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E187: Cathy Moulton
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Cathy Moulton had just experienced a long summer of travel across the country with her family and had returned only days before the start of her junior year at Deering High School in Portland, Maine. On September 24th, 1971, hours before a dance she was excited about attending, she disappeared. In what is now one of Maine’s oldest cold cases, Cathy Moulton’s case is one in which the discovery of clues (and there are many) has spanned decades and countries.
For more information concerning Cathy Moulton’s case, please consider purchasing Det. Kevin Cady’s book on the case from Amazon as it served as the main source for today’s episode. Here is the link for download.
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Transcript
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1960s American Youth Culture
00:01:00
Speaker
When thinking about American youth culture in the 1960s, several things come to mind, many of which we've discussed before on the show. Anti-war protests, counter-cultural rebellion against sexual and social norms. Many were skeptical of authority and felt deeply for the underprivileged. It was a time of personal freedoms.
00:01:24
Speaker
As a result, based on an article for the BBC by Benjamin Ram, published on June 15, 2017, quote, for Karen Stoller, author of the book Runaways, 1967 was the crisis year when panic gripped the media, children who once played on the streets.
Impact of Teen Migration
00:01:46
Speaker
now drifted into areas associated with the counterculture, such as New York City's East Village or San Francisco's Hight-Ashbury District during the 67 Summer of Love." Further in the article, Ram explains, quote, between 1967 and 1971, over 500,000 people in the United States left home
00:02:11
Speaker
to move into experimental communities." Many of those people were teens wanting to assert those personal freedoms.
Maine's Cold Case: Kathy Moulton
00:02:23
Speaker
So when a young 16-year-old girl disappeared in September 1971 from Portland, Maine, her disappearance was seen as one of many that did not get the attention it deserved. Many saw her as just another one of the 500,000.
00:02:42
Speaker
but she wasn't. Instead, she is currently one of the oldest cold cases in Maine's history. This is the case of Kathy Moulton.
00:03:29
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.
00:03:38
Speaker
We will be telling stories each week in the hopes that someone out there with any information concerning the cases will take those tips to law enforcement. So justice and closure can be brought to these families with each case. We encourage you to continue in the conversation on our Facebook page, coffee and cases podcast, because as we all know, conversation helps to keep the missing person in the public consciousness, helping keep their memories alive. So sit back, sip your coffee and listen to what's brewing this week.
00:04:06
Speaker
Okay Maggie, for this week's case, I relied on a handful of articles from the Portland Press Herald and Portland Monthly because that's all there was on the case. You know, cause this, like a lot of the cases we've covered, this is one of those where there has been very little written about it in terms of the daily media.
00:04:28
Speaker
However, luckily, a Portland detective who was tasked with investigating Kathy Moulton's case when it was reopened in 1995, a man named Kevin Cady composed a book about the case, which provided the majority of the information that I'm going to be discussing with you this week.
00:04:51
Speaker
So I'm going to give a little plug for that book. If you are interested in reading even more details about the case, I would encourage you to go to Amazon and download or purchase his book. It is entitled Kathy Molten, Missing and Endangered. And actually, if you have Kindle Unlimited, it is included for free. So even better. But I am completely indebted to
00:05:21
Speaker
Kevin Cady for the information that he shared so that we can share Kathy's story with others. So Kathy Moulton was born on June 28th, 1955. She was the oldest of three daughters born to Claire and Lyman, who sometimes went by Roy Moulton. Her mom, Claire, was an emergency room nurse before making the decision to stay home
00:05:51
Speaker
and care for Kathy, Kimberly, and Pamela. Her father, Lyman, was the owner of a used car lot that he had inherited from his parents, so second generation car lot.
00:06:04
Speaker
And the family lived in Portland, Maine, which is a harbor city. It's one of the most populated cities in Maine, obviously because it's a port. Portland has active fishing and commercial shipping industries. It's this beautiful town and it has a rich history in the arts and in architecture.
00:06:28
Speaker
I have never put together in my life, Portland was named that I'm assuming because it was a port. I've never connected that in my life. You're welcome. So it was in Portland that the Moulton's raised their three daughters and they all including Kathy thrived. Kathy in particular loved sewing and making her own clothing.
00:06:57
Speaker
I wish I had that skill. I do not. I know. Yeah. I tried to learn. My grandma gave me a sewing machine, but I couldn't figure out how to thread the bobbin. And when she showed me, she did it so quickly and she was so good at it. She was like, do you understand? I was like, yeah. And then when I tried to do it again, I was like, I don't even know what the bobbin is, but okay.
00:07:23
Speaker
I've started working with an embroidery machine, but I still couldn't, you know, design and make my own clothes. I can plug in a USB and tell her what color I want it to stitch. So yeah, she was very talented with making her own clothes. She babysat for some of the families in her neighborhood so she could save up money.
00:07:46
Speaker
And more than that, though, she was the kind of daughter who would come home every day to sit down for long talks with her mom about everything that was going on in her life. And I just think she honestly kind of reminds me of your little slew found a little bit. Mm hmm.
00:08:06
Speaker
Yeah, except for the skill with sewing. Drawing and computers, yes. So different skills. But yeah, she's the kind who will just sit down and have long talks. Kathy was also the kind of person who visited elderly neighbors just to see how they were doing.
00:08:23
Speaker
Oh, I know. And she was the kind of responsible teen who, no matter what other obligation she felt she had, she would be home at six o'clock for dinner with her family each night.
00:08:37
Speaker
Wow. I know. Mom Claire told Portland Monthly of Kathy that she, quote, felt if you were nice to other people, they would be nice to you, end quote. And let me just say, I wish everybody had that. So she lives by the golden rule. Yes, I wish everybody. Me too. Had that same mentality. Our world would be a better place.
00:09:01
Speaker
Yeah, I am into that.
Moulton Family's Cross-Country Trip
00:09:03
Speaker
When our case takes place in 1971, I'm going to actually backtrack nearly three months before the disappearance.
00:09:15
Speaker
It was June 18 1971 school had just ended for the girls and their father Lyman had closed the car dealership two days earlier on June 16 with plans to reopen in September.
00:09:33
Speaker
because he and his family were going to clamber into his new 1971 Cadillac Deville, so dad, mom, and three girls, for a cross country trip that would take them all the way from Maine to California and back.
00:09:52
Speaker
Let me just say that's like a dream vacation for me. Just to travel across country. I don't know that I would want to do it in a car. Maybe if I had like a nice motor home that I could rent or something. Right. But still.
00:10:05
Speaker
Yeah, I would think it would be so expensive today, though. Oh, I'm sure gas alone. That would be crazy. But it was it was a trip that they completed, stopping at so many new places along the way and, you know, really getting to see the country. It was also a trip that kept them away from home for a total of 81 days. Wow. Yeah. Wow.
00:10:34
Speaker
That is a long vacation. Only 10 days into the family road trip, Kathy turned 16 on June 28th. And I know it may be a different birthday than normal since she couldn't invite friends over, but the Moulton family made sure to make her birthday special. By this point, they had made their way to Williamsburg, Virginia.
