Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
E006 Laureen Rahn
3k Plays6 years ago
A New Hampshire teen's Spring Break transformed from what could have been a fun-filled week to one of horror for her mother, Judith. Perhaps the key to this mystery is whatever... or whoever ... plunged this case into darkness.
Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/CoffeeAndCases)Recommended
Transcript
A Disturbing Call in the Night
00:00:01
Speaker
Your phone rings at 3.45 a.m. Your first thought is, something's wrong. Something's wrong with someone I know. This is an emergency. With your heart already pounding in your temples, your hands already sweating, and your mind already racing, you fumble for the receiver. Shaking off the fog of sleep, you need to be prepared for the news you're gonna hear. You manage to gasp out a frantic, hello?
00:00:29
Speaker
From the other end of the receiver, there comes no frantic voice telling you of an accident. Neither are there cries of someone hurt and in need of help. There's just breathing. The weighted breath of someone who wants to be heard but does not speak. Under normal circumstances, this call would scare you, make you think of a stalker who's been watching you and wants you to acknowledge the embodiment of fear.
00:00:58
Speaker
We've all seen the horror movies of women, most commonly, usually young, babysitters likely, who get these calls. Usually, it sends a chill through us because while this could be a prank call, it could also be someone sinister, someone we wouldn't even be able to identify by voice. But what if I told you that these calls were not fear-inducing for Judith Rand of Manchester, New Hampshire?
00:01:30
Speaker
Instead, her heart rose into her throat out of hope and not fear, thinking this could be her missing daughter trying to give a sign that she's still alive. After all, this wasn't the first call of this kind, and she knew her daughter would try to reach out in any way possible.
00:01:54
Speaker
Maybe she would hear her daughter's voice this time. She'd been longing for that sound for such a long time. But just like always, the breath was followed by the same thing. A click of the call being abruptly ended. And with that click, St. Judith's hope again. Would she ever see the day when the call might end differently?
Podcast Introduction and Community Engagement
00:02:20
Speaker
A day when she could be reunited with her sweet girl?
00:02:24
Speaker
This is the case of Lorraine Rand.
00:03:04
Speaker
Welcome to Coffee and Cases where we like our coffee hot and our cases cold. My name is Allison Williams. And my name is Maggie Dameron. We will be telling stories each week in the hopes that someone out there with any information concerning these cases will take those tips to law enforcement so justice and closure can be brought to these families.
00:03:24
Speaker
With each case, we encourage you to continue in the conversation on our Facebook page, Coffee and Cases, because as these families know, conversations help to keep their missing family members in the public consciousness, helping to keep their memories alive. So sit back, sip your coffee, and listen to what's brewing this week.
Spring Break Discussions and Historical Context
00:03:43
Speaker
Maggie, part of the reason I chose today's case is because it takes place during spring break and I know it's only January but I am ready. Living for spring break. Yes, going for snow days, already counting down the days until spring break because spring break can be such a fun time.
00:04:06
Speaker
And teenagers, which is what Maggie and I teach, especially here in the United States, they look forward to spring break so much because this is a chance to get out of town, usually to a warmer climate where we can soak up the sun, spend time with our friends, all of that.
00:04:25
Speaker
awesomeness. Yeah, I can just think about like college spring break, you're ready to go to the beach, you're ready to tan, now I'm ready to sleep, watch Netflix, but not great. Yeah, that sounds pretty good to me right now. That's my spring break, not grading. Well, I looked and I was curious like how long
00:04:45
Speaker
something like spring break had been in existence. But what I did find is that dating back even to the ancient Greeks and Romans this arrival of spring was lauded. We celebrated the growth of new life and there was this you know spring was worthy of joy and admiration.
Laureen's Mysterious Disappearance
00:05:06
Speaker
So for our story today when spring break of 1980 rolled around
00:05:11
Speaker
The last thing 14-year-old Laureen Rand wanted to do was to stick around Manchester, New Hampshire. She was like, peace out. Yeah, I'm out of here. Bye. And especially if it meant sticking around and
00:05:28
Speaker
tagging along with her mom as she usually did with her mother to one of her mother's boyfriend's tennis matches. And that because that would be away from her friends. And spring break, even if you're not getting to get out of town, it's at least a chance to unwind with your friends. And so Laureen was like, really, you know, hanging. Not that she didn't love her mom, obviously she did.
