MA MA - Deborah Quimby, 13, Townsend, 3 May 1977

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Authorities were draining a local pond on Wednesday searching for a teenager who disappeared nearly three decades ago.

Police began draining Walker Pond on Tuesday in an attempt to find the remains of 13-year-old Deborah Ann Quimby, who disappeared on May 3, 1977. The two-acre pond is about 100 yards from Turnpike Road, along the route Quimby would have taken the day she disappeared.

Quimby vanished after telling her mother she planned to ride her bicycle from her home on Smith Street to her grandmother's house on Vinton Pond Road. She was accompanied by a friend as far as Turnpike Road, but she was never seen or heard from again.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040616/APN/406160964
 
http://www.doenetwork.us/ case file 274DFMA

http://www.lowellsun.com/Stories/0,1413,105~4746~2219032,00.html

Anonymous letters drove police to scour pond for girl
Draining in Townsend continues after second tip on Quimby

By Matt O'Brien, MediaNews
TOWNSEND Cadaver-sniffing dogs circled Walker Pond and barked loudly at its shore yesterday afternoon, expressing what Police Chief Erving Marshall Jr. said was "some interest" in the search for the remains of a 13-year-old girl.
Deborah Ann Quimby disappeared May 3, 1977, but Marshall revealed yesterday that a pair of anonymous and "somewhat specific" letters, sent exactly one year apart, inspired police to search the pond.

"I have no idea who it is," Marshall said of the tipster. "It's obviously somebody who's had this on his mind for 27 years."

Police received the first letter in November 2002, and prepared a search of the pond when the weather grew warm.

After a well-publicized sonar scan of the pond proved inconclusive on May 3, 2003 26 years to the day Deborah disappeared another letter arrived at the station in November 2003.

The message this time: Take a closer look.

Marshall said this second, more intensive search of the pond will be the last.
 
Oh my God! How creepy is that? How can these cops say this is the "last" look they'll take? Can't they drain the thing or something?

Oops, I guess they can!

MORE FROM THE ARTICLE:

* * *

Blackbirds and butterflies fluttered over the bucolic pond yesterday as three droning industrial water pumps drained the site at 2,500 to 3,000 gallons per minute for the second day.

The Fire Department started pumping at about 8 p.m. Tuesday and is working around the clock to drain the two-acre pond into a brook that empties into the Squannacook River.

Police Sgt. Travis Rixford said officials now hope to complete the task by Friday.

"It's about 10 to 12 feet deep," he said.

The pond is fed intermittently by another pond, said Environmental Police Officer Steve McAndrew. Rixford said the pumps must outpace the in-flow of water.

Police obtained permission from the state Department of Environmental Protection to conduct the search.

Police say they will continue draining, day and night, until they reach about 10 to 20 feet beyond the present shoreline.

The pond was still mostly filled yesterday afternoon, but a marshy area on its northern end was completely dry.

Investigators will soon walk onto the dried-up edges of the pond, using hand-tools to investigate.

Chief Marshall was a 23-year-old rookie cop, just three weeks into his job, when the Quimby family called him about their concerns for their daughter in May 1977.

The girl left a handwritten letter for her parents, telling them she had "some issues" to deal with, but that she would call them that evening, Marshall said.

Deborah left another note for a school-age friend on the same day.

In that note, she said she was heading off from her Smith Street home to the campsite of her grandfather, Vernon Quimby.

The late Vernon Quimby, former principal of the Spaulding Memorial Elementary School, had a campsite in southwest Townsend near Vinton Pond, but the teenager never arrived.

"She didn't show up at camp. She didn't return home," Marshall said.

Instead, Deborah was last seen riding her three-speed bicycle up the slope where Turnpike Road forks off of Route 119, adjacent to the Spaulding school, Marshall said.

The spot is less than a half-mile from Walker Pond.

The second day of searching yesterday attracted numerous onlookers, from concerned and curious town residents who never knew the Quimbys to former Police Chief William May.

May, who ran the Police Department from 1981 to 2001, said the whole town is concerned about the outcome of the search.

"I think it's a case that the present chief and his staff have every intention of solving and I'll help them in any way I can," May said.

May took over the department from Marshall's father, Erving Marshall Sr., who was chief when Deborah Quimby disappeared, and said he continued the investigation throughout his tenure.

Some suspects turned out to be dead-ends. Other leads were hard to follow.

But May said new technology helped make this year's renewed search possible.

"Things have changed tremendously," he said. "But nothing's easy."

