debbie Melo, 30, a Taunton mother of two who disappeared June 20, have enlisted the Bish family for a fund-raising event this morning.

The event, called a Walk for Debbie, will take place at 10 a.m. in Myles Standish Industrial Park in Taunton. The fee is $12 to take part in the 2 1/2-mile walk, and participants will receive free refreshments and T-shirts donated by local businesses.

The Bish family plans to participate in the walk, which Melo's mother, Marilyn Gagnon, said will increase a reward fund for anyone with information about her daughter's disappearance.

"A lot of people have donated money and we want to put it to good use," Gagnon said yesterday. "Somebody must know something out there, and money talks, as the saying goes."

Luis Melo, Debbie's husband, declined to comment. Gagnon has stated from the outset that she blames him for her daughter's disappearance. Melo told police that his wife stormed out of the car on a busy Weymouth roadway during a fight about money.

WARREN - Worcester County District Attorney John J. Conte said yesterday that state police have impounded a car in connection with the disappearance in June of West Warren teen-ager Molly Ann Bish.

Conte made the announcement during a news conference held on the town common, while searchers spent the sun-filled day combing the area off Coy Hill Road. Several hours later, about 200 people gathered for the third vigil held since Bish vanished while on lifeguard duty at Comins Pond on June 27.

Conte provided few details about the automobile and its seizure, other than to say the car was located by authorities in the Warren area and was impounded as a result of a search warrant issued Wednesday. Bish's mother, Magdalen, reported she had seen a man in a white car at the pond the day before her daughter disappeared.

Asked if the impounded car fit the description of the car seen by Magdalen Bish, Conte said: "It may not necessarily be the white car."

Conte declined to disclose the make and model of the car. He said state police will perform tests on the car, but said he did not know how long it will take to complete the tests.

Magdalen Bish, her husband, John, and their daughter Heather also attended the news conference.

Molly Ann Bish was 16 when she disappeared, and investigators believe she was abducted. Conte said authorities have more than a half-dozen suspects in the case.

"The investigation is still a very intense investigation," he said. "Many of the suspects we originally had in our sights are still in our sights.

"The trail definitely is not cold," he added.

But the district attorney said around midafternoon that yesterday's search had not born fruit.

"We haven't come up with anything significant here this afternoon," he said.

Eighteen members of the Central Massachusetts Search and Rescue Team had covered about 150 acres in the Coy Hill Road area by late afternoon. State police personnel also were on the scene yesterday.

Aerial photographs and a topographical map were taped to a black Isuzu Trooper parked on the side of a dirt-road area used as a command post.

Conte said the area had been searched earlier, but he simply talked about the area as a well-known spot when asked why yesterday's search focused there.

He did say, however, the impounded car was not found in the area.

"It has nothing to do with this search," Conte said.

Magdalen Bish described the family's rising and falling emotions in dealing with the disappearance as an "emotional pingpong game we're going through."

"Our family misses Molly immensely, and we want her to come home," she added.

Last night's vigil was organized by Jeffrey B. Tibbets, pastor of the Upper Room Christian Fellowship of West Warren. Tibbets also organized vigils held on the common on July 1 and July 22, each of which drew several hundred people.

Last night two photographs of Molly Ann Bish were on a table in front of the gazebo on the common, and the vigil included prayer, singing, readings from Scripture and the lighting of candles.

Magdalen Bish told the crowd it had been "a difficult day, but a joyous day" and expressed her gratitude to those who attended the vigil.

"We knew we might not have an answer tonight," she said before telling the crowd: "You are angels. Thank you."(Photo - Page A10) Ronald J. Bruchmann, president of the Central Massachusetts Search and Rescue team, points to a photo of the area on Coy Hill Road in Warren where they searched for Molly Ann Bish

October 22, 2000

 

WARREN -- Sifting through thick brush on Coy Hill in the middle of hunting season, search teams yesterday found no evidence of Molly A. Bish, the teen-ager who mysteriously vanished from her post as lifeguard at the town beach 118 days ago.

However, on Thursday state police seized a white car that appeared to be similar to one reportedly seen near Comins Pond, the town beach, the day before Molly disappeared, Worcester District District Attorney John J. Conte said yesterday.

``The trail is definitely not cold,'' he said at a press conference as searchers from the Central Massachusetts Search and Rescue made their way along Coy Hill.

State police detectives obtained a search warrant for the car Thursday and took it to the state police crime lab to look for evidence, according to Mr. Conte, who would not identify the owner of the vehicle.

Furthermore, suspects have been added to a short list. Mr. Conte, declining to give specifics, said there are about a half-dozen suspects.

``Many of the suspects are still in our sights,'' he said.

Molly, 16 years old at the time, disappeared the morning of June 27, shortly after her mother, Magdalen, dropped her off. A man, whose composite sketch has been distributed, was seen in a white car near the beach the day before. Police have been unable to locate the man.

Molly's parents, John J. Bish and Magadalen, and her sister, Heather, battled their emotions as they thanked the search teams and state police for their efforts.

``I just wish I could hear her voice again,'' Mrs. Bish said yesterday as she waited for searchers to return from Coys Hill Wildlife Management Area. ``Someone has to know something.''

State police detectives assigned to the case have been operating out of Town Hall since the teen-ager's disappearance. The search for Molly and other high-profile cases in Worcester County have depleted the district attorney's overtime account.

Mr. Conte said Molly's case, an attempted abduction in Lancaster and a homicide in Fitchburg have been paid for with $325,000 from the overtime account. He has asked for $350,000 from the Legislature to help pay the overtime.

The Molly Bish case, in particular, has gained national attention during the last several months. Police have received more than 5,000 tips and leads.

A team of profilers from New Jersey has also shown interest in the disappearance of Molly. John J. Kelly, 50, an M.D. and president of New Jersey-based STALK, which stands for System To Apprehend Lethal Killers, has kept abreast of the case.

Dr. Kelly, who has profiled several serial killers, including a serial murderer in Columbus, Miss., said once he read of Molly's disappearance he knew that it was an abduction.

``When women run away, they usually take a purse,'' he said. ``When I read that her purse was left behind, I knew this girl did not run off.``

Dr. Kelly, who is part of a six-member profiling team, said that in all likelihood Molly was being watched.

``He did not stumble upon her. He knew his stuff. He was watching her,'' Dr. Kelly said. ``This person is visually oriented. He enjoys the outdoors, more of a fisherman, and probably does not work. He'll probably have a background of female abuse, lewd behavior, has exposed himself when he was younger and he may be known as a Peeping Tom.''

Dr. Kelly said there has been a bizarre pattern of attempted abductions and attacks on women near ponds and waterways throughout the state. He said women from Wales, Walpole, Westwood, and Weymouth have been attacked or killed in the past several years.

``Most recently a woman was assaulted in Wales. She fended him off with a hammer and her dog,'' Dr. Kelly said of a recent assault on a 34-year-old woman.

``All these incidents were out by the woods near a pond in a secluded section,'' he said. ``All of them start with W's. Too many coincidences. Police may be dealing with some kind of outdoors, schizophrenic type of person