00:05:51
Speaker
But she's 14 right and she would always tag along with her mom to those tennis tournaments. And this was just a time when she just wanted to be by herself. And it was at least a nice day, even though it was a little bit chilly. The temperature on that day had risen to 58.
00:06:06
Speaker
which was still, even though it's a little cold, 30 degrees higher than it had been in Manchester just two short months earlier. Well, in true teenager fashion, Laurene batted her blue eyes at her mom and begged her to stay at home with her friends just for the day, right? Mom, you go on to this tournament. Just let me be home. Just one day. Let me stay home. And, I mean, her mom was gonna be back by the late hours that night.
00:06:36
Speaker
right? It was just one day, just one. Lorene's brown hair draped in her face as she ran her finger on the scar on her upper leg that was caused by an accident falling on glass and she waited for her mother to respond. And her mother, Judith, comforted herself with the knowledge that Lorene was a good girl.
00:06:58
Speaker
She got good grades at Parkside Junior High School, and she had drug Laureen along to a lot of these tennis tournaments recently. So maybe, maybe Laureen did deserve a day, just her and her friends. Okay, her mom said. Laureen's elation at that response had to have been unmistakable.
00:07:23
Speaker
The thought of it made Judah smile as she descended the three flights of stairs from her apartment to the front door of the apartment building. That smile was replaced with terror, however, when she returned early the next morning at 1.15 a.m. What she noticed first was that the front door of the apartment building was unlocked.
00:07:50
Speaker
But sometimes that happened when one of the other tenants was in a hurry, unintentionally left it open. What was odd though was the darkness. Usually the ceiling lights flooded the common area with their warm glow, but the first floor was dark.
00:08:12
Speaker
Now, today we have, you know, the nifty flashlight feature on our phones. This is Jesus. I use it all the time. I walk into the mailbox, I turn it on. I walk in my dog, in my bedroom, if I've dropped something and I don't wanna get out of bed, just turn the light on, the flashlight on on my phone. Well, of course, you know, this is 1980 though, and Judith didn't have that. So you can imagine she was fumbling her way to the staircase. She mounted the stairs to the second floor.
00:08:42
Speaker
curious again. Again, the ceiling lights were completely dark, but the power wasn't out.
00:08:54
Speaker
What was going on? Maggie would be running. Oh, I would be freaking out. First of all, I'd call somebody on my phone. Well, but you didn't have cell phones. So now I would be calling somebody like they could help me through the phone. Like they could save me from an attack or a break. Mom, I'm walking up to my house and I don't talk to you and I suddenly disappear. Call 911. I totally do that though. I do that. Silly. But yeah, then I mean, what do you do? Run. It's true.
00:09:23
Speaker
So she gets to the third floor, which is where her apartment is, and the third floor was no different. Judith could see nothing.
00:09:31
Speaker
Now, Maggie and I were just saying, I would already be terrified. A couple of times I've had to come into the school even at night. It is scary. Because we have these red exit signs and they illuminate the hallway and make it look like you're walking through Hades because it's like red and someone's going to jump out of the classroom and grab you.
00:09:53
Speaker
I don't know, I associate red with evil too. Yeah, something's gonna come out and get us. But then I feel even scarier than that is complete darkness. When you can't even see your hand in front of your face because then somebody could be breathing on your neck and you have no idea. And I honestly don't know if I could have done it pre-flashlight days without the flashlight on my phone. And I know that makes me sound like a baby, but I'm totally being honest. I might have just turned around and booked it out.
