MA MA - Joan Risch, 30, Lincoln, 24 Oct 1961

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The one point against a voluntary disappearance, at least to me, is the amount of blood that was present. For a 4 year old to say the room was "covered in red paint" and for a trail to extend outside...Seems like a lot of blood. If it were a few smears, some droplets here and there, then I would find the idea of a voluntary disappearance a lot easier to accept.
 
It's strange ; the year that she disappeared is listed as 1961 on some sites, and 1962 on others.

The Lewiston (Maine) paper for 2/21/1963 has an article. Some interesting points :

There was, as per this report, not a lot of blood. " Mostly drops,spots and smears -- consistent,perhaps, with a nosebleed,or a head injury ."

The blood droplets were found from the baby's room to the kitchen, and also outside on the side of her car.

At 2:15 p.m. a neighbor saw her outside by her car.

At 3:20 p.m. a second car was seen parked in the driveway.

At 4:00 p. m. her daughter came back from the neighbor's house to find her gone.

The library book records were deemed so important that they were handed over to the District Attorney. Some of the book themes were :

An orphan girl vanishes. Joan had been orphaned as a little girl in Brooklyn.

A woman flees her home to begin a new life.

A wife disappears without a trace.

More info at : news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1928&dat=19630220&id

Weird case. If she staged her own disappearance, how would she know that her little daughter wouldn't have come back sooner from the neighbor's house, and caught her ? Did she have a visitor that afternoon, who parked their car in her driveway ? I'm assuming the neighbor saw quite a bit...

People could not obtain divorces back then merely because they felt unhappy ; they had to show proof of infidelity or mental illness. Or they could move to places like Nevada, set up residency, and then file for divorce.

Different world back then. This is a case to get pulled into ...
 
I don't think that her reading material is all that strange. Because I read the same types of books and mysteries, love the whole genre of detective stories, and always have....but i am not planning my own disappearance. It was a long time ago, but someone, somewhere is still around that knows what happened to her. I think it is very rare for a mom to leave her children voluntarily, and it does not matter if the woman is unhappy in her marriage. I wonder why people think she left willingly! I have never believed that.

laces
 
Why would nobody stop if they see a bloody woman looking dazed? Just everybody thinking "none of my business, someone else can help her" or did she look somehow like she didn't want any help?

I think if she wanted to disappear voluntarily she might have cleaned herself up before leaving home. It seems that people would pay more attention to a bloody woman than a neat and tidy one. Unless she was leaving a false trail?
 
This is certainly a fascinating case. Is there confirmation on the year of her disappearance? 1961 or 1962? I agree that there does seem to be issues with the amount of blood evidence that would not suggest a voluntary disappearance. And even the amount of blood found is contradictory.

Satch
 
I read in one of the articles that Mr. Risch was asked if his wife was pregnant. He said he didn't know but that if she was, she would not have been upset about it. That alone sounds a little fishy. It makes me wonder if she was pregnant and unhappy about it and had an abortionist come to the house. She was seen outside her house that day by a neighbor, looking like she was expecting someone. Perhaps the procedure didn't go well and she tried to call for an ambulance. The abortionist freaked out, tore the phone out of the wall, they struggled and he eventually got her outside, driving her somewhere he could dispose of her. Or perhaps he left her for dead and she wandered off and bled to death. It's a puzzle with so many possibilities.
 
Some of the links to articles at the beginning of this thread are broken so here are a few more:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...FAAAAIBAJ&pg=3804,4665565&dq=joan-risch&hl=en
Missing 16 months.

From the above article: She is the former Joan Nattras born Brooklyn NY. They had lived in Ridgefield Conn. before moving to Boston.


I don't have access to this archive, perhaps someone here does?

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/bostonh...in+missing+mom+remains+a+mystery&pqatl=google

and about a man interested in Ruth's case (again in an archive)
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/bostonh...&desc=Dedicated+to+finding+truth&pqatl=google

Article dated 1961 when they had assumed she was kidnapped:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...FAAAAIBAJ&pg=4373,5303401&dq=joan-risch&hl=en


October 1961, this article says the fingerprints found on the phone were her husband's?

