SheWhoMustNotBeNamed
Former Member
Missing Since: August 13, 1985 from Stow, Massachusetts
Classification: Non-Family Abduction
Date Of Birth: April 17, 1969
Age: 16 years old
Height and Weight: 5'4 - 5'5, 110 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian female. Brown hair, blue eyes. Malcolmson's hair had been bleached blonde prior to her 1985 disappearance. She has a chicken pox scar on her forehead, a mole on her left cheek and a dimple on her right cheek. Her ears are pierced. Malcolmson's nickname is Cathy.
Clothing/Jewelry Description: A short-sleeved striped shirt, blue jeans, two bracelets, and a silver ring.
Details of Disappearance
Malcolmson was last seen riding her Murray bicycle in her hometown of Stow, Massachusetts. She headed to her part-time job as a supermarket cashier at the IGA store two miles away, on Route 62 in Hudson, Massachusetts. Malcolmson carried a gray pocketbook at the time of her disappearance. She is described as having been in good spirits when she was last seen; her brother had just graduated high school and there was going to be a celebration later. She has never been heard from again.
Malcolmson's case was first classified as a runaway, but authorities later admitted that she had probably not left of her own accord. She left her first paycheck behind at her workplace. Her family never believed she ran away. Her bicycle was located in 1987, nearly two years after her disappearance. A motorist located the bicycle in a wooded area along Gleasondale Road off of Route 62, about 500 yards past the Stow town line. The man did not know whose bicycle it was and gave it to a friend, who suspected it belonged to Malcolmson and contacted police. Searches of the location were delayed several times due to inclement weather, and no evidence related to Malcolmson's whereabouts was discovered.
Authorities believe Malcolmson's case may be connected to the 1985 abduction and murder of Sarah Pryor, who vanished from the same Massachusetts area two months after Malcolmson's disappearance. A photograph of her is posted below this case summary.
John Robert Whirty has been considered the prime suspect in both girls' cases. He served seventeen months in a Texas prison for the 1967 murder of a fifteen-year-old girl. After being released from prison he moved to Massachusetts. Records from his job place him in the area at the time Malcolmson disappeared, but there has never been any evidence to link him to her or Pryor's case. Whirty is currently back in prison in Texas for parole violation, which stems from the kidnapping and assault of a Newton, Massachusetts woman which occurred three months after Malcolmson's disappearance and one month after Pryor's murder.
Foul play is suspected in Malcolmson's case due to the circumstances involved. Seven years after her disappearance, her family held a memorial service for her and erected a tombstone at the family burial plot in Dover, New Hampshire.
Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Stow Police Department
617-897-4545