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I'm Kristen Seavey.

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This is Murder,

0:34

She Told. Farmington

0:49

Police Chief Raymond Orr was in over

0:51

his head and he knew it. He

0:54

stood on Lincoln Street with his back

0:56

to the late morning sun, staring at

0:59

a mountain of decomposing sawdust. The

1:01

pile loomed 25 feet high and

1:03

sat on a large patch of

1:05

marshy earth, about 60 feet long

1:08

and 40 feet across. His

1:10

officers had cordoned off the street and were

1:12

now carefully stepping around the weeds and brambles

1:15

that had sprung up around the pile. The

1:18

sawdust had sat abandoned for 20 years, refuse

1:21

from the old Corson mill that had been long

1:23

out of business. This

1:25

morning, following the discovery of the

1:27

body, it was receiving more attention

1:29

than it had in decades. The

1:33

chief thought back on his 42 years

1:35

in the area and he couldn't

1:37

recall anything like this ever happening in

1:39

his small town. This was Farmington,

1:41

a rural college town of 5,500

1:44

people. He

1:46

had grown up as a child in nearby

1:48

Jay Main and then went to high school

1:50

in Wilton, less than 10 miles away. After

1:53

graduating, he spent four years in far-flung

1:56

places in the Air Force but then

1:58

returned to the area. working

2:00

in the region's construction industry for two

2:02

years. Long enough for

2:04

him to figure out that he didn't want

2:06

to spend a lifetime working outdoors in the

2:08

harsh New England elements, so he enrolled

2:10

in the University of Maine in Orono and

2:13

earned his undergraduate degree. In

2:15

1958, at the age of

2:17

29, he applied for a job as

2:19

a constable with the Farmington Village Corporation,

2:21

a quasi-government business whose main responsibility was

2:24

to keep the town in clean drinking

2:26

water. At the time, it

2:28

was the closest thing that Farmington had to

2:30

a police department. I

2:33

was given a badge and a gun and

2:35

told to enforce the law, he told the

2:37

morning sentinel. It would be

2:39

five years before he received any formal

2:41

training. Constable

2:44

Orr campaigned for a proper

2:46

police department with full-time staff,

2:48

resources, and training, and

2:50

he got his wish in 1967 when

2:53

the town government approved the creation of

2:55

the Farmington Police Department. He

2:58

himself became the first chief of the

3:00

fledgling department. It was

3:02

just in time, too. Farmington was

3:04

growing. The local school, Farmington

3:06

State College, became part of the University

3:09

of Maine system just one year later

3:11

in 1968. The

3:14

expansion that followed meant new

3:16

employment opportunities beyond the timber

3:18

and construction trade or toiling

3:20

at one of the nearby

3:22

wool, plastic, or woodworking factories.

3:25

It also meant a growing influx of

3:27

young people, which came with it its

3:29

own brand of trouble –

3:31

hard drinking, loud parties, and

3:34

vandalism, the usual shenanigans you could

3:36

expect from a college town. Missing

3:39

children, however, were not

3:41

the norm for Farmington. There

3:43

hadn't been a murder in 40 years. As

3:47

the days wore on, he began

3:49

preparing himself for the worst possible

3:51

outcome. The

3:55

Hammer dropped on the morning of Thursday, September 23,

3:57

1971. Thirteen

4:00

days after, fifteen year old duty

4:02

hand had been reported missing. The.

4:05

Had already been scoured. Most of the

4:07

town had, but a search party led

4:09

by one of the state's game wardens

4:11

did a second pass over this blog.

4:14

Lincoln. Street was a sort street just

4:16

two blocks in length on the edge

4:18

of Downtown Farmington. Along. It

4:21

were a string of university dormitories

4:23

and the Fraternity house or Kappa

4:25

Delta Chi. The. Street runs eastward and

4:27

most of the buildings were along the north

4:29

side of the street. If. You building

4:32

sat on the south side, but

4:34

it was mostly glean with wildwoods.

4:36

And. It overlooked a sloping grade down

4:38

to a little creek called Beaverbrook.

4:41

These. Words were a place where teenagers

4:43

might go to escape the watchful eyes

4:45

of the town and sneak a smoke.

4:48

A handful of unofficial palms are worn into

4:50

the woods or the town's use. It.

4:53

Was here that the abandoned sawdust

4:55

pile from the old course and

4:58

mill quietly rotted away. One

5:01

member of the search party, a young

5:03

deputy sheriff, was working his way through

5:05

fifty feet of puckerbrush to the pile,

5:08

the ground, and the pile or both

5:10

wet and spongy. It. Was described

5:12

as a swampy area by the Bangor

5:14

Daily News. And. Nine Twelve

5:17

Am on the morning of

5:19

Thursday, September Twenty Third, Nineteen

5:21

Seventy one Deputy Hemingway made

5:23

a terrible discovery. He

5:25

noticed an indentation in the pile

5:27

and or something was amiss. Used.

5:30

His foot to dig it up at somebody

5:32

might have buried in animal. The.

5:35

When he revealed a garment of

5:37

clothing the color blue, he knew

5:39

what he had. Duty.

5:41

Had last been seen wearing a

5:43

blue blouse. As

5:45

he dug into the warm, moist

5:47

sawdust, He began to reveal

5:49

the body of a young woman. Who.

5:52

Was clearly dad. She.

5:54

Was partially clothed wearing just her

5:56

blue blouse and during. Later.

5:59

when ass He said he couldn't explain

6:01

why he chose that spot to dig,

6:03

but it wasn't the first time he

6:05

had successfully found someone. Once,

6:07

he had found the body of a man who died of

6:09

exposure. Another time he had found

6:12

weapons buried in chicken litter in a murder case.