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...FAAAAIBAJ&pg=3035,6089099&dq=joan-risch&hl=en

Article August 1975

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...FAAAAIBAJ&pg=2239,2952931&dq=joan-risch&hl=en

I know many here are up to date with the case, I posted these for any newcomers we might have.
 
I came upon this mysterious case a few years ago on the Doe Network. After reading all the original news articles at the time after Risch's disappearance, and what was said regarding the the topics of her library books, I feel that she planned and staged her disappearance.

I wonder if the methods used in the books provided any clues for police and if they followed these methods of a person trying to disappear would have got them closer to "where or what directional steps" she took after that and along the way.

I get the impression she staged all the events that day, wondered off in a certain direction where, perhaps she had a fresh change of clothes and some cash, perhaps a car -- hidden and waiting, maybe in nearby woods, a parking lot, etc. These could have been items placed by her a day or two before she vanished. I think she was unhappy as a suburban housewife, and as much as she loved her children, she had to let them go in order to be happy.

Another theory I have is that she could have set this up to be with another man. I had read somewhere the police cruiser that was seen in the driveway that afternoon was nothing out of the ordinary, that a patrol presence was always nearby on the road that she lived to catch speeders. It would be interesting to hear from her children, who are now adults, and what they might know through the years.
 
unless she was a sociopath, i still don't believe she would leave her children. They grew up hearing what others said about their mom. It is easier to believe that a person would walk off of her own accord rather than believe that she was murdered, perhaps by someone close to her. In essense, it is easier to blame the person who is gone, rather than the person who you see every day, and know and love.
 
The update on Charley gives out 2 new pieces of info. The blood apparently began in her infant son's nursery, indicating that someone either snuck in the house while she was in there, or someone was laying in wait for her when she returned home from the dentist. The blood trail went from there to the kitchen to the driveway. Also, they found more than a thumbprint in blood in the kitchen; a partial palm print and 2 other fingerprints that have yet to be matched to anyone, were on the wall in blood. I don't believe she staged her own disappearance even thought she checked out all those books on missing persons. Some people, myself included, read such books all the time. Her husband did say she had an interest in such things, so I take any connection between that and her disappearance with a grain of salt.
 
I don't think I have ever, ever thought this before in any case Ive ever read about. But the fact that her child was at the neighbors AND her husband was out of town tends to make me think she staged her own disappearance. And how sad he never remarried. I also wonder if they were perhaps Catholic & had he even suspected that she was not really dead, he thought he must remain true to his marriage vows and/or he would be committing bigamy? In any event, I do not think this case needs to remain unsolved. I hope and believe someone from WS could even solve this & gives this family answers.
 
I read an article from February '62, stating that the police had questioned a man that she had hired to wash the windows. He was from Nashua, NH (right across the state line). I haven't found any follow-up articles, so I *assume* that his story checked out. However, she might have hired other handymen (who would have known her routine, and not seemed out of place near her house). It's a long shot, but perhaps other families who still live in the area might remember the names of people/companies they used.
 
Bumping for Joan. It will be 51 years since her disappearance on October 24th. Her husband is now dead, he never remarried. In an article, it is stated that he believed her to be alive. Mr. Risch wouldn't elaborate and refused to speak of the disappearance ever again. I wonder if he found out what happened to her and where she was? And maybe too ashamed to admit she left him and their children, whatever her reasons?
 
I just had a couple of new thoughts. Did Joan get along with all the neighbors? Did she have any enemies? They checked her husband's alibi but did they check his background? Maybe an angry girlfriend/mistress lurking in the picture somewhere? Did she have a history of seizures or bad nose bleeds that could cause confusion?
 
This is such a sad, sad case. From the research I have done, there are many unanswered questions. I would say most of the Boston Globe article immediately following the disappearance suggested that she was still alive. There were mystery phone calls to the Risch house in the days that followed her disappearance, detectives emphasizing that they believed she was still alive and had suffered a 'medical' emergency. I might agree with the post above about the idea that she may have wanted to have an abortion - but something doesn't feel right about that either.

Hmmm! This is one that will probably always be perplexing, just like the Paula Welden case.
 
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