NH NH - Laureen Rahn, 14, Manchester, 27 April 1980

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JudysSisterMaureen said:
this makes me sick, sad, angry, disappointed - "the state cold case unit is CONSIDERING getting involved in the investigation" RUFKM? (the last two words in that acronym are kidding me. You can fill in the rest.)

How sad. What a tragic case. She was just a baby - maybe she ran away ? maybe she was abducted? Maybe she ran away and then got into trouble and didn't know where to turn ? @killer_chaser had sent me to this thread -- definitely similarities but a lot of differences too. Judy was a woman, this girl was just a little girl. I wonder, was the father ever questioned? He's not mentioned anywhere?
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Great question! I wonder if she had any relationship (or even contact) with him?
 
rahn_laureen.jpg
rahn_laureen_ap.jpg

Above Images: Right: age-progressed to 46 years. (2012)
http://www.nampn.org/cases/rahn_laureen.html

Laureen went missing 35 years ago today.
 
I found Laureen's case mentioned on a Reddit thread. One of the posters claims to be the child of the friend Laureen was with the night she went missing. Here's what he or she (can't tell it's a boy or girl) has to say:

My mother is the friend that was there that night don't believe everything you hear on the internet cause have the stuff that people have posted is not true. Im not really too sure about like the lightbulbs in the hallway or anything like that. What is so weird about this case is everything I've read like every webpage about it has never mentioned a couple details. Like okay so Judith the mother of laureen went out that night and my mother was supposed to sleep over her house. I don't know how in order this goes but they met up with two guys one 18 and one 21 while my mom was 14 and laureen was 13 I believe. The 18 year old worked at a store and he is the one that got them the beer. They hung out for a while and I don't really know cause my mom told me was what is told in the charley project she fell asleep on the bed and laureen had said Kristin I'm going to sleep on the couch and then my mom woke up by laureens mother saying where's laureen so it is a possibility that one of the guys came back and said hey want to come with me and she did with the intention to come back but never did. My father says back then that my mother says laureen left with one of the guys. So it gets confusing if you have any questions email me at [I won't post the e-mail here, but it's on the Reddit]
 
Bobby88 said:
I found Laureen's case mentioned on a Reddit thread. One of the posters claims to be the child of the friend Laureen was with the night she went missing. Here's what he or she (can't tell it's a boy or girl) has to say:

My mother is the friend that was there that night don't believe everything you hear on the internet cause have the stuff that people have posted is not true. Im not really too sure about like the lightbulbs in the hallway or anything like that. What is so weird about this case is everything I've read like every webpage about it has never mentioned a couple details. Like okay so Judith the mother of laureen went out that night and my mother was supposed to sleep over her house. I don't know how in order this goes but they met up with two guys one 18 and one 21 while my mom was 14 and laureen was 13 I believe. The 18 year old worked at a store and he is the one that got them the beer. They hung out for a while and I don't really know cause my mom told me was what is told in the charley project she fell asleep on the bed and laureen had said Kristin I'm going to sleep on the couch and then my mom woke up by laureens mother saying where's laureen so it is a possibility that one of the guys came back and said hey want to come with me and she did with the intention to come back but never did. My father says back then that my mother says laureen left with one of the guys. So it gets confusing if you have any questions email me at [I won't post the e-mail here, but it's on the Reddit]
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This is interesting. It dovetails with Rachel Garden's disappearance. She was also last seen talking to a couple of shady older guys before she went missing, which was around the same time as Laureen. I'd love to know whether there might be a little POI overlap.

It's amazing that police in NH haven't done more to solve any of these missing persons cases, especially when some of them are clearly homicides, with obvious suspects. Then you see something like the Lizzi Marriott case, where they bent over backwards to convict her killer despite never finding a body. I grieve for Lizzi; what happened to her was unspeakably awful but if I'm being honest, I've seen stronger evidence in some of these cold cases, so many of which go unprosecuted and, seemingly, uninvestigated by LE.

