CT CT - Connie Smith, 10, Salisbury, 16 July 1952

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I was just thinking about Connie Smith the last few days having just registered at websleuths and being interested in a current case. My mother was a friend of Connie Smith's mother and we lived pretty close to Lakeville. I remember my mom discussing the case with friends; it is news to me that Connie stopped for directions. I had always thought that she had disappeared by walking down to the road and never being seen again. I know that as far as my Mom was concerned, it was a mystery to the family.
 
Hi Grayson :)

welcome to websleuths.


I'm very interested in Connies case. I always hoped that somebody would turn up here who knows a little bit more. Although the case is well featured on the different missing-persons- boards and data-bases all the information there, rises more questions than answers to me.



What did the girls in the camp fight about so badly that Connies nose bled and her glasses broke?

Why were there several girls against Connie alone?

How can someone “fall out of her tent”? This all sounds to me as if Connie was badly bullied at the camp.

Did LE question the other girls about all these incidents? Where are these girls nowadays? I sure like to read here what they have to tell.



Someone in this thread mentioned he or she did find another photo of Connie and she did not look like on the poster at all. I would like to see this picture because it was also said that she was very mature for age and looked older than 10 years. And the picture on the poster definitively looks younger than 10 to me.

Don’t make much sense to initiate a search with pictures on which the missing person is not recognizable.



These are the questions I would like to find an answer to. Perhaps your mum could contribute some sort of? That would be very kind :)



(Sorry if my English is a little bit awkward and regards from Germany)



Mischa
 
There have been many posts on this thread. Here is a case summary of the known facts for reference.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Connie Smith, 10, Missing since July 16, 1952 from Salisbury, Connecticut

Connie Smith
Missing Since: July 16, 1952 from Salisbury, Connecticut
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date of Birth: July 11, 1942
Age: 10 years old
Height and Weight: 5'0, 85 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian female. Light brown hair. Smith was well-developed in 1952 and looked older than her age.
Clothing/Jewelry Description: A red windbreaker, blue shorts with plaid trim, and a red hair ribbon.
Case Details:

1. Smith resided in Wyoming at the time of her disappearance.

2. Her grandfather was governor of Wyoming at the time.

3. In the summer of 1952, Connie was spending time at Camp Sloane in Salisbury, Connecticut.

4. On the morning of 16 July 1952, she had an altercation with a group of female campers, and received a bloody nose during the incident.

5. Connie Smith told her tent mates that she was skipping breakfast that morning and would instead walk to the camp dispensary to drop off an ice pack used the previous evening for a bruise to her hip, which she received when she had fallen out of her tent.

6. Rather than go to the dispensary, however, she walked away from the camp and down Indian Mountain Road. (The Ice pack was later found inside her tent.)

7. Witnesses claimed to have seen her picking daisies along the roadside. She also reportedly asked several people how sh could get to Lakeville, Connecticut, about a half mile from Camp Sloane.

8. The last reported sighting of a girl, believed to be Connie Smith, was later in the day. She was walking on US Route 44 in Salisbury with her thumb out and apparently attempting to hitchhike, possibly to Lakeville.

9. Camp Counselors discovered Connie's absence in the afternoon hours and began a search for her. She has never been found.

10. Connie's time at camp was scheduled to end in another week. The main theory is that she wanted to leave early and return to one or the other of her divorced parents. Neither father nor mother ever saw her or heard from her again.

Source Information
The Hartford Courant
NewspaperArchive
The Doe Network
NewsLibrary
Twilight of Innocence: the Disappearance of Beverly Potts by James Jessen Badal
Porchlight International for the Missing & Unidentified
The Charley Project

LINK:
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/s/smith_connie.html
 
Richard said:
There have been many posts on this thread. Here is a case summary of the known facts for reference.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Connie Smith, 10, Missing since July 16, 1952 from Salisbury, Connecticut

snip
8. The last reported sighting of a girl, believed to be Connie Smith, was later in the day. She was walking on US Route 44 in Salisbury with her thumb out and apparently attempting to hitchhike, possibly to Lakeville.
snip
Click to expand...
1. I wonder who reported this "last reported" sighting, and if this person was checked out by the police?

