Vermont Unsolved Mysteries

Warning:  
Content may not be suitable for those under 18 years old.

Vermont has many sites which explain the known facts about the mysterious or otherwise disappearances of some of our residents.  

I think it is worth posting this information - because keeping us alert is what can not only solve crimes, but perhaps give closure to those families who have suffered through these mysterious circumstances:

All of the following information is from http://letsfindthem.wordpress.com/?s=vermont 
and http://www.ctcoldcases.com/vermont.html

WANTED:

CHARGED WITH HOLDING 12 YEAR OLD BOY AS SEX SLAVE:

Vermont State police have charged two men with Connecticut ties in an alleged child sexual assault case

The suspects are both middle-age men who were respected firemen for the West Haven Fire Department

The assaults occurred in The assaults allegedly occurred in Ludlow and Cavendish, Vermont

The victim, who is now a young man in his twenties, came forward with the allegations last month, saying the assaults began when he was 12 and the sexual relations continued to last year.

Meyer is alleged to have brought other underage victims from Connecticut to Vermont where he would sexual assault them and then ask the victim to perform sex acts on them.

Suspects: Frank Meyer, 39, of West Haven, Conn., and

 Brett Bartolotta, 42, of Cavendish, Vt., are charged with

 aggravated sexual assault and slave trafficking

Disappearance Of Brianna Maitland

Brianna Maitland, was eighteen years old when she was last seen leaving the Black Lantern Inn in Montgomery, VT. It was Friday night, March 19th, 2004 and she just finished working there. Her vehicle, a green 1985 Oldsmobile was discovered the next day backed into an abandoned house about a mile away from where she was last seen.

Police believe that she did not run off and may have been a victim of foul play. She is described as being as five foot four and between 105 and 110 pounds. She has hazel eyes, with medium dark brown hair.

There is a $20,000 reward for information on her disappearance. $10,000 for anyone who can identify the exact location of Brianna may be buried. Another $10,000 for anyone with information leading to the arrest of the individual(s) that may be responsible for her disappearance.

If you have any information about this case you are urged to contact Vermont State Police Captain Glenn Hall at the Vermont State Police Headquarters at 802-244-8781. All calls can be confidential.

- There is a Facebook group dedicated to the Disappearance of Brianna Maitland. Just type ‘Brianna Maitland’ in the Facebook searchbar. Her Family and loved ones are still looking for answers and wont stop until they found out what happened to there Daughter, Friend, and Neice.

Brianna Maitland

Maura Murray

Maura Murray (pictured above) disappeared on February 9, 2004, after a one-car accident on New Hampshire Route 112 in Haverhill, New Hampshire. Murray, a nursing student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, left campus on the afternoon of her disappearance after telling her professors and her work supervisor by e-mail that she was taking a week off because of a family emergency. Official investigators suggested that she may have wanted to disappear and initially considered her disappearance to be a standard missing persons case, but her family and friends believe that she was abducted and her father has been critical of state investigators. As of 2012, eight years after her disappearance, there is no suspect and her whereabouts remain unknown. 

- Events before Disappearance -
On Thursday, February 5, 2004, Maura made a phone call in the evening to her older sister, Kathleen, while on break from her job at University of Massachusetts Student Security. Maura seemed normal to her sister.

The next day, February 6, 2004, Maura was at work at 1 am when she received a phone call that caused her to become upset. She was escorted back to her dorm room by her supervisor.

On Saturday, February 7, 2004, Maura went used-car shopping with her father, Fred Murray, and they later went for dinner with a friend of Maura’s. Maura dropped her father off at his hotel room, and then borrowed his Toyota Corolla, returning to the UMass campus to a dorm party with her friend. She left the party at 2:30 am, and drove to her father’s hotel room, hitting a guardrail on Route 9 in Hadley, causing $8,000 of damage, which would be covered by the insurance. Her father says she was shaken up and apologetic. Maura called her boyfriend, who was stationed in Oklahoma, from her father’s cell phone. Her father rented a car, dropped Maura off at UMass, and headed to Connecticut for work. In the evening, Maura agreed with her father that she would get the forms pertaining to the accident from the DMV on Monday, and they would discuss the forms over the phone that evening.