00:11:01
Speaker
where they allowed Kathy to pick her birthday dinner and she chose pizza and for dessert a raspberry coconut layer cake. I know that sounds so delicious to me and it could be because I'm trying to eat healthier and just any sugar sounds really good right now but I feel like this is a girl after my own heart.
00:11:23
Speaker
Yeah, I just told Allison I ate two ice cream cones today and that's raspberry coconut layered cake sounds like it could be a pretty good bedtime snack. As for a birthday present, Kathy chose that a few days later on July 14th. By then they were in Del Rio, Texas, so they're making some good time here.
00:11:47
Speaker
Yeah, they are. Yeah. So they were in Del Rio, Texas. And Kathy saw this brown and tan reversible leather handbag. And as soon as she saw it, she fell in love. So her parents purchased it for her. This is her 16th birthday. This is the gift that she wants. And from that moment, she carried it everywhere for the rest of the trip and every day, every place when they returned home.
Kathy's Disappearance
00:12:17
Speaker
which by the way they returned home only two days before school began and Kathy started her junior year at Deering High School and when the Moulton's returned home on September 6th 1971 their neighbors were so happy to see the Sweet Family again that they threw them a neighborhood feast and
00:12:44
Speaker
Basically, that information gets us up to speed before the day when life changed for the Moulton family, September 24th, 1971. The day, September 24th, began normally with Kathy preparing her outfit for the YWCA dance that Friday night. I read that she loved swing dancing.
00:13:13
Speaker
Is the YWCA like the YMCA? I think so. That's my understanding. Yes. Well, I have learned so many new things in this episode already. Portland YWCA.
00:13:32
Speaker
So Kathy had actually been hemming her pant skirt outfit ready for the dance. And I hadn't heard of a pant skirt, but I mean, I could guess what it was based on what it sounds like. So I looked up and the patterns for one from the seventies, it kind of looked like pants, but the legs were so loose and flowy that when your legs are together, it kind of looks like a skirt.
00:13:58
Speaker
Interesting. But in order to finish it for the dance that night, she needed to get some more thread as well as some pantyhose. Well, the research said nylons, but I call them pantyhose because hers had a rub in them. So she had to go get some more. And when her mom, Claire, overheard that she needed to go to the store and that Lyman was going to drive Kathy to town,
00:14:26
Speaker
She actually asked Kathy to also purchase two tubes of toothpaste for her. And she gave her the money for that purchase and some money so that Kathy would have enough change for a bus ride home. So that way, you know, dad could drive her to town. She could get what she needed, kind of spend some time in town and then still make it home for dinner by six without dad having to go back out. What time was the dance? Um, I think it didn't start until like eight.
00:14:56
Speaker
OK, that's what I read. So I mean, she had plenty of time. So Kathy's father dropped her off around 130 ish on Forest Avenue in downtown Portland, Maine. And Kathy made her way to the department store on Congress Street called Porches, Mitchell and Braun, which sounds very highfalutin to me. I don't know how it was, but it sounds it.
00:15:24
Speaker
And it was there that she was able to buy all the items that she needed. So even with browsing down a bunch of the aisles in the store, Kathy was still finished with plenty of time to spare. And we don't know what happened between 1.30 when her dad drops her off. And the next interaction that we know of around 5.30
00:15:52
Speaker
which was also still in town. So I don't know if she, you know, ran into some friends and was talking if, you know, I go to the grocery store and I'll need five things and it takes me an hour. So because I want to walk down every aisle and just make sure I'm not forgetting something or, you know, maybe there's something on sale. And so I don't know if she was kind of doing the same thing or how she filled her time between
00:16:20
Speaker
that sighting in the next one. That is a pretty significant chunk of time though. So we do know that Kathy did walk down the street to Starboard Music Store which was fair where her good friend Carol Starboard worked. That's a cool last name. I know it's an awesome last name.
00:16:42
Speaker
So Kathy and Carol talked for a little bit about how excited they were for the night's dance, and they made a promise to catch up later when they were there at the dance and Carol stated that during this interaction Kathy was in a really good mood.
00:16:58
Speaker
And this is despite the fact that she had actually spent too much of her money on something. So I don't know if she bought more than thread and pantyhose or if she just bought some higher quality thread and pantyhose, but she had spent too much of her money and now she didn't have enough money for the bus fare home. So she was going to have to walk. Did you say how far from town they live? Like would that have been a really long walk? They live about two miles from town.
00:17:26
Speaker
And I did read that starboard music was nearly halfway home. Okay, so she would make it probably right on time for six o'clock dinner if she had to walk home.
00:17:40
Speaker
Yeah, because this interaction was happening around 5.30. So Kathy didn't stay very long, because she said to Carol, she said, well, I have to go ahead and go. I've got to head out if I'm going to make it in time for dinner. And because she only lived two miles away total and starboard music was nearly halfway home, she was going to make it in time if she left right then and walked at a moderate pace.
00:18:05
Speaker
So she exited the store, walking in the direction of Clinton Street, which is the street where she lived. That was where her house was located. At her home, promptly at six, like always, her mother set the table and everyone sat down for dinner. But Kathy's seat sat empty.
00:18:27
Speaker
Her mom, Claire, obviously knew immediately that something was wrong because if Kathy knew she were going to be late or if she were held up by something, then she would have found access to a phone and called, but no call had come. And we know now that she left Starboard Music with plenty of time to get home by six, even on foot.
00:18:52
Speaker
As time continued to pass with no sign from their eldest daughter, Kathy's father, too, grew worried. They kind of went through the normal process that I feel like a lot of parents go through in the cases that we talk about. So they called the home of Kathy's friends. None of them had seen Kathy.
00:19:13
Speaker
Kathy's father thought maybe there had been an accident and Kathy had been hurt. So they call area hospitals and clinics. There were no patients admitted under Kathy's name.
Initial Police Reaction
00:19:25
Speaker
So then her dad actually drove the route between the family home and the store, right? Because he says, well, surely I'm going to see her along the way. Maybe something happened and she got sidetracked and she doesn't know what time it is, something. So he follows this route that she would have taken
00:19:43
Speaker
to walk home. No sign of Kathy. Okay, so now they definitely know that this daughter who's home every day for dinner or something is wrong. Yes, yeah, exactly. Knowing that this daughter who is an extremely responsible girl would not have left her family worrying about her safety and unable to logically explain why she hadn't returned home. They were only left with one option to help find their little girl and that was to go to the Portland Police Department.
00:20:13
Speaker
and file a missing person's report. Because they know her. Well, I hope they took it and they weren't just like, oh, she probably ran away. Well, they didn't. And that's why I kind of gave that explanation at the beginning. The time period did the Moulton family no favors. Oh, right.
00:20:31
Speaker
because, yeah, remember in the introduction when I was talking about, you know, that perceived level of teen rebellion during the time and how many teens actually did run away from home to join communes and different things like that. And that perception of American youth shaded everything, even law enforcement's reaction to Kathy's parents coming into the police station, you know, when their daughter had, for all intents and purposes, been missing mere hours.
