As a lot of you know, I've been working on a new episode of YCT about the Molly Bish case. I finished recording everything, and it's currently being edited for YouTube by my friend and co-host Kevin. Hopefully the finished product isn't garbage... I don't think it is, but the viewers can be the judge of that! I'll post a new blog linking the episode once it's out.
For now, though, I'm going to put some of my script for the episode up so that I can get some insight from some fresh eyes. Let me know what you think!
Molly Anne Bish was born on August 2, 1983. She would be my age now; we were born only days apart, which is why this case has stuck with me.
Molly was the youngest of three siblings born to parents John and Magdeline “Magi” Bish. John and Magi met in Detroit, MI where they both lived at the time. They met in school and got married, started their careers and family in Detroit. They relocated to Warren, MA after a young woman was abducted and killed right near their home.
According to those who knew and loved her, Molly loved life. She was outgoing and funny, but also very thoughtful and compassionate; she never wanted anyone to be left out. Her mother Magi says she ‘Emulated light.’ People were drawn to her. Molly was an honor roll student at her high school, as well as an accomplished athlete. She played soccer, basketball and softball, excelling at all three, in addition to her schoolwork.
In the summer of 2000 Molly had just completed her junior year of high school. In June, just over month before her 17th birthday, she began her new job as a lifeguard at the Comins Pond swimming area in her hometown of Warren, MA. Her older brother John Jr. had been the lifeguard there for the three years prior, and had been the one to set Molly up with the job. Molly loved working with children, and was very excited to be in a position to guide and teach them, as well as keep them safe.
On June 26, 2000, Molly and her mother Magi drove to Comins Pond for Molly’s lifeguarding shift, arriving around 9:50AM. Magi noticed a white Chrysler sedan in the parking lot when they arrived, and while Molly was removing her things from the car, Magi noticed the driver of the white car watching Molly intently while smoking a cigarette. Magi said she got a bad feeling from this man, and walked up the path with Molly and stayed there until Molly set up her chair and supplies. While there, Magi had a conversation about safety with Molly, since she felt uneasy about the man in the white car.
When Magi returned to her car in the parking lot, she saw that the white car was still there, and that the driver was ‘glaring’ at her while smoking his cigarette. She noted that he was smoking with straight fingers, which is uncommon for men, so it stood out to her. She was so concerned and put off by this man’s presence that she stalled, pretending to look for something in her car, until he put the car in gear and drove away.
The next day, June 27, 2000, Magi informed Molly of the news of her friend and soccer teammate being hit by a car while riding her bike. This friend was in the hospital in critical condition. By all accounts, Molly was upset by this news, but she made the mature decision to go to work, rather than call out and leave Comins Pond without a lifeguard on the first day of swimming lessons.
Molly and Magi were running a bit behind the morning of June 27th; security camera footage at a convenience store captures Molly buying bottles of water at 9:50AM.
Molly checked in at the police department and picked up the two-way radio she kept at her lifeguard station at 9:56AM.
At 9:58AM, Molly arrives for work. She unpacks her stuff from the car, says ‘I gotta go, Mom. I love you.’ to Magi, and runs off to set up for her shift. Note; the parking lot is empty except for a dump truck dropping off a load of sand for the beach. Magi left at 10AM.
Between 10:15 and 10:20AM (sources differ), a local mother arrived at the pond with her kids for swimming lessons. She noticed that the lifeguard station was set up, but Molly was not there. She took note of Molly’s backpack on a nearby bench, her chair unfolded and set up, her towel draped over the back of the chair, Molly’s whistle wrapped around the arm of the chair, her sandals on the ground with a Poland Springs water bottle in one of them, the two-way radio on the ground next to the chair and, oddly, an opened first aid kit.
This mother allegedly told one of the responding officers that she observed a swath-like pattern on the hill behind the beach, as if someone had been dragged. This is only alleged; I have not been able to verify this statement, but it stood out to me.
Around 11:00AM, one of the parents at the beach contacted Parks Commissioner Ed Fett to inform him that Molly had not been at her station. He arrived at the pond a short time later, and went through her things. His fingerprints were found on her belongings later, one of the many ways the crime scene was destroyed in the early hours of the search for Molly.
At 11:44AM, Ed Fett used the two-way radio to inform the police that Molly is missing.
Interestingly, at some point between noon and later that afternoon, Ed Fett ran into Molly’s older brother John Jr. at a hardware store. He failed to mention during that encounter that Molly was missing. A lot is made out of this encounter, but I think the most likely explanation for Fett not informing John Jr. of Molly being missing was a product of the police’s early theory: that Molly had run off with friends, neglecting her lifeguarding duties.
Around 12:15PM, police responded to Comins Pond.
At 1:00PM, three hours after Magi dropped Molly off, the police call the Bish home to inform the family that Molly is missing. The police at that point are still operating under the assumption that Molly took off with friends, stereotyping her as a typical irresponsible teenager, which could not be further from Molly’s character.
During the next few hours, first responders from nearby towns joined Warren police at the scene to assist in the search. Normal crime scene protocols were not followed; the scene was NEVER secured, and thereby was almost completely destroyed. This speaks volumes about the police’s initial theory; that this was not a criminal investigation, and that Molly had simply taken off with friends.