00:10:23
Speaker
But then, she's a mom. Yeah, your kids up there. Exactly, her kids up there. And what terrifies me the most about all of this is the detail that I haven't told you yet. And it is that we know now that all of these light bulbs on the first floor, on the second floor, on the third floor, each individual one
00:10:52
Speaker
had been unscrewed from its socket. This is a different type of psycho we're talking about here. You're going to take time to individually unscrew each light bulb. You have been thinking about this for a while. Yeah, this is definitely premeditated. This is not something where like, oh, I want to abduct somebody or hurt somebody. You have planned this out and
00:11:20
Speaker
At the time, you know, we've talked about the difference between, you know, 1980 and today, I want you to think about this too because the light bulbs, they would have been incandescent bulbs which would have been scorching to the touch. So they were either unscrewed by somebody wearing gloves, so again no fingerprints, no evidence,
00:11:42
Speaker
or by someone for whom pain was either tolerable in the best case or enjoyable in the worst. Oh my. I mean, creepy. Yes, that freaks me out. But you know, again, Judith didn't have this information at the time. She didn't know this. We know it now. And she was way more bold than I am. She had to get home to her daughter, Laureen. Well, she had the keys to her apartment ready
00:12:11
Speaker
But when she reached in the darkness for the doorknob, she found the apartment unlocked. Oh no. Maggie's already nervous about what's gonna happen. You know, I remember one time when I was little and my mom and I had gotten home from church and I was really young and I was sitting in the car in the front seat. And when we got home, the front door was cracked open. And I can remember, I could see the kitchen light streaming out, but I could also see the fear
00:12:40
Speaker
in my mom's eyes because she could have sworn that she fully closed the door when we left. And I remember she was like, Allison, did you open the door? Did you go back in? And I was like, no, mom, I didn't. And she was like, I know I closed the door and here's the door cracked open. And she told me to stay in the car.
00:13:00
Speaker
that she was gonna go and check it out. You know, obviously you've gotta go into your home, right? You can't just... Just leave it. Right. And so she was so scared that somebody had come into her home, you know, and replaced... Home is safety for us. And anytime you think of someone unwelcome in that space, it's like... It violates your safety. Exactly. They're like encroaching on that space. Well, luckily for us, no one was in our home.
00:13:27
Speaker
after my mom had searched the entire place which only took like 10 minutes it was a small small place but it felt like two hours because I was just waiting staring at the door not knowing if I was going to see something scary if I was going to see my mom's face and see that she was safe luckily
00:13:44
Speaker
I did see my mom's face and she called me in from the car where I had been hiding and waiting that whole time but I mean that was terrifying so I can only imagine getting home it's completely dark you're already scared and then the dorky apartment is unlocked. And I think it's a different type of fear because
00:14:04
Speaker
you are waiting for your mom, whereas this mom is waiting for her daughter. So I feel like she would be even more panicked because you're so protective of your children in a different way than we're protective of our moms.
00:14:20
Speaker
You know, Judith, she might not have even been necessarily nervous at first. She could have felt like that mom energy of like being angry. Like, Laureen knows that she needs to lock the door. Like, why is this door? Why didn't she make sure the door was locked? Or she might have felt fear, you know, and immediately thinking, oh my gosh. The worst. Yeah, is Laureen okay? Well, she peered into Laureen's room
00:14:44
Speaker
when she went into the apartment, she saw the shape of a young girl fast asleep in bed. So she was like, Oh, okay. She's okay. She must've just forgotten to unlock it. And then again, probably the anger set in. Well, she started looking around her apartment and she saw everything was in place. Everything was accounted for. So it didn't look like somebody had, you know, broken in. The door frame wasn't busted. Like the door was just unlocked. Yeah.
00:15:11
Speaker
It was when Judith noticed that the back door of the apartment was gaping open that fear really consumed her. She rushed back into Laurene's room and flipped the light on. But the face that stared back at her from the bed was not at all what she had expected.
00:15:34
Speaker
Laureen's friend bolted upright as the light came on and Judith's frantic voice interrupted her dreams. Wait, Laureen's friend, not Laureen? Nope. So where is she? Well, the last time the friend had seen her, she had grabbed a pillow and a blanket and said she was gonna go sleep on the couch. Weird. That sleep obviously never came.
00:16:03
Speaker
Police responded to the call at 3.45 a.m. on April 27th. A girl was missing from 239 Merrimack Street. Immediately police thought this was merely the case of a runaway. As I stated earlier, everything was in place. There was no sign of struggle.
00:16:25
Speaker
Well, as a result, they felt that she had left voluntarily, that she intended to return because Laureen hadn't taken any money with her. She had not taken spare clothing. Her new shoes that she had been desperate to own, still sitting there in the apartment.
