UT UT - Dennise Sullivan, 15, Moab, 4 July 1961

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Dennise Jeanette Sullivan

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/8784/0
14169

Age last seen: 15

Age now: 71
Race: White female
Hair color: Brown
Eyes Color: Brown;
full head of hair, last seen with above shoulder length
Height: 60.0
Weight: 90.0
Clothing/Scars and Marks:
last seen wearing blouse slacks; last seen wearing red canvas sneakers; known to use reading glasses; Fractured leg as a child

Dennise was on vacation with her mother and mother's fiance in July 1961. They encountered an adult male who claimed he had car trouble. The adult male then demanded money from the adult couple and displayed a gun. After shooting both adults (Dennise's mother died), he forced the child into his vehicle and drove away
 
Sheriff follows leads in cold case

Sheriff follows leads in cold case - Grand County Sheriff Steve White and Lieutenant Kim Neal are assisting investigators in a nearly six-decade-old cold case murder and kidnapping in rural Grand County. It was July 4 1961 when an unknown assailan...

“We were contacted by the investigators about four months ago asking if we could help look into this case from 1961,” White said. “They said they feel, given some information they have come across, that they wanted to go back out there and look at the old mine shafts and some of the area encompassing Polar Mesa. We’re working with them closely and on May 24 and 25 we will be out there searching with them using a ground crew and the dogs.”

The area near the old airstrip and cookhouse will be the focus of the search; evidence discovered in 1961 indicates that Denise was, at some point, in the area of Polar Mesa.

According to independent cold case researcher Meaghan Good, Denise resided with her mother and four-year-old sister in Rockville, Conn., in 1961. Jeannette was divorced and worked as a seamstress. That year Boothroyd asked them to go on vacation to Utah during the summer. Jeannette and Denise agreed to join him, leaving the younger child at home with Jeannette’s parents. The travelers were driving in Boothroyd’s olive-green 1960 Volkswagen.

The three reportedly met a man near Dead Horse Point, more than 20 miles outside of Moab. Boothroyd later said he was heavyset, with black hair and a dark complexion.

Read more:Moab Times-Independent - Sheriff follows leads in cold case
 
4GCE_21_A1_COLD_CASE_MAPPER.jpg


8RUY_21_A1_COLD_CASE_SULLIVAN.jpg


The prime suspect in the case was Price resident Abel Benny Aragon, an unemployed coal miner whose vehicle matched the description of the abduction car. When the FBI stopped him for questioning at a Crescent Junction roadblock on July 7, Aragon shot himself in the head with a .22 caliber pistol. He was rushed to Allen Memorial Hospital in Moab, but died two hours later from his wounds.

Aragon was a Marine veteran who was awarded the Navy Cross for heroism during World War II, and he had no criminal record. Witnesses reported seeing him alone at 2 a.m. on July 5, about four hours after the shooting at Dead Horse Point. He allegedly stopped a truck driver, gave him an envelope and asked him to mail it. The envelope contained money and a note addressed to Aragon’s wife, telling her he loved her and their five children. It didn’t mention any crimes.

Five hours after the shooting, Aragon was seen at a mining camp at Polar Mesa, where he had stayed several times before. When authorities searched the area on July 10, they found some of his clothing. Nearby, under a rock, they found the .22-caliber rifle that had been used in the shooting, and hidden in the brush was a shovel identified as Aragon’s.

Authorities determined from the paint scratches and other damage to his car that it was the same vehicle that rammed into Boothroyd’s car and forced it off the road. They also found a set of Aragon’s tracks, and a smaller set parallel to them, believed to be Denise’s. They never found any trace of Denise herself, however.

Read more: Moab Times-Independent - Sheriff follows leads in cold case
 
It feels like to me the killer killed her family and took her somewhere to rape/murder her and then hid the body. She left that they she went missing :(
 
I found so unsettling Aragon's lack of criminal records... I mean, I don't think someone could do such a terrible crime if you are a normal and healthy person. May he suffer from PTSD?
I don't get why he did not mention the crime in the suicide note (I think he had already decided that when he wrote the letter), maybe he wrote ir before the crime, I don't know, but if he was going to take his life... why did he hide Dennise's body?
It's extremely sad and mad. I hope he just killed her, the idea of the raping is too much.
 
Possible match? (Whoever wants to send this would appreciate it)

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
I don't think this is a match:
The Jane Doe was located on December, 1961, and she appeared to have died two hours before the discovery.
There are 1979 miles between Hillsboro, Virginia, and Moab, Utah. It's a 30 hours journey.... and it was the 1960s: the cars weren't as fast as today. Aragon was located two days after the kidnapping, but the round trip takes 60 hours. It's impossible.
I really think she is still in Polar Mesa area.
 
The female doe from Hillsboro, Va needs to be ruled out. Brown curly hair and brown eyes, 5'1", 95 lbs, age 15-18. Aragon could have "sold" young Dennise or ??? John/Jane Doe submit your possible match!
 
Maybe this UID (white female - skull with bulletholes) found in 1982 and said in Namus to be 'very old'?
www.websleuths.com/forums/threads/ut-salt-lake-city-whtfem-up90798-very-old-skull-with-bullet-holes-may82.622426/ Distance from Moab to the Jordan River is over 250mi but could her killer have dumped her int he source of the Jordan River, a trip which would have been much closer. And then the remains moved down the water way from the source to where it was eventually located. Less likely than some other candidates posted on the thread IMO but until formally ruled out, I'm putting it out there.
 
This one is so intriguing. There's no doubt who did it, though his whys can be argued. What's most interesting is how we have images of literally just minutes before. Stills from the film are in the linked article above, but I do wonder if the footage itself has ever been released. The remaining mystery would gain nothing from it, but it sure would be fascinating.
 

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