00:21:00
Speaker
You know, I really think that I was born in the correct time period. I don't think that my personality would have survived the 1960s and 70s. I think I would be way too anxious. I don't think I would have made it.
00:21:20
Speaker
Right. I know. I know. And it makes me so sad when I was reading about this case to hear that, you know, her mom called the police first and was basically laughed at for calling because Kathy had only been gone a couple of hours. And then even, you know, they were basically like, well, she's going to come home. And if she doesn't, she probably ran away because she wanted to.
00:21:45
Speaker
And yeah, her dad then went to the station. He too was scoffed at. And they were like, you know what? If she wants to come home, she'll come home. You have to wait 72 hours before filing a missing persons report.
00:22:02
Speaker
Yeah. So her parents went home, obviously dejected, still worried to death for their daughter because they know this is not like her. And she's 16. Is that what you said? 16. Yeah. I had just turned 16. And they're kind of taking the approach of like, well, she comes home. It's because she wanted to. But if she doesn't come home, that's also because she wanted to. Yeah. Barely 16 year old daughter. Yes.
00:22:31
Speaker
And so luckily, the Moulton's did not take law enforcement's answer because when Kathy hadn't returned by the next morning, her father drove again to the station and demanded that someone take a missing persons report. And when it was obvious that he was not going to leave unless they did, a report was filed.
00:22:57
Speaker
Well, good for him. Yes. And Mr. Moulton also demanded that his daughter's image be sent to all major law enforcement offices in the area, you know, because he's thinking this, her picture needs to be sent out because if she's not in this town, she's got to be in one of the surrounding ones, right? So let's get this out there.
00:23:20
Speaker
But I'm saddened to say that there was no real intensive follow-up investigation. That's frustrating. And even in terms of the media coverage, and this is what I was saying at the beginning of Kathy's disappearance, there was only a brief mention in local papers, Portland Press Herald and the main Sunday Telegram.
00:23:44
Speaker
So I wonder how many other kids were missing under real circumstances and not just, oh, I'm joining a religious group or whatever. I know there were lots. And the case was at a standstill because law enforcement didn't take it seriously.
00:24:07
Speaker
You know, and this was actually a fact that new detectives who reopened the case years later did to the Moulton family publicly and vocally apologize for. I mean, which is nice, but it's like too little too late. Right. I'm sure that anger had to still be there. At least it would still be there for me.
00:24:30
Speaker
In the weeks that followed Kathy's disappearance, there wasn't much that her family was able to uncover because like I said, law enforcement's not really doing anything. So her family's trying to gather all the information that they can. Friends said that Kathy seemed interested when a classmate at school had mentioned a visit to Boston.
00:24:52
Speaker
So, you know, some of her classmates said, well, maybe she went to Boston because she seemed interested. I know. And there was one report of seeing Kathy get into a car, a blue Cadillac. But my question is, why would she go without access to any of her money? Because she didn't even have enough money to take the bus home.
00:25:13
Speaker
Yeah. And how many girls looked like Kathy, you know what I mean? Like enough that they could be confused for her. Yeah, that's true. And she didn't have any of her clothing with her. I mean, I feel like if you're going to run off, you know, and you're going to go to Boston, because that sounds like a good plan, you'd at least want to have clothes and or money. Exactly. You need at least one or the other. You got to have money to buy clothes or clothes.
00:25:42
Speaker
to change into when needed. Yeah. And then, of course, you know, police are suggesting, well, maybe she just ran off of her own volition, maybe not to Boston, but somewhere else. And her parents obviously didn't believe either one of those options for a second. Likely one of the only solid leads was when a neighbor to the Moulton's, an ex-neighbor, I should say, passed along a potential sighting of Kathy.
00:26:12
Speaker
Okay. She went missing, remember, September 24th, 1971. Okay. On October 20th.
00:26:24
Speaker
1971. So nearly a month. Nearly a month after Kathy went missing, her parents heard that Sarah Anderson, a woman who used to live in the same neighborhood as the Moulton's, but had since moved to Bangor, Maine, had seen Kathy in the mall there, but she had seen her weeks prior.
00:26:46
Speaker
It's just not until October 20th that they're hearing about it. So Kathy used to clean Sarah's house before she and her husband had moved. And so she knew Kathy well. Yeah, so it would be easy for her to pick Kathy out of a crowd. Exactly. And Anderson reported seeing Kathy there with two men. But that lead led to no further investigation.
00:27:15
Speaker
or information. Oh, they didn't even look into it? Well, so the parents are hearing about it, but again, they're hearing about it weeks after it happened. And of course, Sarah Anderson. Right. And Sarah Anderson at the time, you know, you could have been traveling on a school trip or, you know what I mean? Something else. And she just didn't get over to say anything to her, even though she sees that it's Kathy.
00:27:43
Speaker
Because from what I read, they didn't have any verbal interaction. She just saw Kathy.
00:27:52
Speaker
So then around Thanksgiving of 1971, so another month goes by, the Moulton family heard about a girl who looked like Kathy who had been living in Presk Isle. So Kathy's dad, Lyman, again, closes the car lot and drives north with his wife, Claire, looking for Kathy. So I mean, it's the parents who are following up on these leads.
00:28:22
Speaker
Which is sad. I mean, we would do that too. I know, but it's law enforcement's job, literally. When they got there, they were talking about Kathy to local law enforcement. They showed her picture to them. It was an image that they had never seen. Oh, so did the police not forward that image around then? Her picture had been sent out of two state agencies.
00:28:52
Speaker
but not to local law enforcement agencies. So the Moulton's, once they've realized this, they actually go door to door in Presque Isle passing out photo flyers.
00:29:08
Speaker
because of this report of a girl looking like they're Kathy. And eventually, the girl reported to potentially be Kathy was located, but it was not Kathy Moulton. Instead, it was a girl who had disappeared from Connecticut, and at least she was taken home. But then here's the Moulton's still looking for their little girl.
Case Reopened & New Leads
00:29:33
Speaker
And at the time, there were also further rumors of a young girl who looked like Kathy taken to a reservation in Canada, but that didn't pan out either, those rumors. So the Moulton's eventually just came back home to Portland. And you know, I think for them, that would be so emotionally draining. You know, you're finding out these law enforcement have never seen pictures of your kid.
00:30:02
Speaker
You thought you think you find your kid, but it's not yours that somebody else's, which is, you know, a happy ending for that family, but you're wanting your happy ending. Right. And you're putting in the effort. Right. And in essence, Maggie, that's where the case sat from around Thanksgiving of 1971. So a couple of months after Kathy's disappearance until November 12th, 1995. Wow.
00:30:31
Speaker
when Detective Sergeant Thomas Joyce actually dropped Kathy Moulton's file onto Detective Kevin Cady's desk. And you'll recognize his name as the one who wrote the book. This particular cold case file, Maggie, was so slim that Cady actually asked Joyce where the rest of the file was.
