Molly Bish ID'd

[Guest JangoFett4Hire]

From the Boston Herald

 

 

Three years of anguish ended yesterday with the news that missing Warren lifeguard Molly Bish's family dreaded most.

 

``Molly has come home. We're deeply saddened but grateful that we could bring her back home,'' the Bishes said in a brief statement an hour after investigators told them remains found in a wooded area of Palmer had been positively identified as their daughter.

 

And Worcester County District Attorney John J. Conte said yesterday for the first time that the teen's killer may be a local resident.

 

The discovery of Molly's remains just five miles from Comins Pond, where she was dropped off for her lifeguard shift nearly three years ago, ``leads us to believe in theory (that her killer) may have been a local person,'' Conte said.

 

The 16-year-old's identity was established by nuclear DNA tests on a bone found a week ago and by old-fashioned comparison of dental records with a skull recovered just yesterday, Conte grimly told reporters after delivering the news to the Bishes.

 

``Today we have identified Molly's remains . . . we made a double-identification,'' he said.

 

An investigative source speaking on condition of anonymity told the Herald that searchers found ``the bulk of the remains'' yesterday and that Molly's body had apparently been left on the ground or in a shallow grave.

 

What was left of her skeleton was covered in leaves and debris, the source said. ``We think we found the spot where she was murdered.''

 

Conte said, ``I believe we do have the murder scene. Are we absolutely positive? No. But we're working on the assumption that's where she was killed.''

 

The main evidence for the theory was that all the remains were found within a 1,000-foot diameter circle, with most of them within a 500-foot circle, he said.

 

The probe is far from over, Conte said, and has been a ``dual operation'' - search and investigation - since a hunter led police to a blue Nike bathing suit similar to the one Molly was wearing the day she disappeared.

 

It's too early to establish a cause of death, he said, but nothing uncovered so far has suggested blunt trauma or bullet wounds. Even with time, he said, ``it's going to be very difficult to determine the cause of death.''

 

The body was found a long walk from the nearest road, a cart path cutting up the back of a hill, said Col. Thomas Foley, head of the Massachusetts State Police.

 

Investigators still have extensive work to do at the scene, Foley said. ``It's still one day at a time. We want to make sure whatever is up there connected to this case, we want to pull out of there. We're going to stay there until that scene is fully processed.''

 

While teams scoured the remote woods in recent weeks, investigators also focused on the long list of suspects they developed in the months after Molly disappeared - a list that includes known sex-offenders.

 

``This is the most important part now, to see if we can find out who committed this very heinous crime,'' Conte said.

 

``We have suspects, We have evidence. We have 11 people that failed lie-detector tests,'' he said. ``Yesterday I said we had 150 new leads. Well you can add 50 more to that today.''

 

Conte previously had said there were 20 suspects but today said investigators have narrowed the list.

 

``I think we have cut down the number of suspects,'' he said, declining to reveal why.

 

Conte said yesterday that investigators from Hamden County ``have been working hand in glove with us'' because of the possibility Molly's disappearance was linked to the 1993 abduction and murder of Holly Piirainen in Sturbridge.

 

Bish was last seen by her family on June 27, 2000.

 

Police at the remote pond where she was stationed found her sandals, water bottle, walkie-talkie and lunch.

 

Her first-aid kit was opened, prompting speculation that she'd been lured into a trap by a killer seeking help for a feigned injury.

 

The case appeared to have gone quiet until the hunter found what may have been Molly's bathing suit, leading to the search that produced the first bone a week ago.

 

Investigators yesterday credited the successful effort to locate Molly's remains in remote and rugged terrain to their use of a new computer mapping program.

 

The program was so effective that detectives plan to return to sites associated with other unsolved crimes.

 

The Bishes, who have made numerous media appearances over the past three years, huddled privately at their home in Warren yesterday after getting the news that Molly was dead.

 

``It's a very difficult time for them,'' Foley said. ``I don't know how you can ever prepare people for that kind of news.''

 

 

 

 

 

 

Obviously a tragic end to an ordeal. Hopefully her killer will be found quickly and dealt with as harshly as possible.

[Guest Lil Naitch]

At least the family has some closure, but it's still a very sad thing. RIP Molly, and may you fly with the angels.

 

I hope they get the bastard.