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Molly bish

Molly Bish

Real Name: Molly Anne Bish
Nicknames: No known nicknames
Location: Warren, Massachusetts
Date: June 27, 2000

Bio[]

Occupation: Lifeguard
Date of Birth: August 2, 1983
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 127 lbs.
Marital Status: Single
Characteristics: White female with blonde hair and blue eyes. She was last seen wearing plaid boxer shorts (red, blue, and green), a blue Nike one-piece bathing suit with white lines in it, and a pink tank top.

Case[]

Details: Sixteen-year-old Molly Bish is the daughter of John and Magi Bish. She has two older siblings, Heather and John Jr. She was born in Detroit, Michigan, but when she was just a year old, urban violence suddenly invaded her family's neighborhood. An eighteen-year-old woman was followed from work, abducted, raped, and murdered. John and Magi decided to move to a rural area so that they could "find their peace" and raise their children.
The Bish family moved to John's hometown – the small community of Warren, Massachusetts, with a population of 4,800. It was one of the few places left in America where doors were always unlocked and parents had no fear of letting their children run about freely. The town's rural charm and quaint innocence made it perfect for the Bish family. They flourished in Warren.
In 2000, fifteen years after the move, Heather and John Jr. went off to college. Meanwhile, sixteen-year-old Molly had just finished her junior year of high school and landed her first real job as a lifeguard at the beach at Comins Pond in Warren. Magi says that Molly was proud to be a lifeguard and had worked hard to get the job. Magi says the pond is in a beautiful location, but it is isolated and surrounded by woods.
On the morning of June 27, 2000, Magi drove Molly to the pond. At 9:50am, they stopped at a convenience store. At 9:56am, they stopped at the Warren Police Department to pick up Molly's radio. At 9:58am, Magi dropped Molly off in the pond’s parking lot and said goodbye to her. As Molly went to a nearby shed to get her work equipment, Magi left and returned home.
At 10:03am, a local resident arrived at the beach with her children. They noticed that Molly's first aid kit was open, her backpack was sitting on a nearby bench, and her chair was open, with a towel draped over the back and her sandals in front. Her two-way radio, water bottle, whistle, and lunch were next to the chair. But she was nowhere to be found.
About an hour later, Molly's boss arrived at the beach and learned that she was not there. He knew she was a responsible and dependable worker who would not have left without telling anyone. At 11:44am, he called the police. It was soon discovered that she had not checked in with officers via her radio; she was supposed to do this at the beginning of her shift. At 1pm, the police called Magi and told her that there had been no lifeguard at the beach all day. They said that Molly's belongings were there, but she was not.
Magi rushed to the beach. She found Molly's chair and other belongings undisturbed. But there was no sign of Molly. As Magi called out Molly's name, a woman came up to her. She told Magi that there had been no lifeguard all day and that she had been doing it instead. Magi says there was a lot of confusion, and nobody seemed to know where Molly was. She says it felt like a "bad movie".
At first, the police did not secure the scene. They suspected that Molly had simply abandoned her post to hang out with friends and/or her boyfriend. But her loved ones knew that she would not have done that, especially since she had left her sandals behind. When the police contacted her friends, it became clear that she was not with them.
The police then began to fear that Molly had drowned in the pond. By late afternoon, the Massachusetts State Police had taken over the investigation. They launched a massive search of the pond and surrounding areas. Divers searched the pond for Molly's body. Search dogs combed the nearby woods. Police officers searched the area and interviewed people. John says he had a sinking, hollow feeling as the searches occurred. He began to think something horrible had happened to Molly.
After searching the pond and finding no trace of Molly, the police felt it was unlikely that she had drowned. Chief Ronald Syriac of the Warren Police Department says there was no sign of any struggle at the scene. Molly's belongings were left intact and undisturbed. There were no other clues left behind. The police looked into the possibility that Molly had run away. However, she had never done that before, and she had left her purse, license, and uncashed checks behind.
Over 200 police officers, cadets, and trained civilian searchers covered approximately seven square miles of forests, fields, swamps, and small mountains, mostly around the pond. Helicopters, dogs, sonar equipment, and horses were brought in to help in the search. Police dogs traced what they believed was Molly's scent both east and west of the pond to Reed Street and Bemis Road. However, no trace of her was found.