What's the difference? Well, Marriott was a college student from out-of-state, with surviving family willing to pressure police into doing something. Laureen Rahn and Rachel Garden were just working class local girls, throwaway kids whose disappearances (and, likely, murders) could never amount to an impact on the precious White Mountains tourism industry.

It's appalling. The only way we're going to see any action on these decades-old murders is if we're loud about demanding it.
 
It's interesting that so much of this thread focuses on the possbility of *advertiser censored* or child prostitution when there's actually not very much concrete evidence to point to it or that Laureen was ever even in California. It feels like starting at the end and working the story back from there to when Laureen disappeared and making it fit - you know, because these three calls were made to the motels possibly connected with a pedophile and to the teen sexual assistance hotline that a teenager that could have been from New Hampshire supposedly called and charged to Laureen's mom, Laureen must have made the calls, therefore she must have been invovled in the child *advertiser censored* ring of 'Dr Z' who is possibly connected to one of the motels that Laureen possibly called one time and this means she must have been kidnapped from her apartment and transported across the country to be forced into prostitution and/or *advertiser censored*. I'm not saying that isn't what happened but there are lot of assumptions in that story.

Personally I do think it would be a massive coincidence if Laureen was not responsible for charging those calls so soon after her disappearance but it doesn't change the fact that the only 'evidence' that Laureen even went to California are the three calls charged on one evening months after she'd disappeared - no calls before and no calls after.

Honestly, it's so hard to tell what is even accurate in this case. For example, all these references to Laureen's 'sister' receiving silent phone calls - did Laureen even have a sister? Or was she an only child? Because a lot of the articles refer to the fact that Laureen was Judith's only child and, while I accept she could have half-siblings through her father, all the references to the 'sister' are in connection with her mother. Her mother did not have any children after Laureen as far as I can tell. Laureen's mother had a sister, Laureen's aunt, who appears to have been close to Laureen which may be where the confusion came from - http://www.unionleader.com/article/20130512/NEWS07/130519821&source=RSS
 
Yes, I think we need to temper our inclinations toward more salacious explanations like child *advertiser censored*, child prostititution, white slavery and pedophile rings. Nothing can be ruled out but these rarely turn out to be the explanation in cases that are solved. An abduction by a lone pedophile or a voluntary disappearance are more likely, I think.
 
The thing that makes me think it wasn't a voluntary disappearance are the unscrewed lightbulbs on all three floors of the apartment building. It's just such a weird thing to do and I can't think of a good reason for why anybody would do it unless they specifically wanted to make sure they weren't seen and that the lights couldn't be quickly turned on. It's possible that it was unrelated to the disappearance, but it's so odd that I think it's likely it was connected.

It doesn't make sense for Laureen to have unscrewed all those lightbulbs. Firstly, why bother? If she was running away or leaving with somebody she knew why waste time unscrewing them? I guess it could have been a prank but it wouldn't have been a very good one and Laureen's friend who stayed that night never mentioned it. Also, I assume Laureen couldn't have done it without standing on something to reach as she wasn't particularly tall. I wonder how high the ceilings were in the hallways of the apartment - could a tall person have unscrewed them by just by reaching up? If it was an abductor who unscewed the lightbulbs then it seems likely that they either knew Laureen or knew of Laureen to have unscrewed the lightbulbs and abducted her from her apartment because you don't do all that on the off-chance that you'll find an unattended minor in one of the apartments. It's also possible that someone knew that Laureen's mother was out of town and that Laureen had stayed behind, although perhaps not that Laureen had friends over.
 
Still thinking about this case. Another factor that makes me think Laureen didn’t run away or run off with somebody is the fact that she had friends over to the apartment to drink the night she disappeared. If she was going to run away, why bother inviting them over? Who has friends over to drink and then runs away in the middle of the night with no possessions, leaving one of the friends asleep in the apartment? It could have been a spur of the moment decision but that does seem highly unlikely. Surely you'd go during the day, as soon as your mom and her boyfriend have left to give yourself a good head start?
 