2. Was Route 44 a heavily traveled road in 1952?

3. Her grandfather was the governor of Wyoming - could that have anything to do with this disappearance?

Just a few idle speculations . . .
 
i am not sure about the route 44 but i could find out for you i live about an hr away from where connie vanished route 44 now goes really far , US 44 travels 106.03 miles, from the New York line at Salisbury to the Rhode Island line at Putnam. here is a link with more info on it. a friend of mine lives in a town where rout 44 goes and where she lives is very high traffic.

http://www.kurumi.com/roads/ct/us44.html
 
smile22 said:
i am not sure about the route 44 but i could find out for you i live about an hr away from where connie vanished route 44 now goes really far , US 44 travels 106.03 miles, from the New York line at Salisbury to the Rhode Island line at Putnam. here is a link with more info on it. a friend of mine lives in a town where rout 44 goes and where she lives is very high traffic.

http://www.kurumi.com/roads/ct/us44.html
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info, it was interesting to read about Route 44.:)
 
"Smith was well-developed in 1952 and looked older than her age."
Bingo! That's exactly what I've been trying to get across to LE about Colorado's Boulder Jane Doe. The new construction photo of Jane Doe looks EXACTLY like little Connie Smith.
(link to Jane Doe below)
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/433ufco.html

I'm still searching for an article I found a while back stating Jane Doe could have been as young as 14. Now, if Jane Doe we're Connie Smith, she would have then been almost 12, but since it's common knowledge she looked older, why couldn't she look anywhere from 14 to 17 or so? I went to school with a girl who at age 13, was tall, big-bones, and built like Dolly Parton.( link to Connie Smith below)
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/s/smith_connie.html

Another thing, there was a suspect, a carnival worker, who claimed he murdered 4 people but that only ONE had been found. He had murdered an 8 year old in 51, a year before Connie's disappearance. It was never proven he was in Connecticut when Connie disappeared. But, his home town was in Nebraska. Now, isn't Nebraska right by Colorado? Who's to say he didn;'t kidnap Connie, take her back to Nebraska, hold her hostage a couple of years, then kill her and dump her across state lines?
No, there is no mention of appendectomy on Connie, but how do we know she didn't get it while being held hostage? That, else LE withheld that info or someone didn't think it significant when she was reported missing. Compare the photo's side by side. Look at the close-set eyes, the high cheek bones, the mouth, and bottom photo of Jane Doe looks like Connie's nose. All I'm saying is, if that ain't Connie Smith then it's her twin!




Richard said:
There have been many posts on this thread. Here is a case summary of the known facts for reference.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Connie Smith, 10, Missing since July 16, 1952 from Salisbury, Connecticut

Connie Smith
Missing Since: July 16, 1952 from Salisbury, Connecticut
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date of Birth: July 11, 1942
Age: 10 years old
Height and Weight: 5'0, 85 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian female. Light brown hair. Smith was well-developed in 1952 and looked older than her age.
Clothing/Jewelry Description: A red windbreaker, blue shorts with plaid trim, and a red hair ribbon.
Case Details:

1. Smith resided in Wyoming at the time of her disappearance.

2. Her grandfather was governor of Wyoming at the time.

3. In the summer of 1952, Connie was spending time at Camp Sloane in Salisbury, Connecticut.

4. On the morning of 16 July 1952, she had an altercation with a group of female campers, and received a bloody nose during the incident.

5. Connie Smith told her tent mates that she was skipping breakfast that morning and would instead walk to the camp dispensary to drop off an ice pack used the previous evening for a bruise to her hip, which she received when she had fallen out of her tent.

6. Rather than go to the dispensary, however, she walked away from the camp and down Indian Mountain Road. (The Ice pack was later found inside her tent.)

7. Witnesses claimed to have seen her picking daisies along the roadside. She also reportedly asked several people how sh could get to Lakeville, Connecticut, about a half mile from Camp Sloane.

8. The last reported sighting of a girl, believed to be Connie Smith, was later in the day. She was walking on US Route 44 in Salisbury with her thumb out and apparently attempting to hitchhike, possibly to Lakeville.

