CT CT - Deborah Lee Spickler, 13, Vernon, 24 July 1968

no, deborah did not visit our aunt frequently at all. i don't believe anyone was questioned at the pool, and if the police did look for witnesses, several hours had passed since she disappeared. it is my understanding the police believed she was a run away (and she was not). my sister did not run off. :(

Some questions.

Charlie Project says that Debra got a birthday card from her in which Debra said, "She was being good and helping her Aunt," the day she vanished.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/s/spricker_debra.html

1.) Was this envelope ever analyzed by LE?.
2.) What was the postmark date on the envelope?
3.) Was it confirmed that this was Debra's handwriting?
4.) Is Debra's DNA available for testing?
5.) Any suspects?

Satch
 
Missing Girls' Cold Cases Turn 50, 45, Respectively, This Week

This week marks 50 and 45 years since two girls were last seen in Tolland and Vernon, respectively. They are two of Tolland County's most infamous cold cases — cases the Tolland County state's attorney, Matthew Gedanski, said are difficult to talk about, but must be talked about.

They are also two days apart on the July calendar.

"They're still active cases. We're still taking tips," Gedansky said on Monday at the courthouse in Vernon. "We keep trying to find ties to these cases."
 
no, deborah did not visit our aunt frequently at all. i don't believe anyone was questioned at the pool, and if the police did look for witnesses, several hours had passed since she disappeared. it is my understanding the police believed she was a run away (and she was not). my sister did not run off. :(
I'm so sorry :( :::HUGS::: YOUR SISTER is NOT FORGOTTEN here in Vernon!
 
Missing Girls' Cold Cases Turn 50, 45, Respectively, This Week

This week marks 50 and 45 years since two girls were last seen in Tolland and Vernon, respectively. They are two of Tolland County's most infamous cold cases — cases the Tolland County state's attorney, Matthew Gedanski, said are difficult to talk about, but must be talked about.

They are also two days apart on the July calendar.

"They're still active cases. We're still taking tips," Gedansky said on Monday at the courthouse in Vernon. "We keep trying to find ties to these cases."
THERE ARE THREE MISSING PERSONS all in about the same time span... I do NOT know who is doing all this coverage... It is Debra July 24, 1968 13 years old-- Janice Pocket: July 26, 1973, 7 years old-- and Lisa White: November 1, 1974 13 years old. MOO is what I am supposed to say but anyone can google this imformation….Two from Vernon and one from Tolland...there is a cold case from Ellington as well.
 
Charles Pierce is a possibility. He worked at carnivals in Rockville, CT. He confessed to the murder of my sister, Janice, and I believe he may have confessed to Debbie's murder as well. The police did not believe him in Janice's case, and he was known to falsely confess. But I wonder if he was ever questioned in Debbie's disappearance.
I'm sorry about your sister.... Lisa White needs to be remembered as well …...
 
Deborah Lee Spickler – The Charley Project
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
Deborah Lee Spickler
  • deborah_lee_spickler_1.jpg
  • deborah_lee_spickler_2.jpg
  • deborah_lee_spickler_3.jpg
  • deborah_lee_spickler_4.jpg
Deborah, circa 1968; Age-progression to age 62 (circa 2017)

  • Missing Since07/24/1968
  • Missing FromVernon, Connecticut
  • ClassificationEndangered Missing
  • Date of Birth01/22/1955 (64)
  • Age13 years old
  • Height and Weight5'5, 125 pounds
  • Clothing/Jewelry DescriptionA white sleeveless shirt, homemade dark green polka-dot shorts with no pockets, and white low-top sneakers.
  • Distinguishing CharacteristicsCaucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Deborah has a pockmark on her face. One of her teeth is chipped. Her nickname is Debbie.
Details of Disappearance
Deborah resided in Mystic, Connecticut at the time of her disappearance. She was visiting her aunt and uncle in Vernon, Connecticut when she disappeared on July 24, 1968. She was last seen at Henry Park in the 100 block of South Street, walking with a cousin from Foxhill Drive towards the park's swimming pool.

The two girls realized they didn't have towels, and Deborah's cousin went to get some. When she returned, she couldn't find Deborah. She has never been heard from again.

Deborah's mother got a birthday card from her on the same day Deborah disappeared. In the card, Deborah wrote she was being good and helping her aunt. Few details are available in her case.

How could her mother get a birthday card the same day she dissapeared? do we even know it was her handwriting? Maybe someone else wrote it and the chances are that someone posted it at her door, unless her dissapearence was planned ofcourse. But it seems odd since she was with her cousin at the time and she didn't expect her to just leave like that.

Either someone kidnapped her (and planned it well) or she staged her dissapearnce and wrote that letter before leaving because she either wanted to escape with a boyfriend or her family sitaution was terrible.

I feel like the cousin knews more. Possibly she still alive today but had or wanted to get away from her home situation.

EDIT:
For some reason I had topost a poll and I oculdn't change it.
 