- Day of her disappearance -
Maura sent her boyfriend an e-mail at 1 pm on February 9, 2004, saying that she had not felt like talking to anyone, but that she would call him later in the day. Maura made several calls between 12 noon and 3 pm, including asking about information on a condominium in Bartlett, New Hampshire, that her family had annually vacationed at for years, leaving a voicemail with another student, and a number giving recorded information about Stowe, Vermont for approximately 5 minutes. Maura called her boyfriend for approximately 1 minute at 2:18 pm. According to a later police search of her computer, sometime that day, Maura searched MapQuest for directions to Burlington, Vermont.

Maura packed all her belongings into boxes and removed the art from her room walls.At about 4 pm, Maura e-mailed one of her work supervisors and some of her teachers to inform them that there had been a death in her family and that she would be out-of-town for several days, despite there being no such case of death. A dorm mate says they saw Maura leave the UMass Amherst campus between 3:30 and 4:30 pm. Maura withdrew $280 from an ATM, and was alone as seen by CCTV footage. Her bank account was left empty, with paychecks due from her job in the coming days. Maura then bought $35–$40 of alcohol, again while alone. Sometime after 4 pm, Maura left Amherst, probably heading up Interstate 91 north. She checked her cellphone messages at 4:37 pm.

- Disappearance -
At 7:29 pm, police dispatch received a call from a Woodsville, New Hampshire resident, who reported an accident near her house on Route 112. At 7:43 pm another Woodsville resident reported a black Saturn partially in the road. A bus driver says that he spoke to a girl he later identified as Maura, and asked if she wanted him to call the police. She told him not to bother, as she had called AAA. However, there was no cellphone reception in the area and AAA says no call was made to them.

At 7:46 pm, an officer from Haverhill Police arrived on the scene. The girl who was seen by the second caller and the bus driver was not present. The car was facing westbound in the eastbound lane, locked and with a cracked windshield and two deployed airbags. A damaged box of Franzia wine was found on the rear passenger seat. Other items found in the car include Maura’s AAA card, the insurance forms she retrieved for her earlier accident, her gloves, music CDs, her makeup, directions for Burlington and Stowe, a favorite stuffed monkey, and the Nicholas Howe book, Not Without Peril, a book about climbing in the White Mountains. A rag from Maura’s emergency roadside kit was discovered stuffed into the Saturn’s muffler pipe.

The EMS and a fire truck arrived just before 8 pm, and quickly cleared the scene. Maura’s car was towed to a local auto repair garage by 8:49 pm, and the police officer left to attend another call at about 9:30 pm. A New Hampshire State Police trooper stopped by the scene of the accident, but it is unknown at what time he arrived, if he was dispatched or if he stopped on his own accord. The family reports that they were told there was no radio communication between the officer and his station for approximately two hours upon arrival to the scene. There was no immediate search as it was assumed that Maura had left the scene by herself. Her bank card, credit cards, and cellphone have not been used since.

Murder of Rochester Man Still Unsolved

On November 17, 2001 twenty eight year old Dean Webster was found shot to death in the backyard of his home on Sky Hollow Road. He had been discovered deceased by a friend. Webster was last seen alive the previous afternoon by a neighbor. There is a two thousand dollar reward for information leading to the arrest of conviction of the person(s) responsible for his homicide. If you have any information about this case please call Det. Sgt. John Hagen at 802-234-9933 or call Crimestoppers at 1-800-427-8477. 

Grace Reapp

VANISHED

One of the most infamous murder/disappearance cases in Vermont is the vanishing of 32 year old Grace Reapp and her five year old daughter Gracie Reapp. 

They were last seen at their residence at their Jericho, Vermont residence on June 6, 1978. Michael Reapp, the husband and father of the two filed a missing person's report. 

Around a year later, he marries a second time and maintains custody of the couple's two older sons. In 1996, after he moved to Florida, he went missing after he was informed that Vermont Law Enforcement was digging around the property where his wife and daughter had last been seen. 

In June 7, 2010, it was learned that Michael Reapp has committed suicide back in 1997. He had been chased by police after he did an armed carjacking. Vermont State Police believe that Michael Reapp murdered both his wife and daughter. To date, they have not been found. 