9. Camp Counselors discovered Connie's absence in the afternoon hours and began a search for her. She has never been found.

10. Connie's time at camp was scheduled to end in another week. The main theory is that she wanted to leave early and return to one or the other of her divorced parents. Neither father nor mother ever saw her or heard from her again.

Source Information
The Hartford Courant
NewspaperArchive
The Doe Network
NewsLibrary
Twilight of Innocence: the Disappearance of Beverly Potts by James Jessen Badal
Porchlight International for the Missing & Unidentified
The Charley Project

LINK:
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/s/smith_connie.html
Click to expand...
 
Marilynilpa said:
1. I wonder who reported this "last reported" sighting, and if this person was checked out by the police?

2. Was Route 44 a heavily traveled road in 1952?

3. Her grandfather was the governor of Wyoming - could that have anything to do with this disappearance?

Just a few idle speculations . . .
Click to expand...


Yes the last person to report the sighting of Connie Smith was a couple on their way to work and the police did interview them. (Connie had her thumb out to hitch a ride when the couple saw her. They did not stop for her. Back then, it was common place to hitch a ride and with Connie coming from the West, she might have been very trusting of people.)

Route 44 was used often, but heavily traveled in 1952, I would say no but it was the direct route from upper New York State to Hartford, CT.

No I don't think her grandfather as governor had anything to do with her missing. She could have had a bad time with the girls in her tent, she could have had a run in with a pervert of some kind at the camp or she might have just wanted to go home to see her father. (Connie's parents were newly divorced, her grandparents lived in Greenwich and maybe she overheard a conversation that lead her to think she might not be going back to WY.) Summer camps were known to have had child molester in their employment, of course once the camp found out, they would be fired. But there may have been such a person in and around that area then.

We speculate that Connie had a fight in the tent that morning, as she had a bloody nose. She could also have been injured the night before when she said she fell off the tent platform and hurt hip with some rough housing. We just don't know as no one has come forward and said they were at camp with her at that time. (Cops have taken statements back at the time of her disappearance from tent mates, however)

I would love to find someone who know more about the time Connie spent at camp. But so far nothing.

If you can go online the newspaper archives there were a number of kooks saying they murdered Connie Smith, but none were proven. One case in particular has an odd twist to it. A man, Pope was his last name, claimed he and his friend killed Connie and left her in AZ.
Sometime later, the remains of a young girl was found near Flagstaff, AZ and taken for dental comparison to Connie Smith, but no positive proof came from the forensics.

The young girl, named Little Miss X, remains are being looked for in AZ to be DNA tested for matching to the Smith family. So far she has not been located!
 
It has been fifty-five years today, July 16, 2007 since Connie Smith, 10, Missing from Salisbury, Connecticut

Someone knows something...
 
If she was homesick and having a rough time at camp and decided to walk to town it sounds like an unusual time to stop and pick flowers. Anyone else think so?

I also wonder if any unusual cars were seen in the area when she went missing. Or if she demanded someone call one of her parents before deciding to make the walk to town.
 
Mischa said:
How can someone “fall out of her tent”? This all sounds to me as if Connie was badly bullied at the camp.
Click to expand...

Often at summer camp, the tent's floor is a wooden platform that is built two or three feet off the ground. Wood steps go up to the platform and the tent is errected on top of the platform. The wood floor is durable, and when it rains the floor stays dry. Often with these type of tents, you can roll up and secure the sides of them too so that you're essentially left with a canvas roof over a wood platform: nice to let the breezes blow through as long as it's not raining. We did that all the time when I was a kid at camp.

Still, you're correct that she could have been bullied.

Hoppy
 
One thing that has always bothered me about this case is this:

She supposedly left Camp Sloane to head to Lakeville, CT, going so far as to ask directions from some people. However, when she was last seen she was hitch-hiking in Salisbury, walking as if she was headed towards Lakeville. I know that area pretty well as I attended the Hotchkiss School for four years. Hotchkiss is located at the corner of Route 112 and 41, less than half a mile from Camp Sloane. I know Lakeville well. In order for Connie to have been seen hitch-hiking to Lakeville in Salisbury, she would have had to already passed through Lakeville. In other words, where she was last seen was on Route 44 past Lakeville center. Why would she have headed to Lakeville, passed through it, then turned around once she reached Salisbury and hitch-hiked in the opposite direction.