The police’s lack of response due to this early theory prompted the Warren Fire Department to respond to rule out drowning. Although Molly’s family insisted she was a strong swimmer, and that drowning was unlikely, the fire department still investigated this angle. Once he heard this, John Jr. began to frantically dive into the pond, trying to find his sister, until someone pulled him out. Magi and the rest of Molly’s family protested heartily to both of these early theories, pointing out Molly’s shoes on the beach. If she’d left with friends, why not put her shoes back on? Similarly, Magi told police, Molly would have had her shoes on while venturing into the water. She didn’t like to step into the pond without shoes on, due to the pond’s murkiness and the presence of leaches.
Once it became obvious that neither of the police’s early theories was correct, Warren police called in the Massachusetts State Police for assistance with the search. MSP continued the search of the pond and immediate surrounding area into the night, bringing in large lights to continue their search efforts. The police combed the beach and surrounding area, investigating a footpath that connected Comins Pond to a local cemetery on the other side of the woods. Police dogs traced Molly’s scent to the top of this footpath. After searching the pond and surrounding area for hours, the police turned up nothing. They organize a larger search party for first thing the next morning, and sent the Bish family home. I can’t even imagine the pain and sadness of having to go home when you don’t know where your daughter and sister has gone.
The next morning at 6AM, the search began anew, with police from Warren and surrounding areas, as well as MSP and many citizens of Warren combing the area for any sign of Molly.
The police then focused their search on the mustached man in the white car that Magi saw the day before Molly’s disappearance. Magi worked with a police sketch artist to draw a composite of this man, which was then released to the public, along with a description of the white car.
Following this, several witnesses came forward to describe a white car in the vicinity of Comins Pond the morning of Molly’s disappearance. One stated the car had entered the parking lot for the Comins Pond beach, circled, and immediately exited. Another claimed to have seen a white car at the car wash at the top of the access road to Comins Pond. An employee at the local cemetery stated he saw the car parked in the cemetery parking lot, the same cemetery at the end of the aforementioned footpath.
The DA ordered a search of 125 white cars in the area, and none could be linked to Molly’s disappearance.
The police look into Ed Fett, due to his connection as Molly’s boss, as well as his fingerprints being recovered from her belongings. However, they rule him out based on his encounter with Molly’s brother, John Jr., at the hardware store in the early afternoon of June 27th.
Police also look into Molly’s new boyfriend, Steve Lucas, who has a suspicious cut on his face the day of Molly’s disappearance. He was initially uncooperative, and acting strangely during the search for Molly. He did not search for Molly during the early hours, but was present at the beach with Molly’s family. The Bish’s did not think Steve had the ability to do this and spend time with the family immediately after. The police have Steve come in to the station to take a polygraph based on this odd behavior, but he passes and is ruled out.
Police then focus on local sex offenders. There are a large number in the area, so police check with each for an alibi. Several are given polygraphs by the MSP, and some showed signs of deception. Those men were added to the ever-growing list of suspects.
The months went on, the Bish family stuck in a Groundhog-Day cycle of perpetual devastation. The search is eventually scaled back, but does continue throughout the following years.
In 2003, a former police officer was looking into the case of Holly Piirainen, which he believed was linked to Molly’s.
Holly Piirainen disappeared in 1993, while visiting her grandmother in Sturbridge, MA. Holly bore a striking resemblance to Molly, being blonde and blue eyed. She had left her grandmother’s house with her brother to visit a neighbor who had new puppies. Her brother arrived alone back at their grandmother’s house, and the only sign of Holly was her shoe, discarded by the side of the road. At the time, Molly was the same age as Holly, and actually wrote a letter to Holly’s parents, sending prayers and wishing Holly would come home. Unfortunately, Holly’s remains were found by hunters in nearby Brimfield, months later.
In May of 2003, a hunter named Derrick Boudreau came across something out of place while walking through the woods in the Whiskey Hill area of Palmer, MA, about 11 miles away from Comins Pond. When asked by the former police officer if he’d seen or heard anything, Derrick told him that he had found pieces of a blue bathing suit in the woods. The former officer asked Derrick to show him where he’d seen the bathing suit, which Derrick did. They inform police of the discovery. The police recover the bathing suit, sending it to a lab for testing. District Attorney Joe Early told the public that the bathing suit had been sent to FBI HQ in Virginia for testing, even though the FBI was NEVER involved in Molly’s case. As a matter of fact, Molly’s sister Heather submitted multiple requests for FBI involvement, but the case was never turned over by the MSP.
Following this discovery, authorities initiated a large-scale shoulder-to-shoulder grid search of the Whiskey Hill area. During the search, the DNA results come back on the bathing suit, confirming it is Molly’s. On June 3, 2003, the search yielded a human bone, belonging to a person between 14-20 years old. Over the next week, a total of 26 bones were recovered from the area. Days later, DNA testing reveals that the bones belong to Molly.
Molly’s family laid her to rest on her 20th birthday, August 2, 2003.
In my next blog, I will talk about the suspects that police have looked into, and my thoughts after visiting Comins Pond and Whiskey Hill.
Thanks for reading, and please tune in to Yellow Cottage Tales for this upcoming episode!
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