No one answered the door at the West Townsend home of the girl's parents yesterday.

* * *

Marshall would not comment on whether there were any abduction suspects, or whether police consider the anonymous letter-writer a concerned friend or a suspect.

He only said it was a "substantial lead" in a mystery that for 27 years had very few.

"As times go by these cases don't get any easier," Marshall said., Sun Staff
 
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/st...D_CASE?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

The search, the second at the pond in two years, yielded a few articles of clothing and an old bike. But authorities don't know yet if the items are major clues because the pond was used as a dump until the late 1970s and holds all manner of junk.

Deborah's parents are grateful for the renewed effort to find their daughter, who would be 40 now.

"We hope that some of that turns into finding our daughter and puts an end to this," said Richard "Jake" Quimby. "We just want an end to it."
 
Deborah Ann Quimby
Missing since May 3, 1977 from Townsend, Middlesex County, Massachusetts.
Classification: Endangered Missing

Vital Statistics

Date Of Birth: October 9, 1963
Age at Time of Disappearance: 13 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'1; 120 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown hair; brown eyes. She has freckles.
Clothing: A multicolored shirt, blue jeans, and a royal blue Pop Warner jacket with the name "Debbie" embroidered on the sleeve.
Dentals: Available

Circumstances of Disappearance

Quimby left a note for her mother saying that she was riding her bike from her house on Smith Street at about 4 p.m, to her grandparent's house on Vinton Pond Road in West Townsend and would call home later that day. The bike ride was about four miles long. She was last seen on the crest of the hill on Turnpike Road, heading west.

Her bike, a brown Takara 10-speed bike, boys model, has never been found.

In November 2002, police received the first of 2 anonymous letters. The letter prompted police to do a search of Walker Pond near where Quimby was last seen in May of 2003. After a well-publicized sonar scan of the pond proved inconclusive on May 3, 2003, another letter arrived in November 2003. This one stated "Take a closer look". The second search yeiled some articles of clothing and an old bike, but it is not know yet if these items are connected to Quimby.

Investigators
If you have any information concerning Quimby's whereabouts, please contact:
Townsend Police Department
Missing Persons Unit
508-597-2176
All information may be submitted on an anonymous basis.

NCIC Number: M-195533564
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:
The National Center For Missing and Exploited Children
NorthWest Herald
The Doe Network: Case File 274DFMA

Link:
http://www.doenetwork.us/cases/274dfma.html
 
No giving up on missing girl

Deborah Quimby disappeared 30 years ago

Deborah’s parents arrived at their Smith Street home 30 years ago today to find a note from the girl saying she had some issues and was going to go think things out. She told a friend she was going to go to her grandfather’s camp on Vinton Pond Road on her brown Takara 10-speed bicycle.

No trace of Deborah or her bicycle has ever been found.

The search is not over. The FBI’s behavioral science unit will take a look at the case, Chief Marshall said, and Mrs. Quimby has supplied a DNA sample to authorities that could help identify remains.

The chief, who was a member of the department when Deborah vanished, said he will never let the case be forgotten.
 
Bumping case up. It has been 30 years since Deborah disappeared. This case has quite a few similarities to other cases of missing girls in the same general area.
 
It has been almost a year since anyone has posted to this thread. Here is an updated case file and link.

It seems that there were a number of similar abductions in the mid 1970's involving young boys and girls riding their bicycles.

-------------------------------------------------
Deborah Ann Quimby
Missing since May 3, 1977 from Townsend, Middlesex County, Massachusetts.
Classification: Endangered Missing

Vital Statistics

Date Of Birth: October 9, 1963
Age at Time of Disappearance: 13 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'1; 120 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown hair; brown eyes. She has freckles.
Clothing: A multicolored shirt, blue jeans, and a royal blue Pop Warner jacket with the name "Debbie" embroidered on the sleeve.
Dentals: Available

Circumstances of Disappearance

Quimby left a note for her mother saying that she was riding her bike from her house on Smith Street at about 4 p.m, to her grandparent's house on Vinton Pond Road in West Townsend and would call home later that day.

The bike ride was about four miles long. She was last seen on the crest of the hill on Turnpike Road, heading west.

Her bike, a brown Takara 10-speed bike, boys model, has never been found.

Investigators
If you have any information concerning Quimby's whereabouts, please contact:

Townsend Police Department
Missing Persons Unit
508-597-2176
All information may be submitted on an anonymous basis.

