Local news is on fire with this. TLDR: suspect is dead, sadly.
> WARREN, Mass. — > Authorities have named a person of interest in the 2000 murder of 16-year-old Molly Bish, a lifeguard who disappeared from Comins Pond in Warren, Massachusetts, nearly 21 years ago. > > Francis "Frank" Sumner Sr. was named a person of interest in the murder of Bish, sources tell 5 Investigates. > > The Worcester County District Attorney's Office says Sumner, who died in 2016, is being investigated in the 2000 murder of the 16-year-old after investigators recently received new information. > > Sumner, who was born in 1945, was known to operate auto repair shops in the Spencer, Leicester and Worcester areas. Sumner lived in Spencer prior to his death. > > Court records examined by 5 Investigates shows Sumner was convicted of kidnapping and raping a 21-year-old woman who went to his business to get her car fixed back in 1981. > > Sumner lured the victim to a nearby apartment and attacked her. The victim pushed him away. > > According to court records, Sumner said, "Give it to me or I'll kill you." > > Heather Bish hopes this is the break her family has been praying for for more than two decades, one that will bring her family justice and some sense of peace. > > "I hope that we're getting closer and I hope that we're coming to an end to this really, really tragic story," Heather Bish told 5 Investigates Kathy Curran. " I believe if it's not science that's going to figure this out, it's definitely going to be someone who was brave enough to tell their story and tell their piece. And maybe it'll fit into the pieces and and we'll get the whole picture and then the whole story and have a better idea of what happened to Molly." > > Bish disappeared from Comins Pond on June 27, 2000. Her disappearance set off a massive search. Her remains were found by a hunter three years later in the woods of Palmer 5 miles away from the pond. > > Investigators say they are asking the public for tips, specifically looking for information relative to Sumner’s employment practices, which includes personnel, associates, vehicles, travel and any known habits. > > State police detectives assigned to the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office encourage anyone with information on Sumner or any additional information on the Molly Bish case to call the anonymous tip line at 508-453-7575. > > A 5 Investigates time
... keep reading on reddit ➡(More information about this case is reported in the new, student-run true crime series NUTV Files: https://youtu.be/vy_rCdyoBxY)
The morning of June 27th, 2000, Magi Bish dropped off her daughter Molly Bish at Comins Pond, a local beach in the small, tight-knit town of Warren, Massachusetts. Molly Bish -- a feisty, honey blonde, 16-year old athlete -- had just finished her junior year and was now starting her summer working as a lifeguard.
Molly was known for being conscientious and highly dedicated to the job. She was super excited about making 9 dollars an hour, eagerly having lifeguard training the winter prior. Thus, all these known attributes made her sudden disappearance on that fateful morning all the more unsettling.
June 27th was Molly’s eighth day working at the beach, but it was her first day of swimming lessons. Molly was running a bit late for her shift, getting last- minute supplies.
At 9:50am, Molly and Magi made a quick stop at a convenience store. The store’s camera had the last photographic showing of Molly who was just buying a couple of water bottles. At 9:56am, the mother and daughter pair checked in at the local police station to pick up Molly’s two-way radio. At 9:58am, they arrived at Comins Pond with Molly saying ‘I love you’ before running off to set up for her shift. The beach was empty with the sole exception of a dump truck dropping a load of sand.
Magi drove off at 10am.
Around 10:20am, Sandra Woodworth -- a local woman of Warren -- and her kids arrived at the local beach for Molly’s swimming lessons, only to find a deserted lifeguard station. The items present were an opened first-aid kit, a backpack sitting on the bench, a towel draped over a beach chair with a whistle wrapped around the arm, a pair of sandals on the ground, and a Poland Springs water bottle. But, Molly herself was nowhere to be found.
Woodworth reports Molly's disappearance to Molly’s boss, the Park Commissioner Ed Fett. At 11:44 am, with no sign of Molly, Fett uses the two-way radio (that was Molly had brought on the job) to relay the incident to Warren’s Police Department. The police arrived, seeing no signs of struggle on the beach, and initially assumed that Molly left her post to hang out with her friends. But, after three hours and still no Molly, the police decided to call in Molly’s mother Magi.
The Bish family refused to believe that Molly simply just up and left her shif
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I am working on a follow-up story to the one I wrote in February about Molly Bish's murder. I have received numerous tips and am trying to verify and/or discount as many as possible. In particular, I am looking for any information on an 80s-style Oldsmobile or Chevy with a red bumper sticker on the back, either seen in the vicinity of Ware Rd./Whiskey Hill and/or Comins Pond on the day Molly disappeared. The car was not white and may have had a rack on the top.
Thank you. You can message me here, email me or post a response.
If you would like to read the original story, here is the link:
Recently I decided to take a closer look at the case and after doing so I believe someone other than the man in the white car was the person who took Molly on June 27. Article includes crime scene photos that show the trail the killer used to abduct Molly, as well as quotes from old articles I dug up that cast the main narrative about her murder into doubt.