6:15

When asked if he was psychic,

6:17

he replied, I have a habit of

6:19

finding things. I can't explain it. About

6:23

15 feet away, in another part of the

6:25

sawdust pile, he found her buried clothing, shorts,

6:28

and a pair of black sneakers. Chief

6:31

Orr had no doubt in his mind who

6:33

it belonged to, even before he

6:35

saw her. The search was

6:37

over, but a new one was

6:39

beginning. It was time to hand this

6:41

over to the state police, just

6:44

as soon as he went to see the

6:46

girl's mother. Lillian

6:50

Hand was 42 years old

6:52

in 1971 when she got the

6:54

news that her daughter Judy was

6:56

dead. It was a

6:58

vicious blow to the entire Hand

7:00

family. Lillian was married to

7:03

Judy's dad, Edward Hand, and together they

7:05

had 10 children in 13 years. Judy

7:08

was number four. Raising

7:10

a large family wasn't unusual for that

7:12

time. It's caught the baby boom

7:15

for a reason. First,

7:17

they had twins, Roger and Robert, in 1952,

7:19

and then Larry two years later. So

7:23

when Judy, the first girl, came along in

7:25

1956, it was

7:27

a breath of fresh air. Six

7:30

more children followed. Four

7:32

girls, one boy, and the fifth baby

7:34

girl who died at birth. The

7:36

nine kids fell into their own particular roles

7:39

within the family. Judy was

7:41

the one who never caused trouble and helped

7:43

to support the family. Judy's

7:45

dad, Edward, had been ill for quite

7:47

some time. His mother had

7:50

crept across his stomach and lungs and

7:52

he was losing a hopeless fight, painfully

7:55

day by day. He

7:57

had been out of work for some time. He can

7:59

No longer live. longer work at a house painter. Lillian.

8:02

Was grateful that her oldest boys,

8:04

age eighteen and twenty nineteen, seventy

8:06

one. Still, Lived at home and the

8:09

family's house on Middle Street. And duty

8:11

of course it could look after the little

8:13

ones and help care for her father. When

8:15

Lillian went to work, Even.

8:18

If fifteen duty with contributing

8:20

financially that household. Duty.

8:22

Attended the ninth grade at Mount Blue Junior

8:24

High school to such Short walk up the

8:26

street from our house. In.

8:29

The early afternoons when school let

8:31

out Southern babysat for families around

8:33

town. She. Works for her

8:35

mother's youngest brother Roger Smith and

8:37

his wife Rita. Uncle

8:40

Roger and on Read. I had two

8:42

girls aged two and three. During.

8:44

The summer of Nineteen Seventy one, Judy it

8:46

even stayed with them to look after the

8:49

girls and help her aunt who was heavily

8:51

pregnant with her third child. She.

8:53

Enjoyed the extra space their house afford

8:55

it or and spent a summer helping

8:57

her aunt garden under the warm New

8:59

England son. She. Was

9:02

so family insular life very content

9:04

in our world and Rita would

9:06

later recall. She was one of

9:08

these people. I don't care how bad a mood

9:10

you are n one smile from her would bring

9:12

you out of it. Judy.

9:15

Was small for her age, only four

9:17

foot eleven by the time she was

9:19

fifteen. And. She still had some of

9:22

her useful baby fat that with her

9:24

dimples and a mop a blond hair

9:26

made her look like an innocent cherub.

9:29

Know. Early reports described rises blew

9:31

her mom corrected them. They

9:33

were hazel. Judy. Hand occupied

9:35

a small corner of the world, but

9:37

it was a corner the seen a

9:39

brighter for those around her. Is

9:43

about to turn on Friday, September

9:45

tenth, Nineteen seventy one when duty

9:47

arrived home from school. Her.

9:49

Mother was readying herself for her shift it

9:52

for stirs in the nearby town of Wilton.

9:54

The. Manufacturing company made would in

9:57

products including lawn games, clothes,

9:59

pins, And are neat banisters, Lillian.

10:02

Worked in the painting department missing states

10:04

and a croquet set in the afternoon

10:06

and evenings. That day

10:08

she was catching a ride to the factory with

10:10

a friend. Since. Judy would be

10:13

baby sitting in the afternoon for Barbara

10:15

Hands and our husbands, who was part

10:17

of her extended family and who lived

10:19

in that direction. Lillian offered have her

10:21

friend drop her off as well. bad

10:23

her daughter declined. She'd. Only just

10:25

gotten back from school and wanted to

10:27

savor the rare moment of relaxation before

10:29

she needed to be responsible again. Lillian.

10:33

Said good bye and left for her shaft.

10:35

She. Wasn't worried about Judy getting into

10:37

trouble. A two mile log with

10:39

one that are daughter new. Well plus it

10:41

was right to the center of town under

10:43

the watchful eye of the community. Though.

10:46

It would take or twenty or thirty minutes. She

10:48

was mature enough to get there on her own.

10:51

He. Was a decision that Lillian would

10:53

later regret. Just.

10:56

Before three pm, Judy left her

10:58

family's home on foot. It. Was

11:01

a perfect mean summer day. Whether.

11:03

In the high seventies. The. September

11:05

sun dappled light on the pavement

11:08

as she walked under the leafy

11:10

canopies of trees lining Middle Street.

11:12

She. Was walking west toward the Seine

11:15

River into the afternoon sun. The

11:18

days we're getting shorter, but sunset wasn't

11:20

for another four hours at six fifty

11:22

six pm. Judy. