[FONT=&]Below is a transcription of the news story posted in the Newark, NY Courier-Gazette on page 6 on September 29, 2000 (I have attached a PDF file of the newpaper story image). Carolyn was a friend and classmate of mine at Oswego State College in Oswego, NY. I remembered her not returning to school the Spring 1979 semester and rumours spreading that she had mysteriously disappeared. Searching the web last year I came upon the very sad news of her body remains being found. This has really shaken me as I remember Carolyn as a very kind, upbeat young woman who was a pleasure to be around. Looks like we may never know who did this horrific thing to her. RIP Carolyn Gaines.
Press conference held on identity of found skeleton[/FONT]
[FONT=&]By Sandra Marcano —[/FONT]
[FONT=&]A s the Courier-Gazette was about to leave for the print shop last Thursday, a press converence was being held in the Sheriff’s office. The breaking news was that the human remains found in Arcadia woods are those of Carolyn Marie Gaines. Joining Sheriff Dick Pisciotti for the conference were Investigator Rick House, NPD Chief Dick Bogan andn NPD Inv. John Clingerman. Skeletal remains were found on Sept. 19 by a logger, in a wooded area about 80 feet off Wood Lane. The location was about halfway between Arcadia Reformed Church and the school bus garage. After police removed about two cubic yards of soil from the area where the bones, clothing, shoes and jewelry were found, the human remains were taken to the Medical Examiner’s Office in Rochester. There they were examined by an anthropologist, and a forensic odontologist. By Tuesday evening, dental x-rays from a Newark office were on their way to the Medical Examiner’s Office. On Wednesday, police again went over the crime scene area with rakes and other garden tools. The found few new pieces of evidence. By that afternoon, a positive identification was made, based on the findings of the odontologist. That evening, Sept. 20, Chief Bogan and Investigator House went to the home of Richard and Teddi Gaines to tell them the remains are those of their long missing daughter. Carolyn Marie Gaines was 19 when she disappeared on December 27, 1978. The Oswego State College sophomore was home from school for the holidays staying at her parent’s home on Grace Avenue. On De. 27, she went to her dentist’s office on Church Street. When she left the office, she indicated that she was going to the library, on High Street. She did not return home. Her parents called the police and reported her missing. Some local folks say there “wasn’t a big deal” made over the disappearance. No news stories appeared in the Courier-Gazette around that time. The file has remained open since 1978 and a picture of Carolyn as a missing person had been at the local police station for years. Over the years, police followed some leads and the Gaines family hired private detectives. Twenty –two years later, the family finally knows what happened to Carolyn Gaines. But why did she die and how? In 1978, Wood Lane was a dirt road, quite rural, and people seldome adventured into the woods. For much of the year, the woods are wet or under water. Even hunters don’t frequent the area, because it is so swampy. The land belonged to Jim and Doria Seely of Weed Lane for many years. Recently the land was purchased by the Ted Peck family of Ei-Vi Farms. Peck had hired the treecutter who happened upon the skeleton. On that December 1978 day, people remember that nearly 20 inches of snow had fallen, and a few more inches would accumulate the day after. The young woman’s resting place for the past 22 years is only about a mile from her Grace Avenue home. Sheriff Pisciotti and Chief Bogan agree that when Gaines disappeared, there wasn’t much of a fuss made about it being a suspicious condition. She was reported as a missing person. Period. She had many friends, and nothing at the time indicated that she was in trouble or was being stalked. Today, the police agencies have a homicide to investigate, and a number of Investigators are being debriefed. Pisciotti said they will work backwards and forward from December 1978. “ We have an extremely tough job to do. It will take lots of foot work from a multitude of agencies. This death will be considered a homicide, unless evidence is found that indicates otherwise.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Anyone with information about the disappearance of Carolyn Gaines should phone the Detectives at 946- 5776.[/FONT]