For those that cannot picture the area, here is a map: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=124+Indian+Mountain+Rd,+Lakeville,+CT+06039,+USA&sa=X&oi=map&ct=title
The place-marker at 124 Indian Mountain Road shows where Camp Sloane is.
 
cwiz24 said:
One thing that has always bothered me about this case is this:

She supposedly left Camp Sloane to head to Lakeville, CT, going so far as to ask directions from some people. However, when she was last seen she was hitch-hiking in Salisbury, walking as if she was headed towards Lakeville. I know that area pretty well as I attended the Hotchkiss School for four years. Hotchkiss is located at the corner of Route 112 and 41, less than half a mile from Camp Sloane. I know Lakeville well. In order for Connie to have been seen hitch-hiking to Lakeville in Salisbury, she would have had to already passed through Lakeville. In other words, where she was last seen was on Route 44 past Lakeville center. Why would she have headed to Lakeville, passed through it, then turned around once she reached Salisbury and hitch-hiked in the opposite direction.

For those that cannot picture the area, here is a map: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=124+Indian+Mountain+Rd,+Lakeville,+CT+06039,+USA&sa=X&oi=map&ct=title
The place-marker at 124 Indian Mountain Road shows where Camp Sloane is.
Click to expand...






so what ur saying is that lakeville comes before salisbury? or that the relation to camp was closer to lakeville I have never been to lakeville but live about an hr away from it.
 
smile22 said:
so what ur saying is that lakeville comes before salisbury? or that the relation to camp was closer to lakeville I have never been to lakeville but live about an hr away from it.
Click to expand...

Lakeville is between the camp and Salisbury. So, yes, Lakeville comes first then Salisbury if you're walking from the camp.
 
:confused: Maybe she changed her mind about running away and was trying to hitch-hike back to camp?
 
This is what is known, Connie Smith fell and hurt herself the night before she walked away from camp. Not only that but the next morning, her nose was bloodied. Could these two injuries have happened because of an altercation with another camper, you bet it could have. It would be very interesting to be able to find any of these campers and ask what happened so many years ago.

Connie’s birthday was just a couple of days before she went missing; her mother and grandparents visited her at the camp for her birthday. Connie’s parents were recently divorced; her mother's parents lived in CT and her father's in WY.

It was reported that Connie was seen "picking flowers" that may have been misquoted; her mother said she was fond of making flower necklaces, when asked to describe what her daughter liked to do.

Once Connie left the stone pillars of the camp, she may have been unsure which way to town, and asked directions at the first house she came to because, in front of her was a four way intersection and she needed to know which way, after crossing that intersection again she stopped for directions.. It was reported she was in tears at the first house, yet. By the time she made it to the main road, she wanted to get to town, (it has always puzzled as to why she was going to town, she was not from the area, and her family lived out of state, her grandparents close to NYC.) I think we have to remember, hitchhiking was common practice, and with her coming from the West, she may have been more trusting and unaware of the dangers of hitching a ride with strangers.



It's been said that summer camps were places where child molesters often found work. Connie could have been a victim of one, and she was heading out to to town to report what had happened to her. Maybe she even threatened to tell on him or her, and they stopped her.

There are so many questions, but the years gone by have made is more and more difficult to get answers. I wonder if we ever will?







There is no reason not to think that someone in the area abducted her, and she is in a clandestine grave where she may never be found. [FONT=&quot][/FONT]
 
Were there witnesses who actually saw her sustain these injuries? They both seem rather suspicious to me. It is possible one the camp employees was targeting her sexually because of how physically mature she was and when she fought back she received the injuries. That would explain why she left so suddenly. Perhaps she was trying to get to the nearest town to inform the police. Were any of the employees unaccounted for at any time during that day? Maybe the perp saw her leaving, became scared, tracked her down, maybe played nice and offered to give her a ride back to town and then killed her to save themselves from being revealed.
Does this seem plausible?
 
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