I am thinking that Deborah was visiting her relatives during summer vacation (for a number of days) and she mailed a birthday card to her mother a few days before she disappeared. Her mother probably received the card in the mail on the day she disappeared. This is a very sad case. I am guessing she most likely was kidnapped.
 
A theory is that her dissapearence is related to 2 other girls missing in the Vernon, CT area around the same time.
 
Another case that could be related to Debra's and the other disappearances and murders taking place in the area at the time is that of Irene LaRosa Irene Lanora LaRosa – The Charley Project, who has been missing from nearby Ellington, CT under unclear circumstances since March 1971. Something of note about her case is that Irene was the sister-in-law of another previously mentioned victim Susan LaRosa (who went missing in 1975 and was found deceased in 1978), she was married to Irene's brother. Apparently, Irene was not reported missing until 2016. Her thread: CT - CT - Irene LaRosa, 17, Ellington, 1 March 1971.
 
2472DFCT - Deborah Lee Spickler
DSpickler.jpg
2472DFCT.jpg

Image 2: Age-progressed to 56 years.

Name: Deborah Lee Spickler
Case Classification: Endangered Missing
Missing Since: July 24, 1968
Location Last Seen: Vernon, Tolland County, Connecticut

Physical Description
Date of Birth: January 22, 1955
Age: 13 years old
Race: White
Gender: Female
Height: 5'5" to 5'6"
Weight: 125-130 lbs.
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Brown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: A pock-like mark/scar on her face where she was stabbed with a pencil or pen (side unknown).

Identifiers
Dentals: Available. She has a chipped tooth.
Fingerprints: Not Available
DNA: Available

Clothing & Personal Items
Clothing: Debra was last seen wearing a white sleeveless blouse, a homemade dark green polka dot shorts with no pockets, and white sneakers.
Jewelry: None noted.
Additional Personal Items: None noted.

Circumstances of Disappearance
Debra Lee Spicker was last seen walking alone from 1/2 Foxhill Drive in the direction of Henry Park's swimming pool on 120 South Street at about 3:45 p.m. on July 24, 1968.

Debra lived in Mystic but was staying with relatives in Vernon at the time of her disappearance.

Investigating Agency(s)
Agency Name: Vernon Police Department
Agency Contact Person: Detective James Grady
Agency Phone Number: 860-872-9126 ext 289
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: C-3710-68-J

Agency Name: Family of Debra Lee Spickler
Agency Contact Person: N/A
Agency Phone Number: N/A
Agency E-Mail: debbiesearch(at)gmail.com
Agency Case Number: N/A

NCIC Case Number: M857676534
NamUs Case Number: 5426
NCMEC Case Number: 1101866

Information Source(s)
Namus
Doe Network
NCMEC
Savage Watch - Connecticut Cases: 33 Years Later and Still No Trace. Is her Disappearance Linked To Several Others?
The Hartford Courant News Archive - 1993
 
From a 2014 news article which discusses Connecticut LE investigations into the disappearance of 3 girls at different times; Janice Pockett (1973), Debra Spickler (1968), and Lisa White (1974).

Mentioned in the article is one Charles Pierce who was a possible suspect in the Janice Pockett case. Could he have been responsible for the other two girls disappearances as well?

... prosecutors and police are creating a special task force to look once again at White's disappearance and at least two other missing girl cases from the same era.

... The other missing girls are Debra Spickler, who was 13 when she disappeared in 1968 while walking to a swimming pool in Henry Park in the Rockville section of Vernon...

... The story of Pockett's disappearance, which was investigated by the state police, garnered national attention...

... The Spickler and White cases were investigated by the Vernon police department. Spickler's case barely drew any attention. She lived in Mystic and was visiting relatives in Vernon....

... The only known suspect in (the Pockett) disappearance was Charles Pierce, a carnival worker who once confessed that he had abducted her.

State police brought Pierce from his prison cell in Walpole, Mass., to Tolland in 1980 and searched an area on Old Cathole Road that he led them to, but they never found anything. Pierce died less than a year later in prison.

Pierce had been convicted of murdering a 13-year-old girl in Boxford, Mass., in 1969. He claimed to have abducted and killed many other children as he traveled throughout the country working carnivals, but he was never charged in any other cases...

Link:

State To Focus On Decades-Old Missing Girl Cases
 
Can't help but to wonder.....was Debbie's male cousin who also lived at the house around that day? He had quite a few incidents with police for various reasons shortly after she went missing.....I am not accusing, and mean no disrespect, just curious. I found it are strange how specific the description of her clothing was, down to the lack of pockets on her shorts. Especially if she rarely visited her aunt. My other thought is what are the
possibilities that the family knew Nunzio & Robert LaRosa? They were brothers. Robert was the husband of Susan LaRosa who went missing in 1975, and later found less than 5 miles away from her home. Blunt force trauma to the head was the cause of death. Irene LaRosa was Nunzio and Roberts sister who went missing in 1971 from Crystal Lake in Ellington. She was never reported missing until 2016.
 
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