Molly's parents had done everything possible to ensure her safety, but apparently, even that was not enough. Now, the energy Magi once poured into motherhood is being channeled into discovering Molly's fate. She is convinced Molly was abducted. In fact, she may have seen the man responsible. It happened the day before Molly disappeared.
On June 26, 2000, Magi accompanied Molly to the pond for her seventh day of work. When they pulled into the parking lot, they noticed a late-model white vehicle parked right next to them. A man was sitting inside the vehicle and smoking. Magi felt uncomfortable about his presence. As they got out of their car, Magi looked at him. He did not nod or greet her. She felt uneasy; she did not want to leave Molly alone with him.
Magi escorted Molly down to the beach and expected the man to be gone when she got back. But when she returned to her car, he was still there. She was very upset that he was still there, so she locked eyes with him. She gave him a stare, hoping to scare him away. But at the same time, he returned the stare. She says he boldly and cockily stared and squinted at her. He kept smoking and did not seem to care about her.
Fearing for Molly's safety, Magi waited for the man to leave. After nearly twenty minutes, he did. The following day, June 27, Magi once again went with Molly to the pond. The suspicious man was nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was a truck unloading sand for the beach. When Magi saw the sand truck, she realized it was a local company. She felt relieved that she could leave Molly and that she would be okay. But Magi never saw Molly again.
The police investigation centered on the man Magi saw in the white car. One witness saw a white car on the morning of Molly's disappearance near a car wash at the base of Comins Pond Road. The sand truck driver also saw a white car in the pond parking lot just moments before Molly and Magi arrived. On the other side of the pond is a cemetery. A worker there also saw a white car later that morning. A path leads from the cemetery to the pond's beach.
John theorizes that Molly's abductor parked at the cemetery and went along the path to the beach. He believes the man took control of her, took her from the beach, forced her to walk along the path to the cemetery, put her in his car, and then drove off down nearby Route 19.
The police learned that a person who lived near the pond reported hearing a scream around the time Molly disappeared. Despite setting up roadblocks, searching crime databases, and interviewing convicted sex offenders and others who matched the suspect description, police were unable to identify the man in the white car. A composite sketch based on Magi's description produced no reliable leads.
Desperate to generate any information, Molly's parents took action. They wanted to get her picture out to as many people as possible, so they created an email chain. More than 35,000 people were emailed pictures of her. A website devoted to finding her received thousands of hits.
But one year passed, and the search for Molly had stalled. Magi decided there was more she could do. She tracked down famed sketch artist Jeanne Boylan, who worked on The Unabomber and Polly Klaas cases. Jeanne agreed to meet Magi at a local bed and breakfast with the hopes of producing a more accurate drawing of the man in the white car.
Jeanne says that when she met with Magi, she tried to get her to talk about the positive aspects of her relationship with Molly, which were plentiful. Jeanne says that allows for a sense of relaxation, and with that comes new information. For nine hours, the two women chatted as Jeanne slowly weaved a portrait. Finally, the drawing was complete.
Although impressed with its uncanny accuracy, Magi still felt something was missing – the cigarette that the man was holding. Jeanne stayed up late that night, using her own hand as a model to create the image of the hand holding the cigarette. She then added it to the drawing. She thinks that was the "finishing touch" that brought everything into focus.
The next morning, Jeanne showed the updated drawing to Magi. When she saw it, she thought, "instant fear". She says it looked exactly like the man she saw. She could see it in the drawing's eyes; he had the same cockiness and the same look. The Bish family hopes that the new composite drawing will lead them to Molly. John wants her abductor to know that they will never stop searching for her, and they will never stop searching for him. John says he is very angry, and that anger will drive him on forever. He will not stop until she is found.
Molly’s disappearance has transformed her parents into staunch child safety advocates. Their fight has now expanded beyond Molly to help prevent any child from becoming a victim. Magi says they are educating people and giving them tools so that children will become smarter and not get taken. She says, "You can lose your keys, you can lose your glasses, but how do you lose your children in America? Something is wrong. And if it could happen here, it could happen anywhere".