00:16:43
Speaker
None of the things that someone who intended on staying away for a long time and would have taken were gone. But to me, I guess my brain maybe works opposite because I feel like if the shoes you want were still there, you didn't take any money, you didn't take any belongings, that points to me that something bad has happened.
00:17:04
Speaker
because she didn't have time to get all of those things. So to me it looks like it is an objection. Right, and that's exactly what Judith felt too, Laureen's mom, because she knew this was not like Laureen. She would have never left her purse, she would have never left her money, exactly what you said Maggie, she would have never left those things.
00:17:26
Speaker
Honestly I can't imagine how hard that would be to have the police believe that your child had left voluntarily but then you know in your heart of hearts that even though the signs seem to support their theory that that was not your child. I can just
00:17:42
Speaker
see the frustration building because even hearing about cases like this I get so frustrated because I feel like I mean I know there's like a protocol that they have to follow but sometimes I feel like police in our minds drag their feet because we're like why aren't you doing this why aren't you doing this you know but I feel like
00:18:00
Speaker
as a parent and if it was my child, I couldn't imagine the frustration. Well, and it makes me wonder too, like, how often, number one, does the police automatically assume that it is a runaway? And then, number two, how often are they right?
00:18:18
Speaker
Well, I did. When Anthony and I went to Washington and we toured the FBI building, I talked to one of the retired special agents. Oh, that's fancy. And I brought up the Amy case, but obviously they're not going to say anything.
00:18:32
Speaker
But he did say that in cases of missing children, the FBI are involved immediately, which I didn't know. In all cases? Yeah. We talked about that before. You asked that question and I was like, I don't know. Because he said the way that movies portray the FBI is not really true. That they're involved a lot quicker than what we think they are.
00:18:57
Speaker
Right, because we think like it has to escalate to a certain point before FBI gets called in. And that's not the case. So they do a lot of work. Yeah. Well, Judith believed there had to have been something or someone that made her go. Piecing together what the friend told the police that night and what the friend told Judith later
00:19:23
Speaker
Here's what we know of April 26th, after Judith had left for the tennis tournament. According to a 2005 article about Laureen Rand, published in the Union Leader and written by Sean Wickham, the friend told Judith later that earlier that day, Laureen had helped out at the local store in restocking the beer and the wine coolers. Is that allowed? I mean, I didn't think so, but that's what the friend
00:19:52
Speaker
reported to Judith. She was helping to restock the beer and wine coolers. Hey. Yes. Well, this corner store where she was helping out was a popular one for local teens because the workers would sometimes turn a blind eye, not check ID, and brush off underage drinking as some sort of like rite of passage and not as a major concern. Not okay.
00:20:16
Speaker
No, again, we're teachers here. And we're rule followers. So we're like girls on so many levels. We know that Laureen was able to get some alcohol and then she called two friends, one boy and one girl to come over and drink with her and to hang out. So she asked to stay home. Her mom's like, you know what? She's a good girl. She did decide to drink, which not the best decision.
00:20:44
Speaker
Well sometime in those late hours the male friend who was over there heard voices in the hallway and he was afraid that it was Laureen's mom and her boyfriend coming home and you know envisioning how angry she would likely be to find a boy in the apartment and an intoxicated boy at that, he was like I gotta get out of here and he exited through the back door of the apartment.
Bizarre Phone Calls and Unsettling Links
00:21:08
Speaker
Now we know that the back door of the apartment was open but when this boy was questioned about the incident he swore that he heard Laurene lock the door behind him.
00:21:23
Speaker
Since Judith wasn't at home yet, that wasn't her, it had been a false alarm, the girls decided to settle in for the night. It was probably the creep and screw in the light bulbs. Right, it could have been. Yeah, we don't know. He heard voices, that's all he said. Well they were settling in for the night and at first they were both squeezed into Laureen's bed until Laureen decided to move to the couch. So I mean good friend move, right? You keep the comfy bed. I'll go to the couch. I'll go sleep on the couch.
00:21:51
Speaker
What happened after that move to the couch, we do not know to this day, even now, even nearly 40 years later. In October of 1980, so a few months after Laurene's disappearance, there was a break in the case, but a break that would only lead to more questions. Judas, Laurene's mom,
00:22:17
Speaker
got her October phone bill and there were three unexplained long-distance charges from California.