PhoebeG said:
Still thinking about this case. Another factor that makes me think Laureen didn’t run away or run off with somebody is the fact that she had friends over to the apartment to drink the night she disappeared. If she was going to run away, why bother inviting them over? Who has friends over to drink and then runs away in the middle of the night with no possessions, leaving one of the friends asleep in the apartment?
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Someone who wants a cover.

I've talked to children and teens who've been trafficked as part of my job. It may sound outlandish to the average American, but human trafficking and child sexual exploitation are not at all unusual. Sadly, it happens to kids everywhere in this country and from all backgrounds, although kids who have been abused, kids in the foster care system, LGBT kids and kids involved in the juvenile justice system are the most at risk.

More than 70% of girls involved in the juvenile justice system are there for reasons relating to sexual abuse and/or human trafficking.

When I read about this case, it sounded exactly like scenarios I've read about with kids who've been coerced unwittingly into the sex industry. Basically, you'll have a young man who is himself a trafficker or is being paid, manipulated or forced by traffickers to coerce young(er) girls and sometimes other boys into trafficking. They do this by being their "friend" or "boyfriend," making them feel special and wanted (buying them gifts, alcohol, clothes, food, etc.), preying on their puppy love and even promising to get them into modeling or acting or something like that. They'll coerce the child to leave their home willingly, and then use manipulation or outright threats of harm to keep them "captive." I put "captive" in quotes because, very often, the victim wants to be there, as they've been manipulated psychologically much like how victims of domestic violence are.

After a while, they're told or they begin to believe they have no value, their parents wouldn't accept/forgive them, etc. It is extremely difficult to escape because the "prison" is at least partly in their mind. They are often watched and monitored. They're often not "held as slaves" in the sense that we imagine, but are manipulated into feeling unwilling and frightened of trying to leave. And, yes, there's often physical violence, forced drug use, etc.

If the person posting on Reddit about their mom is telling the truth, it really makes me think Laureen may have been the victim of human trafficking. It was much less well-known in the 1980s and its prevalence in the United States is only now coming to light. Previously, such victims were called "child prostitutes," and they were seen as willing sex workers. The law has changed and now views them, rightly, as victims.
 
This case fascinates me as it takes place not far from me. I am about 15 minutes from Manchester. I do believe Laureen did make it to california, and I do believe she is the one who called her mother...But what happened to her after if a mystery I think.
 
,would be curious to know more about the friend whom committed suicide
 
You don't think Robert Evans is involved, do you? She vanished in the same town as his wife, twenty-one months beforehand.
 
italianbella said:
This case fascinates me as it takes place not far from me. I am about 15 minutes from Manchester. I do believe Laureen did make it to california, and I do believe she is the one who called her mother...But what happened to her after if a mystery I think.
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You know who else went to California....

(I am not at all sure that the timelines match and it's too late at night for me to check it now.)
 
Do we know the names of the two friends she was with that night (the girl friend who slept over and the boy friend who later committed suicide)?
 
Interesting find... I just had the local librarian look up the address and phone number for Judith R. In 1980. The address was 289 Hanover St. in Manchester NH. All the information I have seen stated that they lived on Merrimack St. (don't know the actual number). Picking a random address on Merrimack St. and it is less than a mile from Hanover St. Looking at google earth street view and it looks like the Hanover St. address is a 3-story apartment building with back doors. Not sure how this fits in but either the family had recently moved or the wrong street name was publicized, perhaps on purpose. I am having the librarian check for addresses and phone numbers in a 5 year range before and after 1980 just to see if any other addresses come up. I was also hoping for a phone number because I am very curious if the person who got that number after Judith got rid of it if they received any strange calls. Of course it's wishful thinking on my part that that same person still has that phone number since 1981 or whenever exactly Judith got rid of it.
 
Mysterious Circumstances Podcast, case 20 - The Disappearance of Laureen Rahn states that the apartment address was 239 Merrimack St. looking that address up on google maps this does not appear to be a three story apartment but there are definitely some three story apartment buildings very near by.
 
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