Bish abductor

Composite sketch of Molly's abductor

Suspects: The police would like to question the unknown man in the late-model white vehicle. He was seen in the pond's parking lot by Magi the day before Molly's disappearance. He was seen there again on the morning of her disappearance. He was also seen in a cemetery, which connects to the pond's beach via a path. He is a heavyset white male with dark brown or salt-and-pepper hair and dark eyes. He is of average height and was between forty-five and fifty-five at the time of Molly's disappearance. He is possibly a heavy smoker.
Investigators believe that the abductor is local and familiar with Comins Pond and the surrounding area.
Molly’s boyfriend was initially looked at by the police as a potential suspect. However, he was later ruled out.
Extra Notes:

  • This case first aired on the September 5, 2002 episode.
  • It was also profiled on Haunting Evidence, America’s Most Wanted, 48 Hours, Disappeared, and On the Case with Paula Zahn.
  • The case was referenced in "Hope: A Memoir of Survival in Cleveland," written by Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus.
  • The search for Molly was the largest missing person search in Massachusetts history.
  • There was speculation that Molly's case was related to that of ten-year-old Holly Piirainen. On August 5, 1993, she was abducted from Sturbridge, Massachusetts, and later found murdered. This location is not far from Warren. In a bizarre coincidence, Molly wrote a letter to Holly's family after her disappearance.
  • Following Molly's disappearance, her parents created the "Molly Bish Foundation". Its goal is to establish and provide safety awareness programs, create ID cards for children, and assist investigators in child abduction cases by providing posters, flyers, and buttons. They have helped photograph, fingerprint, and create identification cards for over 46,000 children.
  • Some sources state: the unknown man was seen starting at Molly on multiple occasions; she was supposed to give swimming lessons that day; she was discovered missing at 10:20 or 10:30am; she was wearing flip flops; and there were broken branches in the nearby woods, which indicated a struggle may have taken place.