00:22:26
Speaker
Well, Judas knew that she didn't make any of those calls herself and she had no connections to California. Well, back then, and I don't know if you, if there are still things like this today, because we don't even have a home. Right. So I don't know if there are things like this, but back then you could charge long distance calls to your home phone bill. So like, let's say
00:22:51
Speaker
you know, your kid is away at college. You could say, hey, here's this charge card number. You can use it to call home and it will charge our phone bill. I didn't know that was a thing. Yeah. Apparently in like the eighties and the nineties. So how far was the phone bill from her disappearance? So she disappeared in April and this phone bill was in October.
00:23:18
Speaker
Weird. What are you thinking? Why would she have her random phone calls to California on her phone? Oh Maggie, you just wait. There's gonna be all kinds of random phone calls.
00:23:31
Speaker
So with these long distance charges, she saw them on her bill. She's like, I know I didn't make these. And knowing that this is a possibility that you know, if you're traveling out of state, you needed to call home, you could just enter in this information for a charge number. And that call would be charged as an additional fee to your normal phone bill. She started thinking,
00:23:53
Speaker
What if that's Laurene who's making these calls? To California? Well, from California. Oh. But she's thinking, who else would know the charge card number? Unless she had it wrote down and the creeper that had the light bulbs on it. And maybe she didn't even realize or remember that she had written it down and could have stolen it. But she didn't take anything with her.
00:24:15
Speaker
Right, yeah, Laureen didn't and I don't know if that would be a number that you would naturally memorize. So you're right, there's a lot of, again, as I said, more questions. Strange. Well, police traced the calls and remember there are three. Two of them originated from the same hotel in Santa Monica, California and those same two calls, both of them, called a different hotel
00:24:44
Speaker
in Santa Ana, California. So call number one from Santa Monica, California Hotel to Santa Ana Hotel. Call number two from Santa Monica, California Hotel to Santa Ana Hotel. So, curious, right? If she were going to call and use this, if it is Laureen, why wouldn't she call home? Why wouldn't she call a different, right?
00:25:04
Speaker
911. Well the third call which was different from the other two was to a teen sexual assistance hotline. Now I couldn't find exactly what that hotline was for. Yeah I didn't know that was a thing. That's what it kept saying was teen sexual assistance hotline. So I don't know if this is like
00:25:25
Speaker
a hotline where you can ask questions about sex or about protection, or is this a hotline for support for people who had experienced sexual abuse? I couldn't find any information about exactly what it was. It's a very vague title. It is, about. Well, the police were able to get in touch with the physician, a plastic surgeon, who was in charge of the hotline.
00:25:51
Speaker
to ask him about Laureen. This is so strange. It is very odd. She called, not she, whoever, called a teen sex hotline that was owned by a plastic surgeon. Yes. Okay. And this plastic surgeon reported to the police that he had absolutely no knowledge of Laureen, nor of any girls from New Hampshire. However, his story changed.
00:26:17
Speaker
when he was interviewed again in 1985. In 1985, this plastic surgeon said, well, you know, there were a lot of girls who called the hotline. And then these runaway girls who would call the hotline, they would come to visit with my wife. So there could have been one from New Hampshire.
00:26:39
Speaker
I feel like if there's runaway girls coming to your house to visit your wife, perhaps you should notify the police. Plastic surgeon. Right. And I think that's weird. Like, why are the- if he's in charge of the hotline, which means I would think he would be the expert, why are they coming to visit his wife? Why are they coming to visit you, period? I mean, that- yeah, that's creepster. That's creepster territory. Well,
00:27:05
Speaker
He said, you know, my wife works with this girl, her name's Annie Sprinkle, and maybe you should contact her. She might know more. She works in the fashion industry, so maybe she had a conversation with this girl you're looking for, can remember her, give you more information. Well, if your last name's Sprinkle, you're probably not the most reliable person. Well, listen to this, Maggie. It turns out that Annie Sprinkle was not known for being in the fashion industry.
00:27:35
Speaker
She was known for being in the adult film industry. Ew. Yeah, and this is who, again, he is putting these runaway girls in contact with. So I think this hotline might not be a very good hotline. No. Well, obviously, hearing this information, it upset Laureen's mother and it worried the police. They began watching all of the films that Annie Sprinkle was associated with. So they're having to watch.
00:28:02
Speaker
the pornography. But they were doing it to see if they could spot Laureen in any of them. Like had she been abducted and put into the sex industry. That's scary. In some way. It's very scary. Well, they didn't see her in any of the films. That had to have given some relief to Laureen's mom. Until it turns out that the other two phone calls
00:28:30
Speaker
Those from the hotel in Santa Monica to the hotel in Santa Ana that I mentioned a minute ago also had a link to child pornography. Oh no.
00:28:42
Speaker
According to the Doe Network, an investigator visited California in 1986 to check out those two motel calls and is the one to make the connection between those hotels and a man named Dr. Z who is linked to child pornography. This case gets more strange by the minute. Yes, it does. However, and here's the problem, Maggie, none of these leads and none of these connections have led anywhere.
00:29:10
Speaker
The investigators could never link Annie Sprinkle to Laureen's disappearance. There was no evidence against her and no proof that she had ever even come into contact with Laureen. And I mean, just because she's involved in the adult film industry doesn't mean that she would be involved in, you know, recruiting a young girl into the same industry.
00:29:28
Speaker
Additionally, those same investigators were never able to link that weird hotline, remember with the creepy dude, creepy plastic surgeon, to Dr. Z. So even though police eventually shifted their perspective from a teen runaway to foul play, and both leads did have links to pornography, there were no viable connections between the two ever established. Of course there weren't. No. And by the way,
00:29:58
Speaker
I didn't do much research into this Dr. Z because he's linked to child pornography and I don't even want to have any sort of search history. We're not gonna Google him. No, I'm good just knowing. He's Dr. Z dead. Yes, pseudonym.
00:30:16
Speaker
But is Laureen out there trying to show that she hasn't disappeared?
Unresolved Mysteries and Judith's Struggle
00:30:24
Speaker
Various sources have reported that a friend of Laureen's, Roger Maris, had his mother call him in to the phone one afternoon in 1986. She said that someone was on the line calling themselves Laurie or Laureen and saying she was Roger's ex-girlfriend.
00:30:45
Speaker
He didn't get to speak to anyone that day, and we still don't know if it was really Laureen who made that phone call, but it leads us to this question. Was she still out there? So she apparently called, maybe, called her ex-boyfriend, but he didn't get to the phone. She wasn't on the phone when he got to it.
00:31:08
Speaker
So, but if it's not her, who would know her life enough? Because if it's a random abduction, I wouldn't feel like they would know who her ex-boyfriend is. Or know the number to call. Or know the number, exactly. And so that makes me feel like maybe she is out there.
00:31:25
Speaker
So did she leave voluntarily and maybe she was afraid to come home for fear of disappointment or not realizing obviously that her friends and her family just want her home regardless of anything that may have happened. So could she have left on her own? I mean her mom says no.
00:31:45
Speaker
And we kind of think, no, based on, or I do at least, based on the stuff that she left at her house. Right. So again, if she knows she's leaving, why wouldn't she have taken it? Well, he wasn't the only one to receive calls. Laureen's aunt, Janet Roy, received a series of phone calls that she believes came from Laureen. The person on the other line would ask to speak to Mike.
00:32:09
Speaker
Janet's son was Michael and that's what everybody else in the family called him was Michael except for Laurene. Okay. So she's the only one who would call him Mike. Maybe it is her. Could be because here's another person getting a phone call. But when Mike would come to the phone, just like with Roger, no one was there.
00:32:34
Speaker
So that's the curious part is because if you're going to reach out, why would you then not say anything or not be on the other end of the phone? Right, hang up before you have that connection. Maybe she has just like a few minutes and by the time they get there she has to hang up. Maybe people don't know that she's making phone calls. It could be.
00:32:55
Speaker
Well, Laureen's mom, Judith, also received similar anonymous calls in the year after Laureen's disappearance. And as I mentioned at the beginning of the episode, those calls would come in always at 3.45 a.m., which interestingly is the early morning hour at which the police arrived at Judith's apartment to begin their investigation in Laureen's disappearance.