00:30:57
Speaker
because inside was only a one page typed missing persons report from September 25th, 1971. So the day after Kathy Moulton disappeared and a supplemental report by a detective William Deet John from January 15th, 1988. And that was all. So there's, there's literally maybe two or three pieces of paper in this folder.
00:31:23
Speaker
Oh, wow. That report that was in there from 1988, just so you know all the information that Katie had going in, it actually related to remains that had been located on the west coast of Canada, that for some reason they believed could potentially have been Cathy's. And between 1971 and 1988,
00:31:48
Speaker
There had actually been no connections or leads on Kathy's case, which is why there weren't any other slips of paper in there. Leads were so scarce, in fact, that Detective D. John, according to Katie's book, said, quote, we were hopeful the lead from Canada might pan out because otherwise we had nothing, end quote. That's so sad to me.
00:32:15
Speaker
So in 1988, detectives did go to the Moulton family. This is the first time they apologize.
00:32:23
Speaker
for the lack of investigation when Kathy had disappeared. And they requested that the family trust them now to do their due diligence. And they actually asked for access to dental records so that they could compare them with those remains that were found in Canada. And of course, the family gladly granted them access to the dental records. And Kathy's dentation, it actually was somewhat identifiable because
00:32:50
Speaker
She had had her eye teeth or her canines removed when she got braces. Interesting. So it was something, you know, not the typical dentation that you would see, but those remains were not of Kathy Moulton. You know, and I know these officers are saying, trust us, we're going to do our best. We're going to, you know, find you answers or whatever. But
00:33:18
Speaker
I'm sure they were so frustrated because if that had been the initial attitude, we could have a potentially different ending now. A completely different story. A completely different story. And that was the extent of the information that Katie had to go on when the case was reopened in 1995. Wow. Yeah.
00:33:40
Speaker
So of course, knowing the proper process of any strong investigation, Katie started with those who knew Kathy Moulton best. He contacted her best friend at the time, Nancy Barlow. And when he contacted her, he found that it was the first time law enforcement had spoken to Barlow. And that is where the twisted trail began to emerge.
00:34:10
Speaker
And, you know, so many people, first of all, we've talked about that your memory is not reliable anyways. Right. But given the amount of time, I would think memory would be even more unreliable at this point. Unless, you know, obviously, if this is your best friend, and your best friend goes missing, you've got your theories. And maybe those stick with you. Yeah, true. Right. But
00:34:38
Speaker
at least now and you will see, I mean, it starts with Barlow and then we get one piece of information and it's gonna lead to another piece of information and another and another and another and another. And that's why I agreed with you when you said, if this had been the mentality of law enforcement back in 1971, we wouldn't be talking about this case potentially. We'd be seeing in a different tune.
00:35:08
Speaker
So while Kathy was nothing of an extreme wild child sort at 16, she was beginning, according to her best friend, to rebel in small ways. I think all teenagers kind of go through something, whether it's, you know, coming in after curfew or something like that.
00:35:31
Speaker
Kathy had taken to smoking the occasional cigarette. She was also potentially seeing an older boy named Lester Everett, who was 22. So that is 16. So that's a significant age difference when you're 16. And she was potentially
00:35:56
Speaker
sexually active, though we don't know whether that claim is true or not. Okay. Barlow also told Katie of another local man, Chris Church, who was a photographer who had seemed interested in Kathy around April or May of 71, so not long before the family had taken their cross-country trip.
00:36:23
Speaker
And she told Katie that this guy, Church, the photographer, had actually asked Kathy to come to his place for a photo
Suspects & Theories
00:36:33
Speaker
shoot. And she, yeah, she had gone. That sounds very Jeffrey Dahmer to me. Yeah. But now, because he's spoken to Barlow, Katie has two names of people to contact next.
00:36:47
Speaker
He has Church, the photographer, who was actually brought in for questioning in 1995 to ask about that photo session with an underage girl. And during his interrogation, he seemed to be forthcoming. He admitted that he had propositioned Kathy for a photo shoot.
00:37:10
Speaker
and that she had come to his place. He also claimed that he did try to kiss her, but that she stayed clothed throughout the session. And he even still had photos from that session that he could provide to law enforcement. So those photos were provided and they did show a clothed Kathy Moulton.
00:37:36
Speaker
Okay, so not as Jeffrey Dahmer as what I was thinking. Right, right. So since that lead, you know, didn't seem to go anywhere else after that photo session, Katie now had the other lead, Lester Everett, the 22 year old who Barlow says may have been dating Cathy. This lead,
00:38:01
Speaker
sadly, proved impossible to follow up on since Everett had died from cancer nearly 10 years earlier.
00:38:12
Speaker
What Katie did uncover about Everett, though, was a long list of criminal activity, including being a suspect in a vehicle theft in Falmouth, Maine in 1971, the blue 1963 four-door Cadillac
00:38:34
Speaker
And do you remember what car? Was this not what we saw she, she went into that one sliding? Had belonged to Mrs. Davis and Mrs. Davis had actually let Lester Everett borrow the car just a few days earlier and now the car is missing.
00:38:56
Speaker
OK, so he's a suspect in this car theft and unfortunately for Mrs. Davis, she didn't just lose the car because she also kept her credit card inside the car. It's a very Maggie move, but. And law enforcement were able to trace charges. This was in a separate file because this car theft is a separate crime.
00:39:21
Speaker
Right? Sadly, law enforcement, well, I guess luckily now, but sadly, law enforcement had actually put more effort into this investigation than into Kathy Moulton's disappearance. But at the time, they were able to trace charges on the card to a Dorsey's garage in Fort Fairfield, which is in northern Maine.
00:39:45
Speaker
like right only a couple miles away from the Canadian border where the card was used to buy gas and four tires. So we could be connecting to this reservation theory. Yes, potentially.
00:40:03
Speaker
So since the theft of the car was also right around the time of Kathy's disappearance, you've got that statement of potentially seeing Kathy get into a blue Cadillac. Katie decided, well, now's the time to find an interview, any and all workers from Dorsey's garage who might have, yeah, recalled seeing that stolen car, you know, if they have a memory of it, because again, they're involved in some sort of criminal investigation.
00:40:32
Speaker
and ask if they remember seeing a young girl with the man who potentially had stolen the car who we have now learned could have been our boyfriend. So Katie is a good detective because he was able to locate just the man.
00:40:51
Speaker
Law enforcement found and interviewed an employee of Dorsey's garage named Don Logan. And because of the strangeness of what he saw with the stolen vehicle, he was able to recall exactly who had been there when those tires were purchased, even though more than two decades had passed. And you know, what's crazy is
00:41:20
Speaker
We know, I'm assuming whatever he's getting ready to tell you, or tell the investigator, we know that's gonna be true because there was so little media coverage on Kathy's case. He wouldn't be able to make up what she looked like or anything like that because no one knew. Yep. And so this guy, this worker, Dawn Logan, remember that there were three people in the car.