I did a lot of reserach for this and would love any feedback. Thanks.
I was initially going to post this just as a story link to something I wrote about Lisa Ziegert's 1992 Massachusetts case, which was solved in 2017. But the more I think about it, the more I wonder if it's possible that Gary Schara, who murdered Ziegert, could possibly have been involved in Molly Bish's murder.
At the time of Bish's murder, he had moved from Longmeadow to Agawam, the town where he murdered Lisa (pretty bold to move INTO the town where he committed the crime). Agawam is about 30 miles from where Molly was taken on June 27,2000. At that time, Gary was a free man and had not been questioned by police in connection with Lisa's murder/rape, though his name was in the files.
This is not in my story but one acquaintance compared Schara to Ted Bundy. Very charming, handsome when younger. He wrote a confession in which he denied involvement in other murders and is currently serving life with no chance of parole.
Below is an excerpt of the story I wrote about the Lisa's case that draws on every source I could find. Lisa worked at an Agawam gift shop and disappeared during her shift one night in 1992. She was found in nearby woods a few days later, brutally raped and murdered. Schara was arrested 25 years after the murder.
Another thing that struck me was Joyce Schara, the wife who gave the tip to police months after the crime--which was the ONLY evidence tying him to the case besides DNA--suffered a tremendous amount. Joyce and Gary divorced shortly after Lisa's murder; she "kidnapped" their baby and flew to Seattle, where she went into hiding.
Meanwhile, Gary worked closely with police/FBI for years to get the boy back.
In my article, I don't mention Molly Bish at all. The idea of a connection is something that I'm just considering now. I tend to think he wasn't involved, but would be interested to hear what people think.
I tried to tell Lisa's story as well as Joyce Schara's--to me, it is a tale of two women.
From the beginning:
....Less often, we get those gifts that make us wonder if we know the giver as well as we thought we did. Sometimes they may even haunt us. When 22-year-old Gary Schara gave his young wife a music box he bought at Brittany’s Card and Gift Shoppe, Joyce didn’t think much of it at first. She loved trinkets and Gary knew that. He told her a “little old lady” with gray hair had sold it to him and she had no reason to doubt his story.
That is, until a pretty, blue-eyed woman who worked at the Agawam store disap
... keep reading on reddit ➡On Harry’s 17th birthday, Molly gives Harry a gold watch according to Wizard tradition. She says that it belonged to her brother Fabian. I only now just made the connection; I knew she was a Prewett before marriage but never really thought that it was her two brothers who died tragically in the first wizarding war. How incredibly sad, especially considering her boggart in book 5 and her fears of losing even more family through their service in the order.
I haven't been listening but Spotify popped up with the new episode.
With all the controversy I am very nervous about their portrayal. It is a case I am familiar (no expert) with as it is relatively close to where I grew up. So I know people who have been involved.
But the family is extremely active still. There was a recent controversy with a book released that was NOT authorized by the family and there was a bunch of fall out online from it trying to get Amazon to remove it. There was a lot of misrepresentation in the book from what the family had said.
Seeing that A&A are tackling it is making me queasy. I'm almost tempted to listen. I knew they'd do it sooner or later since they're from MA.
Over all, they did okay. It was mostly information that I had heard before.
I'm glad they didn't reference the book that had the controversy.
Of course, since it is an unsolved case they will have their thoughts on who did it and why. We all do that though.
Over all, as an outside observer of this case growing up and one I have followed whenever new information is released. I think they did a relatively decent job.
It is unconfirmed as of right now but based on rumors on Websleuths (yeah, yeah, I know - hence the grain of salt in the title), the current campground search may center on one-time suspect Robert Burno.
Burno was arrested for accosting a jogger while driving his vehicle in 2007. The road that this crime occurred on later becomes the very same road where Holly Piirainen's body was found. He was also reportedly living in Agawam, MA during the period when Lisa Ziegert was murdered.
Burno also reportedly owned an unregistered white sedan at the time of Molly's abduction and was a smoker, which both match the description of the POI seen by Magi Bish at Comin's Pond the morning before her daughter's abduction. Mrs. Bish has called the resemblance "frightening" but failed to make a positive identification.
Personally, I have my doubts that Burno's the guy. Trying to run down a jogger with a car is a far cry from the level of organization seen in the murder of Molly Bish. Plus his family insists that he's never exhibited any signs of violent behavior prior to the incident in 2007. Finally, while he does have connections to a campground (or RV park? I'm not sure) through his brother, it is not the same one police recently searched in West Brookfield.
Blog post by the late Michelle McNamara with a ton of additional links embedded throughout: http://truecrimediary.com/index.cfm?page=cases&id=30
What is your favorite interesting/strange/creepy/disturbing unresolved mysteries and/or missing persons cases of all time? People that seem to have vanished out of thin air, unsolved disappearances and murders, etc?