00:33:22
Speaker
See, and that makes me think it isn't her, because one, she's not gonna know what time the police arrived at her house. Unless you were watching. Right, and then two, if you are a psycho and you're into mind games, that would be the perfect time to call someone and try to get their hopes up that it's their daughter calling. And just like those other calls, no voice ever accompanied these, only breathing and the unmistakable click of the call ending.
00:33:52
Speaker
After that first year, while the calls came less frequently, they continued. Each year at Christmas, a call would come, and as soon as it was answered, it ended. These calls continued until Judith changed her number.
00:34:12
Speaker
I'm torn on this Maggie. I mean, part of me feels like I would never be able to change my number. What if it were my daughter? What if it were Lorene? And this was the only hope of keeping her alive or the only hope that she needed to give her kind of the fortitude to keep going.
00:34:31
Speaker
you know, was hearing my voice, even if she couldn't talk. So again, I just keep going back to the fact that she isn't talking. I feel like if it is her, she's there by force and she can't speak or can't remain on the phone for a long time. And that's why
00:34:48
Speaker
she always hangs up. Right, so what, yeah, what if somebody's holding her captive and they'll just let her hear the voice on the other end of the line but not talk. Or she can sneak and call really fast and then has to leave. Yeah, and I would at least want my child to have that. Yeah, I don't think I could ever change my number. But then, you know, at the same time, what if this were not her and it was the person who did something to my child, like you mentioned Maggie playing mind games, trying to torture and torment me.
00:35:16
Speaker
And I do think that it would be hard to move on with your life regardless if something like this happened, but it would be even harder if you had that continual reminder. Yeah, because it's like you wait for that. Like every Christmas, you're gonna wait for her phone call. Every day at 3.45 a.m., you're gonna wonder, are you gonna get a phone call? Right, and if it doesn't come, then the crushing... Blow. Right, exactly, that that would have.
00:35:44
Speaker
There are really four main theories in all the sources that I read about what happened to Lorraine. The first theory is the more obvious one, that she was taken as part of some sex trafficking scheme or thrust into this world of pornography that the phone call charges seem to indicate. And that's why I say that this is probably the more obvious one.
00:36:04
Speaker
There were reports that there was a prostitute in Anchorage, Alaska that looked a lot like Laurene, but that sighting never panned out. Like they couldn't. That's a far distance to travel. Absolutely. And they couldn't, you know, find her again and verify that that was her. And I feel like if that were true,
00:36:21
Speaker
Anchorage, Alaska can't be that big, right? I don't know. Alaska people. How many people? I'm sure it probably is pretty big. But even in a large city, if you started asking, if people knew that she was a prostitute in kind of what area of the city, then I would think that they would be able to. Easily find her. Start asking questions and find her. The second theory is that as both her mother, Judith, and her friends were aware, Laureen wanted to be an actress.
00:36:49
Speaker
And the second theory posits that Laurene and her friends had staged the abduction so Laurene could run away.
00:36:59
Speaker
Could they have taken out the light bulbs in some sort of staging? But why would she have to stage her own kidnapping just because she wants to be an actress? Or versus running away, if that's what she really wanted to do. But then, here's what gets me. Are 14-year-olds really savvy enough to stage a kidnapping and cover their tracks so well that investigators aren't able to piece clues together?
00:37:25
Speaker
Right, because MPI agents are highly trained individuals, and I feel like they are going to be smarter than a 14-year-old. I mean, I would assume so, so that kind of throws me off that theory. Well, the boy who Laureen and her friend were drinking with that night committed suicide in 1985, which has led a lot of people to argue
00:37:44
Speaker
did he have something to do with this? Did he commit suicide out of guilt because he was somehow involved in Laurene's disappearance? And I think about this and I think a lot of people have that theory because I think to other cases like the John Bonet Ramsey case and
00:38:00
Speaker
When the police said, you know, we're going to narrow down the list of suspects until the only one on it is you, that they were thinking either the person who committed the crime would get so scared that they would admit to it or they would do something drastic like commit suicide. And that's often, I guess, a sign of the guilt that somebody would feel. But this boy who Laureen and her friend drank with, he was never considered a suspect.
00:38:24
Speaker
And from all kinds of other sources that I read, he was battling his own demons, and none of those were associated with Lorraine. And again, he's probably 14, so is he gonna be smart enough to outwit police? Right, that he would commit suicide these years later.