NCMEC #: NCMC727916
NCIC Number: M-195533564
Please refer to these numbers when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.


Source Information
The National Center For Missing and Exploited Children
NorthWest Herald
The Doe Network: Case File 274DFMA

LINK:

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/274dfma.html
 
I live in this area and remember the newspaper reports sporadically coming out over the past 5-6 years, and on the 30th anniverasry of this disappearance. I now drive this route daily and every time I go through Townsend my mind starts thinking of this...it's bugging me.
- this is clearly an old cold case....none of the newspaper accounts seem to provide much info...is it because there isn't any more? if there is under what situation would the police open up and tell us all they know?
- why do searches stop? is it because the case is dead ended or money has run out?
How does the public know which one it is?
- Townsend 30 years ago was a country town, it has since developed pockets of upper middle class, but still remains down trodden in some areas...and the location of this disappearnce seems to be one of them...if I have it right she was last seen on turnpike road near the spaulding school...riding this road goes into the sticks and flashes back 30 years in less than 1 mile.
- The are is surrounded by woods and state parks.
- It seems to me, based on recent publicize child disappearances that most times the missing child is a lot closer to home/are of disappearance than people think. The search quickly expands only for the child to be found very close after the fact.
- How does one find out,(without coming on like a creep) what has been searched and what has been looked at to date? (if it's possible)
- Even the recent letters...surely the police knoe the location of the post mark, and a hand writing expert can tell the approc age of the person and probably the gender.

thanks for any replies...
 
I live in this area and remember the newspaper reports sporadically coming out over the past 5-6 years, and on the 30th anniverasry of this disappearance. I now drive this route daily and every time I go through Townsend my mind starts thinking of this...it's bugging me.
- this is clearly an old cold case....none of the newspaper accounts seem to provide much info...is it because there isn't any more? if there is under what situation would the police open up and tell us all they know?
- why do searches stop? is it because the case is dead ended or money has run out?
How does the public know which one it is?
- Townsend 30 years ago was a country town, it has since developed pockets of upper middle class, but still remains down trodden in some areas...and the location of this disappearnce seems to be one of them...if I have it right she was last seen on turnpike road near the spaulding school...riding this road goes into the sticks and flashes back 30 years in less than 1 mile.
- The are is surrounded by woods and state parks.
- It seems to me, based on recent publicize child disappearances that most times the missing child is a lot closer to home/are of disappearance than people think. The search quickly expands only for the child to be found very close after the fact.
- How does one find out,(without coming on like a creep) what has been searched and what has been looked at to date? (if it's possible)
- Even the recent letters...surely the police knoe the location of the post mark, and a hand writing expert can tell the approc age of the person and probably the gender.

thanks for any replies...

Hi, Curious-this is my relative. She disappeared when I was 7. I had no idea that there was a thread on her, so let me first state, as I cry (I can't believe it!) that I am very, very grateful for the interest shown to date.

The letters were postmarked from NH. They have been analyzed down to the ground in terms of paper, ink etc.

I wonder if there was an attempt to lift DNA from either the stamps or the flaps...I do not know at this point, and do not know if it would be too degraded. If there were prints recovered, they clearly did not match any in the system.

Her final resting place is allegedly Walker Pond, but this tiny town ran out of the money needed to complete the search. Cadaver dogs alerted to an area in or near the pond...in spite of the pond being drained twice, there was no body found although objects were recovered. At one point, the Army Corps of Engineers came (I think with the last search) and chunks of land and silt were dug...with the amount of time that has passed, it is hard to tell how deep to dig....

Her father died within the last few years of pancreatic cancer-Richard was never, ever the same after she disappeared. Her mother has kept her room the same-can you even imagine waiting 35+ years for your child to come home? They (her mother and her brothers) are due some answers...

Peace
 
I am not a spokesperson for these members of my family-but if there are questions or sufficient interest, I can check and see what might be going on and where we can help.
 
I'm in, if there is anything we can do.

I talked with GA Missing Clearing house this week about setting up DNA 'get togethers' (still need a name for this!) and they said the new thing for ID is dentals, easier, less expensive, much faster.

Believe, find out if they have dental records for Deborah.
 
