Human remains, ID card found in search for Massachusetts teen missing since 1982

NY Post ^ | 11/04/2021 | Joshua Rhett Miller

[PLMerite]

“Why does it take nearly 40 years to find a car in a river?”

Time, effort, etc.

They don’t “know” it’s in the river, or even remotely where to start looking. Only so many people to look, only so much time to devote to one case before more pile up.

Sad, but that’s some of the reality of it.

[CletusVanDamme]

A few years ago, the remains of two girls missing since 1971 were found in what was left of their Studebaker Lark. It had wound up in a pond upside down. Very sad.

[wbarmy]

Always curious what may be at the bottom of the pond.

40 feet of 100+ lb test wire or good strong climbing rope and a heavy magnet. See what comes up.

[fidelis]

Charters parents have since died, but officials relayed the find to other surviving relatives, the Boston Globe reported. Chartier’s mother told the newspaper in 1990 that her daughter’s disappearance had upended her life, leaving her with many unanswered questions as to whether Judith was the victim of foul play or if she was even still alive. “The not knowing is horrible,” said the teen’s mother, also named Judy. “I’ll go into a mood that she must have been screaming and hollering for me that night.”

So sad. I pray that, by the grace and mercy of God, they have since been reunited and are at peace.

[SunkenCiv]

When someone goes missing along with their vehicle, the probable and possible routes should be searched for signs that they drove into water. I remain mystified that there are any cases like these.

I seem to recall one discovery of a vehicle with human remains, out west, where the wheels had left a clear trail into a pond, and that section of fence had been ripped out, but no one at the time of the disappearance related the fence repair to the missing person report and search.

I've seen spots in the western US where it would be trivial to be digging around for a dropped Twinkie while driving and wind up plummeting into a crevasse. People who drive solo across the country and vanish en route are probably in areas like that, where people seldom hike, and are just out of everyday line of sight.

[setter]

Good article about this case. Couple local guys were suspect but police could never prove it...they lawyered up.

https://www.lowellsun.com/2021/05/30/judy-chartier-is-still-missing-from-chelmsford-39-years-later/

[SunkenCiv]

https://www.google.com/search?q=submerged+vehicle+missing+person+found

[Scrambler Bob]

Hey, This is a ‘River Find’!

[PLMerite]

“Couple local guys were suspect but police could never prove it...they lawyered up.”

Now maybe we will find out if they are guilty or innocent.

[CommerceComet]

Perhaps she was intoxicated an made a wrong turn and was too drunk to get out of the car.

Highly likely that alcohol contributed to the accident. However, it is also possible that she was knocked unconscious when the car went into the water. There is considerable impact when a car traveling at high speeds enters the water. Compared to air, water is a very dense medium.

[Jane Austen]

Some testing was done in the 1980s.

[GeorgiaDawg32]

Agreed. Very little info at this point so anything is possible..

[Jonty30]

Simple unfamiliarity with the territory as well. If she did a wrong turn, she would head into the lake at full speed.

[JBW1949]

Evidently.....

[TiGuy22]

“Why does it take nearly 40 years to find a car in a river?”

Duh! Either climate change or racism.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

It happens.. Here are two, disappeared in 1969, and 1970, found in 2014.

https://www.oklahoman.com/article/5359193/bodies-found-in-foss-lake-identified-cause-of-death-determined-oklahoma-authorities-say

[rlmorel]

The water is pretty murky even today. I occasionally navigate it, and depending on where it went off, it is possible it could remain obscured.

The river used to be very nasty some years ago, and is cleaner today, but...I still wouldn’t swim in it.

[DUMBGRUNT]

Aug 8, 1987 — Pappas was driving the day she disappeared, Sept. 11, 1982. The car was discovered at 1:20 p.m. Friday as the pond, next to a Wheaton fire...

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1987-08-08-8702280308-story.html

I have passed that site at least a million times.

[larrytown]

It is amazing how many of these there are - the droughts in past few years brought many to light recently.

The most compelling one was that old Camaro found not 50 yards off a busy boat launch ramp in Texas- had immense boat traffic that went over the wreck for years. Took an abnormally low lake level to finally get it noticed.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Indiana ?