Results: Unresolved - In November 2002, a hunter spotted a blue bathing suit in the woods on Whiskey Hill near West Warren Road and the Nenameseck Sports Club in Palmer, Massachusetts, about five miles from Comins Pond. The bathing suit matched the one that Molly was wearing. However, the hunter incorrectly believed that she was wearing an orange bathing suit when she disappeared, so he decided to leave it there. In mid-May 2003, he mentioned his discovery to another man, who realized that it might be Molly's. The man contacted the police. The hunter then led the police to the bathing suit.
The police began an intense search of the Whiskey Hill area. Starting on June 3, searchers found more than twenty human bones on a remote wooded hillside about 500 feet from where the bathing suit was found. On June 9, the remains were identified as Molly's through DNA and dental records. On what would have been her twentieth birthday, August 2, she was laid to rest.
Although no cause of death could be determined, the manner of death was ruled a homicide. Investigators believe Molly was murdered and then buried in a shallow grave, and that animals later scattered her remains. Her killer has not yet been apprehended, but the case remains open and active. A $100,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest.
Over the years, several persons of interest have been identified in this case. In 2007, investigators looked into Robert Burno after he was arrested for trying to abduct and assault a female jogger in Brimfield, a few miles from Warren. He matched the composite sketch and description of the suspect.
In 2008, investigators received a tip about Rodney Stanger, who had recently been arrested for the murder of his longtime girlfriend, Crystal Morrison. He had lived in Southbridge, Massachusetts, a few miles from Warren, for more than twenty years. He also lived just a few blocks from the YMCA, where Molly took her lifeguard certification classes. He moved to Florida a year after her murder. According to family members, he was known to have a "violent streak"; he had abused his ex-wife, their daughter, and several animals.
Stanger was known to fish in Comins Pond and hunt in the wooded area where Molly's remains were found. He had access to a white car similar to the one seen by witnesses. He also matched the composite sketch of the suspect. He may have been seen at the pond on the day she disappeared. Finally, before her death, Crystal had suggested to her sister that he was involved in murders in Massachusetts. He was later convicted of Crystal's murder.
In 2011, a private investigator contacted the police after learning that a man named Gerald Battistoni had allegedly raped his former girlfriend’s teenage daughter in the early 1990s. He was later convicted of rape and sentenced to ten years in prison. The private investigator discovered that Battistoni's victim was living on Comins Pond Road in Warren around the time Molly disappeared. He was also familiar with the Whiskey Hill area.
Battistoni resembled the composite sketch of the suspect. According to his second wife, on the day Molly disappeared, he was working on their car, a white Chevy, and had taken it for a drive in the Warren area. In November 2011, he attempted suicide after newspaper articles identified him as a potential suspect in Molly and Holly's cases. He died on November 11, 2014, at the age of fifty-two.
In June 2014, a private investigator discovered a bag partially buried underneath a log in the woods in Palmer, not far from where Molly's remains were found. Inside the bag was a pair of plaid boxer shorts, similar to the ones that Molly was wearing when she disappeared. It is not known if the shorts were confirmed to be hers or not.
After Battistoni was identified as a suspect, the Bish family asked for the evidence in Molly's case to be tested for DNA. In April 2013, investigators sent some of this evidence to a lab in Texas. In June 2016, prosecutors announced that they planned on sending twenty-four pieces of evidence to a lab so that "enhanced DNA testing" could be conducted. This evidence had never been tested before.
In June 2017, after receiving "compelling" information, investigators used ground-penetrating radar to search a campground in West Brookfield, located next to Warren. According to rumors, the car used by Molly's abductor was buried there. "Compelling" anomalies were found underground, which suggested that something was buried there. The information investigators received centered around an unidentified person of interest who was staying at the campground with his father at the time of Molly's disappearance.
At the time, the man owned a white Buick LeSabre, similar to the one seen by witnesses. He was reportedly not at the campground on the day of Molly's disappearance. He showed up the next morning, appearing intoxicated. A witness claimed that the man had told him that "something bad happened" and that he was "in the woods all night". He also allegedly had bloody scratches on his face. Furthermore, he resembled the composite sketch of the suspect. However, the man denied any involvement in the case, and it is not known if anything was found during the campground search.
In June 2019, investigators began conducting new testing on items found at the pond and Whiskey Hill, in hopes of obtaining a DNA profile. They had previously been unable to come up with a solid DNA profile. The new testing was done at both in-state and out-of-state labs. Investigators also contacted Parabon NanoLabs, a private DNA testing company.
In June 2021, investigators identified a new suspect in this case: Francis "Frank" Sumner Sr. Over the years, they have received several tips about him. But one tip from an informant included “clear, persuasive” information that linked him to Molly's murder. Investigators were also able to verify and corroborate information from other tips. As of yet, they have not said what exactly links him to the case.
Sumner had been convicted of aggravated rape and kidnapping in 1981. His victim was a young woman who had come to his repair shop to get her car fixed. He asked her to come to a nearby apartment and help him clean it. While there, he attacked, raped, and choked her, and then threatened to kill her. He was released on parole in 1998, just two years before Molly's disappearance. At one point, he violated his probation.
Sumner ran repair shops in the Spencer, Leicester, and Worcester areas, not far from where Molly vanished. He also resembled the composite sketch of the suspect. He smoked with his left hand, which the suspect did as well. He also had access to a white car; a customer had left one at his repair shop in Rutland shortly before Molly's disappearance. He also had ties to Warren.
People who knew Sumner from his repair shops described him as weird, rude, aggressive, and hot-headed. A friend of his ex-wife claimed that he was controlling and had stalked her. The friend says he constantly drove past her house. On one occasion, she caught him hiding behind a tree, taking pictures of his daughter and her daughter swimming in a pool.
Unfortunately, on May 4, 2016, Sumner died in Spencer at the age of seventy-one without ever being questioned. At the time of his death, he was facing several criminal charges, including failing to register as a sex offender, making threats, disorderly conduct, and harassment. Following the announcement about Sumner, investigators received nearly 100 tips. Several of the tips led to information that helped "move the case forward".
In July 2022, DNA from Sumner's son was compared to DNA evidence in this case. According to Molly's sister, Heather, it was not a match. Despite this, investigators still consider him a suspect. They have stated that more testing needs to be done to rule him in or out. As of June 2023, DNA testing is still being conducted in this case.
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