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-162971859.html

An anonymous handwritten letter sent to police almost five years ago sparked a major effort in the ongoing search for Deborah.
The letter was sent to the "chief of police" in Townsend in November 2002. It was about three-quarters of a page in length. It said police should search for her body in Walker Pond off Turnpike Road. The letter writer did not claim responsibility for the girl's disappearance.
Chief Marshall called the state police and Environmental Police, and they did a sonar search of the pond but did not reach any conclusions.
Another letter came in the winter of 2003 - in what the chief described as similar handwriting - urging police to take a closer look at a specific section of the pond.
The letters had come out of the blue, he said, noting the case had not been in public discussion for years, although pondering the case had been part of his own daily routine for a quarter-century.
"The decision was made to drain the pond," the chief said.
What followed was an arduous 38 days of intensive searching through the murky bottom of Walker Pond, as volunteers toiled with hands and heavy equipment for any trace of Deborah. They found none.
"The conditions over there were horrendous," the chief said, recalling the sight of cranes being lowered more than a dozen feet into the muck, material he described as "muddy quicksand."
"Out of all the stuff we've done on this," Chief Marshall said, "that was the biggest letdown."
Searchers were heartbroken when the effort was suspended, but the chief said it was clear there would be no resolution.
He waited for more correspondence from the anonymous tipster, but none has
come.
"I'd go back (to the pond) tomorrow if I had anything specific," Chief Marshall said.
The letters have been analyzed for any forensic clues, but nothing ever materialized, he said.
 
Trying to find these without having to pay, LOL!