Serial Killer Never Caught in Series of Brutal Murders

Michelle Nicholaou

Michael Nicholaou paired with a sketch of the suspect 

Barbara Agnew

On August 6, 1988 Jane Boroski escaped death when she barely survived an attack from an unknown man just outside a small market in Swansea, New Hampshire. She was brutally stabbed twenty-seven times. It is believed that she is the lone survivor of a serial killer that killed at least six women. All six of the women were stabbed to death in the Connecticut River Valley near Route 91 in both Vermont and New Hampshire.

The victims were Mary Elizabeth Critchley, was found deceased in on August 9, 1981 in some woods that are located off of Unity Stage Road, in the town of Unity, New Hampshire.

Bernice Courtemanche, a 17-year-old nurse's aide was last seen May 30, 1984 in West Claremont, New Hampshire. Her remains were found in Kellyville, New Hampshire on April 9, 1986.

Ellen Fried, a nurse was last seen in West Claremont, New Hampshire on July 20, 1984. Her remains were found in Kellyville, New Hampshire on September 19, 1985.

Eva Morse, a single mother was last seen hitchhiking after leaving her place of work on July 10, 1985 in Charlestown, New Hampshire. Her remains were located by a logger on April 25, 1986 in Unity, New Hampshire.

Lynda Moore, was murdered in her home outside of Saxtons River, Vermont, on May 15, 1986.

Barbara Agnew (pictured far right), a 36 year old nurse was missing for two months from a highway rest stop in Hartford, Vermont. She was found deceased near Advent Hill Road in Hartland, Vermont on March 28, 1987. All of these women were stabbed in similar areas and had their throats slit.

There are a few suspects in the murders and Boroski has indicated that one of these suspects physically matches the description of the person who attacked her.

Michael Nicholaou.

During the time of the murders, Nicholaou lived in the Holyoke, Massachusetts. His wife at the time had relatives that lived in Vermont. His residence was also very close to Interstate 91. A few years ago in Florida, Nicholaou committed suicide after he killed his stepdaughter and wife. He is also believed to be responsible for the disappearance/murder of his former wife, Michelle Ashley (pictured far left). So far, Nicholaou has only been proven to be responsible for two murders. However, as police continue to investigate his history, that may soon change.

Above are pictures of Michelle Nicholaou and picture of Michael Nicholaou paired with a sketch of the suspect that attacked Jane Boroski. Next to that is a picture of victim Barbara Agnew. 

Human Skull Found and Police Want Answers

 A resident in the town of Danby came across an unusual discovery on February 12, 2012. On the side of Danby Hill Road, he found a human skull. It was determined that the skull was female and thought to be that of a young caucasian (white) female. There were theories that pointed to the skull belonging to either Brianna Maitland, Maura Murray or Hedi Wilbur. All three were young white women who had gone missing in the last two decades within a reasonable distance of the discovery. The skull also showed signs of some trauma which indicated that it could have belonged to a victim of homicide. The investigation took an unusual turn when months later it was determined that the skull belonged to that of an Asian female between the ages of 15 to 40 years of age. Searches of the area where the skull was located provided no other clues or body parts. If you have information about who this female might be, please contact Vermont State Police at 802-442-5421.

UNSOLVED:  Gruesome Discovery and Questions Remain

A homeowner in Southeastern Vermont (near the New York & Massachusetts border) made a gruesome discovery in 1997. The homeowner's dog had brought back human bones which included a skull and a femur. Despite several searches by police, no other bones were ever found. 

The Medical Examiner theorized that the bones belonged to a mentally retarded/handicapped adult white male. But not enough bones were found to determine a cause and manner of death. Carol Cielecki, an online member of the Doe Network (a group of online sleuths that match missing persons with unidentified persons/remains) had a hunch that the bones could belong to a New Jersey man that was missing since the mid-nineties. She made her suggestion to the Doe Network which contacted the Police. Law enforcement soon were able to prove through DNA matching that it was indeed Sean Cutler. 

A Carbon Monoxide poisoning accident at the age of seven had left Cutler severely handicapped, blind and unable to walk. He had been in the care of his father and not seen by other members of his family for years. In July of 1996, in the town of Wayne, New Jersey, a house fire had claimed the life of Lewis Cutler (his father) and William Spitzer of Clifton. Sean Cutler's remains were not found in the fire and police believe that the fire was set, most likely by Lewis Cutler. Questions remain though, what really happened to Sean Cutler? Why was he buried in that part of Vermont? These answers may have died in the 1996 fire with Lewis Cutler.