00:41:48
Speaker
There was a young girl and two men, one young Caucasian male and one young Native American male. I said the strangeness of the situation is why I recalled it. The Native American male had walked Cathy, or a girl who looked like Cathy,
00:42:09
Speaker
to the bathroom and back from the bathroom to the vehicle with his hand on the back of her neck the entire time, almost as though he was guiding her like a threat not to take any actions that weren't approved by him. Oh, you know, I don't know what I would do. What would you do in that situation? I think I would still throw a fit like scream. Yeah, you're in public.
00:42:36
Speaker
I know. I think I would, but then, you know, you don't know what threats they've made or whatever. And so the young white male had actually been the one driving the car. And the employee remembered being worried at the time that the girl had been kidnapped, even though he hadn't reported it. And I think a lot of us do things like that.
00:43:00
Speaker
You know, you look at a situation and you think it's off in some way. Right. But you just don't do anything about it. Right. Like, oh, I shouldn't get involved. What if I'm reading this wrong? Those sorts of things. And the reason I said Kathy's name earlier is because when this worker was shown a variety of pictures, he picked out Kathy as the girl.
00:43:28
Speaker
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Ready to combat dehydration? Track here today and feel the difference for yourself. Use code coffeeandcases for 20% off your order. So when they're hearing about this third person, this young Native American male, Katie recalled a note in Kathy's file that a Detective Green had interviewed. And he had interviewed, I'm going to use what he wrote in the file,
00:48:12
Speaker
quote, the Indian boy end quote, with no name mentioned.
00:48:18
Speaker
Well, tells me all I need to know about that guy, the detective. I know. Yeah. So there was a note in Kathy's file that said that, that this Detective Green had interviewed a young Native American male at Tobic Point in 1971 after a potential sighting of Kathy. So that goes back to that one that her parents heard about, right, on a reservation.
00:48:45
Speaker
Interestingly, Tobique Point is only a handful of miles into Canada from Fort Fairfield and Dorsey's garage. Yeah, so we got lots of arrows pointing to this theory. Yes. When the young man was interviewed, he had told Detective Green that the girl with him wasn't Kathy, a statement that the detective had taken as truth and let him go.
00:49:12
Speaker
I feel like that was probably the extent of their conversation. It was. Was that Kathy? No. Okay, bye. Right. Okay, thank you. Further, the Tobik police chief from 1971 and 1972 was also shown pictures of Kathy and of Everett, the boyfriend, which he just brushed off at the time. And that effectively had ended the lead that had gone from Fort Fairfield in Dorsey's garage to Tobik
00:49:41
Speaker
point to Maliseet First Nation and New Brunswick, Canada. That was just the trail that Katie was now ready to reopen. And it makes me so sad because now I'm thinking, remember all those years earlier when Kathy's parents had gone north looking for their daughter? Oh, so they had been really close and didn't even know it. They could have only been minutes away from where she had been potentially.
00:50:12
Speaker
So it was time to re-question that police chief, the one who had just brushed off Kathy and Everett at the time.
00:50:21
Speaker
When the ex-police chief was shown the images again, this time in 1996, it seemed his memory had changed. Okay. When he was shown the first image of Lester Everett, he correctly replied, quote, that looks like Lester. Oh, so not only do we recognize him, we also know his name. Yeah.
00:50:46
Speaker
before further admitting that they used to party together in the early 70s whenever it had come to the reservation. Okay, so then a reason why he would, you know, brush off those pictures and dismiss them before. When shown a picture of Kathy, the sheriff, according to Katie's book, identified her as the young girl who he thinks ran away from home
00:51:14
Speaker
who had come into Canada from the main side with Lester Everett and Reed Pearly. Oh, do we have the name of the guy now? We now have the name, yes. This ex-police chief said that he believed that the girl was Reed Pearly's girlfriend.
00:51:34
Speaker
Okay. And when asked if he could recall her name, this name of the girl who he saw, he said he thinks she went by candy. Okay. He believes that she was from Portland and that she stayed with Reed's parents, Rita and Maurice Pearly. Oh my gosh. Yes. And then right before he clammed up and refused to say anything else,
00:52:02
Speaker
Katie reports that he dropped a bombshell. He said that something bad happened to that girl on Tobique. Oh, he had he had word vomit. Yeah. And then all of a sudden is like, oh, crap. Shouldn't have said that and clams up too much.
00:52:22
Speaker
Yeah, so the same one who kind of brushes off the photos before now has recognized Lester Everett has said, oh yeah, this girl, I think she went by Candy, but she was from Portland and she came over with Everett and this other guy, Reed Pearly.
00:52:41
Speaker
So with all of these details, the detectives knew in their guts that this candy was actually Kathy Moulton, right? Because they're both gone from home from Portland with Lester Everett and a Native American male. So just like that sighting of Kathy by Sarah Anderson,
00:52:59
Speaker
in Bangor, Maine with two men, just like the sighting of an identified Cathy and Lester in a Native American male by the Dorsey garage worker, right? So what are the odds, right, that this wouldn't be Cathy? And now we're wondering what happened. Exactly, yeah. What happened on Tobik to Cathy and in what way might Everett and or the now named Native American man, Reed Pearly,
00:53:28
Speaker
how might they have been involved? So while they didn't have an answer to that question, according to Katie in his book, police now had a working theory. So Katie believes that on September 24th, 1971, after leaving Starboard Music to walk home, that Lester had pulled up in that stolen Cadillac to the side of Forest Avenue near Portland Street.
00:53:57
Speaker
Katie speculates that Everett said to Kathy that they were going somewhere and to get in, right? He then speculates that
00:54:07
Speaker
It's then when Kathy meets Reed Pearly. And remember, Lester ever, he's the older man that Kathy is smitten with. So of course she would probably do whatever he told her to do. If he said, go ahead and get in, she's probably gonna get in. Katie believes that Lester had agreed to drive Hitchhiker Reed Pearly to his home in New Brunswick, Canada.
00:54:32
Speaker
And Katie also believes that Kathy in getting to the car into that car with Everett probably didn't know that she was about to head out of the country. Right. And that's probably why, you know, that news that Reid Pearly had potentially been guiding her by the neck so she wouldn't try to run from them. Right. Because she could have got in under the pretense. Oh, I'll give you a ride home. Exactly. Yeah. And then all of a sudden he starts heading.
00:55:02
Speaker
towards Canada. I'd be like, um, while I love Canada, I do not live here. I want to go home. Yes. So now armed with a name, Katie actually located Pearly, who in 1996 was awaiting trial in Canada for a home invasion and sexual assault. And since he was awaiting trial, Katie knew that investigators would
00:55:32
Speaker
You know, they could work closely with RCMP since Pearly had to report daily to Canadian law enforcement. So in a strong connected effort, RCMP agreed to work with Maine law enforcement to show Pearly a picture of Kathy to gauge his reaction. Well, now I'm anxious to know what he says. OK, according to Katie's book,
00:56:00
Speaker
That discussion with Pearly resulted in mixed information. So Katie wrote that Reed, he stated a recognition of Lester Everett by name, but he kind of denied that they really knew one another.
00:56:24
Speaker
More that, okay, yeah, he gave me a ride once. Yeah, that name sounds familiar. Gave me a ride from Maine to Tobik. But he never said that he had seen this girl named Kathy. So he is basically saying, okay, yeah, he gave me a ride once, but there wasn't a girl with us.