[FONT=arial, helvetica]1.) [/FONT] [FONT=arial, helvetica]New information needed before Quimby search continues[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica][SIZE=-1][FONT=Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-1]Author: Diane C. Beaudoin
Publication: Townsend Times (MA)
Publish Date: August 4, 2004
Word Count: 433
Document ID: 10444291641A5452 [/SIZE][/FONT]
[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-1]TOWNSEND -- The possibility of a return to Walker Pond to continue the search for missing teen Deborah Quimby is not totally out of the question. However, more specific information will be needed before digging could resume, according to Sgt. Travis Rixford.
The search of the muddy pond originally encompassed an area that was 100-feet by 50-feet, but that was increased to 282-feet by 50-feet once excavation equipment was brought in that could deal with the deep mud and silt.
The [/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]2.) [/FONT] [FONT=arial, helvetica]FBI steps up involvement[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica][SIZE=-1][FONT=Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-1]Author: with Townsend Quimby case
Publication: Townsend Times (MA)
Publish Date: May 11, 2007
Word Count: 305
Document ID: 11916B1042733668 [/SIZE][/FONT]
[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-1]TOWNSEND -- Police Chief Erving Marshall Jr. has confirmed rumors that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has recently shown renewed interest in the Deborah Anne Quimby disappearance case. He said his department is preparing to ship its investigatory files to the FBI after having worked with the bureau's behavioral science unit for the past month or so.
"We reached out to them recently and they're taking a lead role in this," Marshall said [/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]3.) [/FONT] [FONT=arial, helvetica]Deborah Quimby: Another birthday on Friday, missing since 1977[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica][SIZE=-1][FONT=Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-1]Author: Diane C. Beaudoin
Publication: Townsend Times (MA)
Publish Date: October 5, 2005
Word Count: 542
Document ID: 10D11005B280D158 [/SIZE][/FONT]
[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-1]TOWNSEND -- On Oct. 9 Deborah Ann Quimby would have celebrated her 42nd birthday, but to date, she has not been found. Quimby disappeared on May 3, 1977, at age 13. She was last seen riding her bicycle on Turnpike Road in Townsend and reports said she was on her way to her grandfather's house on Vinton Pond Road. Quimby never arrived.
Walker Pond was the scene of a massive effort from May to July 2004, as the police received two anonymous letters with one stating [/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]4.) [/FONT] [FONT=arial, helvetica]Search continues for Deborah Anne Quimby, lost 29 years ago[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica][SIZE=-1][FONT=Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-1]Author: Diane C. Beaudoin
Publication: Townsend Times (MA)
Publish Date: April 28, 2006
Word Count: 351
Document ID: 1114919B8C1C3C28 [/SIZE][/FONT]
[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-1]TOWNSEND -- On Wednesday, May 3, Townsend will begin its 29th year of searching for Deborah Anne Quimby. Quimby disappeared in 1977 at the age of 13, and was last seen riding her bicycle on Turnpike Road, near Walker Pond.
At the time of her disappearance, she was wearing a multi-colored shirt, blue jeans and a royal blue Pop Warner jacket with Debbie written on the sleeve. She weighed 120 pounds, had brown hair, brown eyes, was 5 feet 1 inch tall, and a fair complexion. She resided with [/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]5.) [/FONT] [FONT=arial, helvetica]The Quimbys' appeal[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica][SIZE=-1][FONT=Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-1]
Publication: Shirley Oracle (MA)
Publish Date: June 25, 2004
Word Count: 566
Document ID: 103BE661A6F00E3C [/SIZE][/FONT]
[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-1]Two anonymous letters have reopened the case of Deborah Ann Quimby of Townsend, missing since May 3, 1977. She was only 13. Every news outlet in the region is carrying the news of the reopened investigation, which has led state and local police to Townsend's Walker's Pond in an effort to unearth any evidence of Debbie's disappearance buried there. Walker's Pond is adjacent to Turnpike Road where Debbie was last seen.
The old newspaper story [/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]6.) [/FONT] [FONT=arial, helvetica]The Quimbys' appeal[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica][SIZE=-1][FONT=Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-1]
Publication: Groton Landmark (MA)
Publish Date: June 25, 2004
Word Count: 566
Document ID: 1037039BD1347268 [/SIZE][/FONT]
[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-1]Two anonymous letters have reopened the case of Deborah Ann Quimby of Townsend, missing since May 3, 1977. She was only 13. Every news outlet in the region is carrying the news of the reopened investigation, which has led state and local police to Townsend's Walker's Pond in an effort to unearth any evidence of Debbie's disappearance buried there. Walker's Pond is adjacent to Turnpike Road where Debbie was last seen.
The old newspaper story [/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]7.) [/FONT] [FONT=arial, helvetica]The Quimbys' appeal[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica][SIZE=-1][FONT=Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-1]
Publication: Harvard Hillside (MA)
Publish Date: June 25, 2004
Word Count: 566
Document ID: 1037030B72822E3F [/SIZE][/FONT]
[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-1]Two anonymous letters have reopened the case of Deborah Ann Quimby of Townsend, missing since May 3, 1977. She was only 13. Every news outlet in the region is carrying the news of the reopened investigation, which has led state and local police to Townsend's Walker's Pond in an effort to unearth any evidence of Debbie's disappearance buried there. Walker's Pond is adjacent to Turnpike Road where Debbie was last seen.
The old newspaper story [/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]8.) [/FONT] [FONT=arial, helvetica]The Quimbys' appeal[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica][SIZE=-1][FONT=Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-1]
Publication: Townsend Times (MA)
Publish Date: June 25, 2004
Word Count: 566
Document ID: 103703D4579A39D5 [/SIZE][/FONT]
[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-1]Two anonymous letters have reopened the case of Deborah Ann Quimby of Townsend, missing since May 3, 1977. She was only 13. Every news outlet in the region is carrying the news of the reopened investigation, which has led state and local police to Townsend's Walker's Pond in an effort to unearth any evidence of Debbie's disappearance buried there. Walker's Pond is adjacent to Turnpike Road where Debbie was last seen.
The old newspaper story [/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]9.) [/FONT] [FONT=arial, helvetica]The Quimbys' appeal[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica][SIZE=-1][FONT=Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-1]
Publication: Public Spirit, The (Ayer, MA)
Publish Date: June 25, 2004
Word Count: 566
Document ID: 103BE677CEF4E8D5 [/SIZE][/FONT]
[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-1]Two anonymous letters have reopened the case of Deborah Ann Quimby of Townsend, missing since May 3, 1977. She was only 13. Every news outlet in the region is carrying the news of the reopened investigation, which has led state and local police to Townsend's Walker's Pond in an effort to unearth any evidence of Debbie's disappearance buried there. Walker's Pond is adjacent to Turnpike Road where Debbie was last seen.
The old newspaper story [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica]10.) [/FONT] [FONT=arial, helvetica]Walker Pond returning to its natural state[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica][SIZE=-1][FONT=Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-1]Author: Diane C. Beaudoin
Publication: Townsend Times (MA)
Publish Date: August 13, 2004
Word Count: 458
Document ID: 10475C3BE2B95CE0 [/SIZE][/FONT]
[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-1]TOWNSEND -- Now that the latest search for missing Townsend teen Deborah Ann Quimby has been called off, Walker Pond is beginning to return to its natural state. But though the search has ended, police are hoping that the tipster who send the department two anonymous letters with information in the Quimby case will contact them again.
Not long ago, the pond was empty, and had become a site of barge pumps, cadaver dogs, massive cranes and numerous volunteers for weeks in hopes of finding
[/SIZE][/FONT]
 

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