One mystery from my homestate of Massachusetts is Molly Bish. Molly Bish was a Detroit, Michigan native, but her family moved to Warren, Massachusetts to, ironically, escape the urban violence. Fifteen years later, she got a job as a lifeguard at Comins Pond in Warren. On June 27, 2000, her mother, Magi Bish, dropped her off at the pond. Three hours later, she received an alarming phone call from a police officer. Several people had reported that there was no lifeguard at the pond. She rushed there, where she found Molly's flip flops, chair, first aid kit, radio, and lunch sitting on the shore. However, there was no sign of her.
Police searched the pond and the surrounding woods. However, Molly could not be found. Although there was no sign of struggle at the scene, police and her family were convinced that she was abducted. Magi now believes that she may have seen Molly's abductor on the day before her disappearance.
On June 26, the day before Molly vanished, Magi took her to the pond. When they pulled up to the parking lot, she noticed a man parked there and smoking a cigarette in a late model white car. She escorted Molly down to her post, but when she returned to her car, the man was still there. She waited in her car for several minutes until he finally left.
However, he was not there when Magi dropped Molly off. A sand truck driver reported seeing him parked in the parking lot just minutes before Magi and Molly arrived. Later that day, a worker noticed a similar car parked at a nearby cemetery connected to the pond by a path. A sketch of the man was made and circulated. Despite a thorough investigation, no identification has been made.
He has brown hair, dark eyes, and was approximately fifty years old at the time of Molly's disappearance. He is possibly a heavy smoker. Though no suspects have been named, the police have several people of interest.Three years after Molly vanished, her body was found five miles from the pond at a place called Whiskey Hill. Although no cause of death could be determined, the manner of death was ruled a homicide. Her killer has not yet been apprehended, but the case remains open and active. A $100,000 reward is being offered for information on it.
Although the case remains unsolved, there have b
... keep reading on reddit ➡https://thecinemaholic.com/molly-bishs-murder-how-did-she-die-who-killed-her/
Her murder has never been solved, a person of interest is a man who died in 2016 Francis Sumner, the third link will tell you about other suspects as well. Her cause of death has not been determined by they believe she was murdered. It's my first time learning about this case, I will say that I hope her killer is not dead so he can get what he deserves.
Heard about this case? Share your thoughts
Police sources have confirmed that their recent search of a campground in West Brookfield, MA yielded "compelling evidence" in the ongoing investigation of lifeguard Molly Bish, who was abducted from her post at Comins Pond in Warren 17 years ago.
The search was based on a tip that a car matching the suspect vehicle seen at the pond shortly before Molly's disappearance was buried at the now-defunct campground. Further searches appear likely.
http://www.necn.com/news/new-england/Molly-Bish-Case-Investigation-Ground-Penetrating-Radar-Search-428661453.html
On June 27th, 2000, sixteen year old lifeguard Molly Bish disappeared from her lifeguard post at Comins Pond in Warren, MA. On the day before Molly's disappearance, her mother, Magi Bish, noticed a moustached Caucasian male in a white sedan in the parking lot at the pond. Though he appeared suspicious, Magi brushed it off and dropped Molly off. Molly was only a week into her position as a lifeguard when her mother dropped her off at Comins Pond on June 27th. Magi received a call from the police later that day to inform her that there was no lifeguard on duty at the pond and when Magi rushed to Molly's post, all that was there were her sandals and her lunch.
Molly's disappearance lead to the largest and most expensive search in Massachusetts. Almost three years later on June 9th, 2003, a hunter passing through the woods in the Whiskey Hill area of Palmer, MA (located about five miles from the Bish family home) spotted a blue bathing suit matching the description of the suit last worn by Molly. This information was relayed to police, who conducted an extensive search of the area and recovered her body.
Though there have been several suspects named in the disappearance and murder of Molly Bish, nobody has been formally arrested or convicted in connection to the crime. Police have focused heavily on the description of the moustached man in the sedan that Magi saw the day before Molly's disappearance. Two other workers at the pond told police they had seen a man of similar description, once in the parking lot at Comins Pond before Molly arrived for her last shift, and again in the parking lot of the cemetery connected to the pond by a small path. In 2005, a Connecticut resident charged with attempted kidnapping was investigated briefly for connections to the case, but he was not charged. In 2009, police were lead to a new suspect, Rodney Stanger. Stanger was a Florida resident who was convicted of murdering his girlfriend, Crystal Morrison. At the time of Molly's disappearance, Stanger lived in Southbridge, MA, just a few short miles from Warren. He moved to Florida shortly after Molly's disappearance. Morrison's sister told police that Stanger had access to a white car similar to the one spotted at the pond. He was also known to fish at the pond and hunt in the woods where Molly's body was found. Stanger's facial features match the composite of the moustached man in the sedan provided by Magi as well. While police investigated Stanger for the Bish disappea
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