00:56:47
Speaker
but how, I mean, maybe his memory is better than mine, but if I meet someone one time, it's a very slim possibility that I'm gonna actually remember your name hours later, let alone years later. So I don't know how much I buy this story from him. Yeah. Well, and so on the surface, it seemed like Pearly was a dead end, but then he made this weird statement that caused law enforcement to be unwilling to let him go as a potential link to Kathy.
00:57:16
Speaker
So again, according to Katie, Purley said, quote, you mean she never made it home?
00:57:24
Speaker
Her parents haven't seen her since then. OK, but how do you know she was missing if you don't know who she is? Exactly. Yeah, that's exactly what Detective Katie questioned. He said, OK, you can't in one in the same instance say that you've never seen this girl and have no idea who she is and yet miraculously know that she didn't make it home.
00:57:47
Speaker
Right, that's very specific. And also, if he wasn't connected at all, why had his name been connected with the description of a girl who sounded just like Kathy, who had even potentially stayed with his parents according to the ex-police chief? Were his parents dead? No. At this point. Oh, I don't know if they were in the 90s.
00:58:17
Speaker
I'm not sure. I'm unsure about that. So the problem though was that, you know, even when offered immunity from, cause remember he is, Pearly is awaiting trial in Canada for the home invasion. For some bad things. Yes. And sexual assault. Even when he was offered immunity from prosecution, if he provided information about Kathy Moulton,
00:58:44
Speaker
he refused to have any knowledge or acknowledge that he had any knowledge of her. OK, that's weird because I feel like most criminals wouldn't do that. Also very frustrating because we need to know. I know. So further drawing suspicion on Pearly, though, was another crime for which Pearly was a suspect, the murder of Judy Campbell in 1973.
00:59:14
Speaker
when the lead detective in Campbell's case saw a photo of Kathy Moulton, Katie wrote in his book that the lead detective's jaw dropped. Katie said- Did they look alike or something? Well, Katie said that Judy and Kathy could not just have passed as sisters, but would have passed as identical twins.
00:59:41
Speaker
Oh, wow. So they were doppelgangers. And in Judy Campbell's case, Pearly had come kind of come on to her in a bar and she had turned him down. And he then followed her out when she paid her tab and had left the bar. And that was when, well, again, he's a suspect in that crime.
01:00:04
Speaker
that he had potentially murdered her. So police began to wonder, you know, if Pearly were responsible for Campbell's death, maybe that wasn't his first murder. Yeah. And the crimes that he was being held for at this time are very serious crimes. So like rape and murder, I would categorize those together. So it's not like he would have made a huge jump. Right. Right.
01:00:28
Speaker
So in the meantime, Katie spent his time, Detective Katie, when he wasn't continuing to work on his normal workload, which he still had to do while investigating the molten case. When he was in his spare time looking into the molten case, he examined more than 200 unidentified female cases from across the United States and Canada that spanned from 1971 until 1996.
01:00:56
Speaker
and he was able to rule out Kathy Moulton in every single one of those. So a lot of overtime hours. I know. With what seemed no other course of action, the investigative team turned to the reservation for answers.
01:01:14
Speaker
On the reservation, however, they met with roadblock after roadblock because no one would go on record to give any information.
Reservation Involvement
01:01:25
Speaker
And even with anonymity, only small bits of information were given, but they did get one other name to look into, Millie Augustine.
01:01:39
Speaker
This is just like curve after curve right curve in this case. Yeah, it's like you get one piece of information and it leads to one other little tidbit and then you follow it and you can get to one other one. And it's that's why I said this twisty turny trail. Mm hmm.
01:01:57
Speaker
So again, thankfully, law enforcement have so much more dedication to Kathy Moulton's case when it's reopened in the 90s. And they were also able to locate Augustine.
01:02:12
Speaker
Oh, good. Yes, and law enforcement were again able to verify that Kathy had been with Lester Everett after going missing in Portland. So we at least know that she's with, because remember all those reports put Kathy, Everett, and now this Reed-Perley in the same vehicle, right? Millie Augustine says, yes, I knew Lester Everett
01:02:42
Speaker
And I saw him with Kathy because I met Kathy. She even showed detectives a picture that was taken in Fernandina Beach, Florida. That was of herself, her sister, Donna Augustine, a man named Emmett Peters and Lester Everett. Though Millie said that Lester at this point had taken to calling himself David Everett. So he decided to go by a different name.
01:03:12
Speaker
a different name. Yes. And those were the people in this picture. Prior to the image being taken several months earlier, in fact, Millie had spent a week or so with both Lester and Kathy in late September into October 1971. So remember, she goes missing till like right when she goes missing.
01:03:39
Speaker
and that they were working on McBride's farm in Mara Hill, Maine during the potato harvest that year.
01:03:49
Speaker
This is also weird. I know. Here's what she remembers. So, Emma Peters, the other guy from the picture, and Millie's sister, Donna, they also worked on this potato farm, as did Millie and Donna's father. And while Millie did not recall Pearly being on the farm, so the Native American man being there, she and Emma Peters, who was later interviewed as well, said that there was a girl from Portland with Everett
01:04:19
Speaker
who Peter says he thinks was named Kathy. I'm so frustrated with this case right now. And Peter said though, that Everett left one night with the girl and came back the next day without Kathy. Millie Augustine said she always assumed that Kathy had gone home because when she would talk with Kathy, Kathy always talked about wanting to go home.
01:04:49
Speaker
or to contact her parents. So I'm guessing if they're working here on the potato farm, she has no access to a phone. And that's what I was about to ask because I feel like at this point, if she's talking to people other than Lester and other than Reed, then she would have the ability to be like,
01:05:16
Speaker
I don't want to be here, I'm here against my will, please help me, you know, call home. Right. And again, we don't know what, if any, threats there were or what was going on. But she did tell Millie often that, yeah, she wanted to go home or she wanted to contact her parents. Millie said that Kathy rarely left the Cadillac, that in fact, Millie's father would bring dinner.
01:05:43
Speaker
to the car so that Kathy would at least eat and that Kathy acted like she didn't trust Everett and that she was leery of the Native American workers on the farm. But the other guy from the picture, the Emmett Peters guy, he also said that he didn't remember Reed Purley working on the farm. He said that he remembers
01:06:13
Speaker
that Everett did say something about taking Kathy to another farm and leaving her there because he was tired of her winding.
01:06:23
Speaker
And this just, well, okay, a couple things. One, I feel like this story is so weird that it almost has to be true, you know, so specific. But I don't understand, what I don't understand is how Kathy really fits into this. What is the purpose of kidnapping her and taking her to a potato farm? Right. Yeah.
01:06:51
Speaker
The theory that I read is that after Everett took Pearly back to the reservation, that they stayed there a couple of days and that then he ended up working on this potato farm so he could like work for gas money for them to continue going. Who knows where? I don't know.