00:38:42
Speaker
Yeah and he can like be part of her abduction and cover it up so well that they can't figure it out. Right. I just don't think so. I don't either. A third theory is a group called Moonies. Okay. I had not heard of this. It's a reference to the Unification Church and because I hadn't heard of it I was like well I've got to figure out who this is. So I did a little bit of research and I found that most sources note that the Unification Church is like this
00:39:09
Speaker
According to these sources, a cult which aims to arrange marriages of complete strangers of different places around the world to create a quote ideal family. And I read that they would often target young vulnerable girls and quote reprogram them.
00:39:28
Speaker
to feel like they were now some part of a loving family, but one that actually promoted promiscuity. So could Lorraine have felt lonely and they convinced her to come with them?
00:39:41
Speaker
But as with the other theories, I have doubts about this one. Yeah, this one's kind of out there. It's out in left field a little. Yes, and I know that teenagers might harbor a lot of secrets from their parents, but would Judith really have had no indication if Lorene were lonely enough to join a cult? I mean, that seems like a last ditch effort that you would.
00:40:01
Speaker
or she would have had some indication that her daughter was like, I don't know, friends with people who she didn't go to school with. And that sort of thing. And they're really close. She goes to all these games with her mom, to her boyfriend's games, so I feel like they would have a pretty open relationship. Right, where they would talk to each other.
00:40:21
Speaker
The final theory is that Laureen's disappearance is linked to a serial killer in the area, Robert Bob Evans. Like the restaurant? Well, yes, Bob Evans. His name was Robert Bob Evans because this theory goes, after all, six weeks after Laureen's disappearance, another girl named Denise Denault
00:40:44
Speaker
disappeared as well. Oh, and did I mention that Denise lived only two blocks away from Laurene? Well, very strange coincidence. Yes, and did I mention that Robert Bob Evans lived only a few houses down from Denise?
00:41:05
Speaker
So not only, when I say in the area, I mean blocks away. Yes, blocks away. Evans is suspected in the murder of several other individuals, women and children who were found in barrels. In a basement in Allentown, New Hampshire.
00:41:26
Speaker
However, Evans' MO was to kill people he knew. He killed people close to him, girlfriends, his own child. What? Yes. So with this theory, I don't really know if I'm satisfied with it either. I don't know if I'm satisfied with any of these quote unquote explanations, but I do think that there are those out there who know the truth.
Theories and Lingering Questions
00:41:56
Speaker
Years after Laurene's disappearance, her mother Judith moved to Florida. While she doesn't get those anonymous calls any longer, she still believes that it was Laurene who made them, not someone sinister. In fact, Judith feels like Laurene's friends actually know more about her disappearance than they are telling. Judith and the police are still desperate to solve this case.
00:42:22
Speaker
That article by Sean Wickham in the Union Leader that I mentioned earlier cites retired Detective Lieutenant Tony Fowler of the Manchester Police Department. Detective Fowler said, quote, this is the one I wished I could have solved before I retired. It's one of those cases that was challenging and I really wanted to find her one way or the other.
00:42:47
Speaker
He continued by adding, quote, honestly, I think she left that apartment with somebody she knew or left to meet someone, end quote. But if that's the case, my sleuth hounds, then you are likely questioning like Maggie and I are.
00:43:08
Speaker
Who had taken the time to unscrew each individual light bulb? Why was the front door to the apartment building open? Why was the apartment unlocked? Could Lorraine and her friends have staged an abduction? Or was she stolen away in the darkness of that night?
00:43:35
Speaker
Anyone with information concerning Laureen's disappearance should call the Manchester Police Department at 603-668-8711.
00:43:49
Speaker
Again, please like and join our Facebook page, Coffee and Cases podcast, to continue the conversation and see images related to this episode. As always, follow us on Twitter, at casescoffee, on Instagram, at coffee cases podcast, or you can always email us suggestions to coffeeandcasespodcastatgmail.com. Please tell your friends about our podcast so more people can be reached to possibly help bring some closure to these families. Don't forget to rate our show and leave us a comment as well. We hope to hear from you soon.
00:44:19
Speaker
Stay together. Stay safe. We'll see you next week.