01:07:14
Speaker
But I will say that law enforcement's proposed theory did now expand to include the suspicion that Everett had taken Pearly to the reservation in Canada, likely crossing in an area where they could kind of take back roads and avoid customs. Before taking Kathy to this potato farm.
01:07:36
Speaker
that they remained there, I know, for several days before, sometime after dinner, on or around the end of September, beginning of October, Everett got into the car with Kathy, only to drive her, this is law enforcement's now working theory, back across the border, taking the same route as before to avoid customs detection, and that he had left her on the reservation with Pearly. Because remember, we get the ex-police chief saying,
01:08:05
Speaker
that she lived with Pearly's parents. Yeah, okay. Got that dot connected. Right. And so the reason they're thinking the reservation is part of this believed trail for Kathy Moulton is also based on the fact of the reaction of all the people who are on the reservation when they were spoken to concerning the case.
01:08:30
Speaker
Because they're thinking, why else would there be this much hesitancy to talk at all? Otherwise, you would just say, no, I've never seen her. I do feel like they would probably have a deep distrust of law enforcement, though. Yes, that is true. That is true.
01:08:52
Speaker
And, and I have to say again, at this point, all of this information is just speculation, right? I mean, it could be the case that Pearly was dropped off by Everett, who then left with Kathy and Pearly never saw them again. Right. I mean, that could be the case. There were a couple of details that for law enforcement like Katie,
01:09:18
Speaker
Make the likelihood though that Pearly knew nothing about Kathy seem highly unlikely. And here's what they're thinking.
01:09:27
Speaker
there had been multiple corroborated statements that would place Everett, Pearly, and Kathy Moulton together. So if Pearly were a hitchhiker, it might be the case that he only recognized Everett by name if that ex-police chief hadn't also said that he knew Everett because he had spent time on the reservation.
01:09:51
Speaker
Oh, that's true. I hadn't really connected that dot because. Yeah. How are we explaining that away? Right. And that the ex-police chief added. Oh, yeah. She was his girlfriend. It was actually Pearly's girlfriend and not ever its girlfriend. And that's obviously if she's your girlfriend, someone whose name you would definitely know. Exactly. And then of course, again, the lead that Kathy had stayed with Pearly's parents.
01:10:17
Speaker
Additionally, law enforcement learned that Everett, around the time of Kathy Moulton's disappearance, had spent time with two men, John Wayne Aceto and Tony Terroni. Aceto was brought in for an interview in the 90s, because again, here's Katie, they're finally putting the effort in that they should have into Kathy Moulton's case. And this Aceto guy says that he knew Kathy.
01:10:47
Speaker
and that Everett had told him that Kathy had discovered she was pregnant with Everett's child right before leaving Portland. That Everett didn't know positively, but he at least suspected it. So are we saying then that Kathy left on her own accord because she's pregnant or that Everett wants to
01:11:17
Speaker
air quotes deal with it deal with the problem and he takes her. I don't know if we have an answer to that question. Yeah. So and that's why I think there's the suspicion that she could have been sexually active at the time, but we don't know. Even if she were pregnant, I don't think she would have left on her own. I don't think so either. But here's the other interesting thing that
01:11:44
Speaker
makes law enforcement still question Pearly. And it is that in 1973, Everett actually came back to Portland from Florida and asked this Acedo to go to Canada with him to find out what happened to Kathy. So if that story is true, then it does make it sound like Everett did drive Kathy into Canada to this reservation and just kind of leave her there.
01:12:15
Speaker
And just left her. Right. And according to Acito, when he and Everett got to the reservation, because he says they went there, they actually went to Canada to see what happened to Kathy. And that when they got to the reservation, that Everett was attacked by a man named Ivan and by the pearly boys. And they told him that if he ever came back, they would kill him.
01:12:41
Speaker
Katie mentions all this in his book. So Katie, and I agree, now questioned, okay, if Everett and Pearly used to be friendly, what changed? Yeah, why are we wanting to kill Lester Everett now? Yeah, what did he do? So Katie felt like it was time to get to the bottom of all the rumors. He actually called Pearly's sister, Jacqueline,
01:13:07
Speaker
who told him that a girl from Portland named Candy, and remember the ex-police chief was like, I think she went by the name Candy.
01:13:16
Speaker
Maybe they changed your name when she got up there. Maybe. Just like how less or ever it changed his name. To David, yeah. So Jacqueline tells him, well, there was a girl from Portland. Her name was Candy. And she came to my home. This is what Jacqueline is saying. On Toby Point Reservation with Reed and stayed in 1971. Sometime between Halloween and Thanksgiving of that year.
01:13:45
Speaker
Well, that fits with the timeline. And remember, Kathy's parents were up there right around Thanksgiving. So Jacqueline said that the last she heard though was that Candy was seen with a neighbor named Ivan. Remember Ivan was one of the ones who beat up Everett during a snow storm that year.
01:14:12
Speaker
She heard that Candy was seen running from Ivan's house nude into the blizzard, and Candy was never seen again. I mean, my jaw just dropped. She went on and told this detective Katie that Ivan had died in the late 80s, but that he had a reputation as, quote, Ivan the rapist, end quote.
01:14:42
Speaker
Okay. And how did she get with Ivan? How did she? We don't know. He was a neighbor to the Pearly's. Okay. But I don't, I have no idea. So many questions. I know. And Katie did do some research and he was able to verify that there was a blizzard
01:15:07
Speaker
that hit the area the day before Thanksgiving in 1971 that lasted into Thanksgiving morning and dumped 28 and a half inches of snow in the main New Brunswick area.
01:15:22
Speaker
So that is, I mean, it's fitting with the story he's being told, right? Of her hearing that Candy was seen running from Ivan's house nude into the blizzard sometime around Thanksgiving.
01:15:38
Speaker
And like I said, with the previous story that we were told, these are so oddly specific, almost like they have to be true. But again, we get to the problem that without solid evidence, without accounts of what happened from those who recall it and details, what we have, even if it may be true, has to be labeled as nothing more than rumor and speculation without something to back it up.
01:16:08
Speaker
So let's review our theories. OK, so there's theory number one. Kathy left of her own volition. Those who believe this theory either say that she was never with Everett to begin with and that she likely went to Boston because she seemed interested in it or that after Everett left with her that night from the potato farm, that Kathy went her own way
01:16:37
Speaker
you know, maybe never returning home.
Unresolved Theories
01:16:41
Speaker
There are even those- Yeah, but okay, a couple things here. Okay. When I was 16, I'm sure I was probably like, New York is a really interesting place. Maybe one day I'll visit New York City. That doesn't mean
01:16:59
Speaker
I'm going to run away to New York City. That just meant that I thought that was an interesting town and I would like to visit there one day. So perhaps it was the same with Kathy. Why are we automatically assuming she's running away to Boston? That just don't make sense. I know. And if she's telling people at this potato farm that she wants to go home and wants to contact her parents, if she had the opportunity to do that when he leaves her, why wouldn't she? You're exactly right.
01:17:30
Speaker
Sadly, there are even those who argue, including a psychic and one detective's quote unquote gut reaction, that they believe that Kathy did return home and that her father was involved in her death. I guess they're thinking if he was angry because she was pregnant or something like that. But I will say that her father was never named a suspect
01:17:56
Speaker
Right? And he was active and visible in seeking justice for Kathy throughout, I mean, from the beginning. He's the entire reason we have a missing persons report. Yeah, because he demanded it. Exactly.
01:18:17
Speaker
And I don't see him being mad enough to murder her just because she's pregnant. Uh, listen, if she's been missing and he's that adamant about finding her, when you find her, you're not going to be like, Oh, nevermind. I'm not excited to see my child again because she's done something, you know, that I didn't approve of. That is not how it works. Right. Theory number two.
01:18:43
Speaker
is that Everett had something to do with Kathy's death. So if he were sick of her whining, if he believed her to be pregnant, might he have harmed her and left her in the woods somewhere? I mean, he is the one who's seen to leave the potato farm with her and come back alone, right? And maybe he even took her somewhere near the Tobik First Nation reservation. The problem with this argument then
01:19:13
Speaker
is why would he go back to the reservation with a CEDO to quote unquote see what happened to Kathy? Well there I'm wondering if he left her, you know, so part of that other theory, he just left her and then
01:19:30
Speaker
now all these years later, he's ridden with this guilt, you know, Oh my God, I left her all by herself. I wonder if she's okay. And so he wants to go back and check on her. But I just, I didn't get good vibes from him. So I don't know if I'm really believing the, Oh, I really just want to go back and check on her story. Right. I know. And then theory number three.
01:19:56
Speaker
is that something happened on the reservation that led to Kathy's death. So Detective Katie does seem to believe in this theory the most strongly. He recalls when he was speaking with Jacqueline that he overheard another of their sisters yell in the background not to talk to the cops, which again could just be because of a fear
01:20:23
Speaker
right, of that relationship between those on the reservation and Canadian law enforcement. But Katie also states in his book that reward posters were put up with Kathy's picture and that within just a few hours, that same sister who was yelling in the background had torn them all down. So his belief seems to be that that level of hostility has to be driven by something.
01:20:53
Speaker
Yeah, that's more than just mistrust, you know. There are other rumors that link Kathy Moulton to the reservation, including a rumor that her body was buried in the basement of Ivan's house, a house that has since been raised and a new house built on it, a house occupied by the same sister who tore down the posters.
01:21:18
Speaker
Oh, yeah. So we're never going to know if that's true or not. Right. So that's information that I got from Katie's book. Yet another rumor involved an overheard story that Pearly had told someone he had buried a girl from Maine in the woods.
01:21:35
Speaker
Another person, according to Detective Katie, said that in the fall of 1971, they had seen Pearly dragging a screaming woman into the woods. But again, are these rumors because of stories that we've heard or are these true accounts?
01:21:56
Speaker
and neighbors to pearly, and again, this is according to Katie's book, recounted that around that time in 71, their dog had brought a human skull home, but that they didn't think anything of it because they assumed it belonged to a long sense dead person from the reservation who had been buried on tribal land. Okay, still though. I know.
01:22:22
Speaker
I think even if that's the case, we probably want to return it where it's supposed to be. Probably so. But again, right now, these are all rumors, unproven claims until and unless someone with intimate knowledge is willing to provide information that can confirm these claims. Law enforcement hasn't had enough evidence to file charges or even to get warrants to search Pearly's residence.
01:22:51
Speaker
So that's my devil's advocate to that theory. So Maggie, what are your thoughts? And Pearly is the one, or was it another guy that's reporting to police because of the home invasion. Yes, that is him. Yep, that's him. I feel that
01:23:14
Speaker
It has to, I think a lot of things do revolve around the reservation. I just don't know what party is responsible and I wonder why we want to keep Everett away. Is it because
01:23:32
Speaker
they think that he would contact investigators if he found out what really happened? Is it that? Is that the reason we want to keep him away? Or is it because he was involved as well? I don't know who was involved. I just don't have lots of questions. You're right. I mean, it could even, because we don't have any answers, it could even be the case that
01:23:56
Speaker
let's say Kathy were Hurley's girlfriend and not Everett's girlfriend and Everett did do something with her and didn't go back to the resolution to see what happened but went back to kind of gloat about it or something and that's why they
01:24:12
Speaker
I mean, we don't know. Maybe they loved, maybe they loved Kathy on the reservation and ever it did hurt her. And they're like, yeah, if you come back here again, we're going to kill you. I mean, it could be so many different possibilities. And until we have those answers, we just don't know. According to an article in the Portland Press Herald by Jillian Graham and published on September 19th, 2021, Kathy's sister Kimberly turned 16, three and a half years after Kathy disappeared.
Personal Impact & Hope
01:24:41
Speaker
According to that article, quote, she was keenly aware that her parents felt panicked when their middle daughter reached the age Kathy had been when she disappeared. She avoided going to the YWCA dances Kathy loved and for years was convinced she would never have children because she could not fathom living through a loss like the one her parents endured. Quote, part of my persona was to protect myself from danger
01:25:10
Speaker
and to protect myself from the agony that they went through every time I walked out the door," she said. End quote. An article in Portland Monthly by Grantland Rice further stated that after Kathy's disappearance, the schedule for the whole family changed so that someone would always be home just in case Kathy came back and they left her room just as it was.
01:25:37
Speaker
But even though they lived with that fear, they also lived with hope. Kathy's father said to Bill Nemitz of the Portland Press Herald, quote, it's human nature to hope. That's what love is. It's hope, end quote.
01:25:55
Speaker
In that same article, he rightly argued, quote, a person is an important thing. You are, I am, and Kathy is. If the government wanted to, they'd turn hell and high water over to locate somebody. Just try not paying your taxes. But when it comes to missing persons, the doors are closed. We just want to know what happened to our daughter, end quote.
Call to Action & Engagement
01:26:22
Speaker
And he's right. Love is hope.
01:26:26
Speaker
Love is visibility. Love is sharing. Love is passion. Love is taking action. And love is recognition. Let's recognize Kathy Moulton by sharing her case this week.
01:26:40
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.
01:27:10
Speaker
Stay together. Stay safe. We'll see you next week.
01:27:37
Speaker
And we actually have a lot of names this week and you guys know I'm not very good with name pronunciations. So if I mispronounce your name, just know I didn't mean to and I love ya. But we have love going out to Phil, Tracy, Carrie, Holly, another Carrie, Carrie with an I and Carrie with
01:27:58
Speaker
Oh, I. Nancy, Chrisia, Michelle, BJ, Jackie, Angelina, Melissa, Marsha, Cody, Nina, Kathy, Jennifer, Ben, Amy, Angie, Suzanne, Clara, Nadia, Vicki, Michael, Richie, Lynn, Brenda, and Krista for reaching out.
01:28:16
Speaker
or responding on social media to us. So many names and we love a long list like that. Yes we do. Yes we do. And for everybody listening, reach out to us because we love it.
01:28:31
Speaker
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01:28:50
Speaker
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01:29:09
Speaker
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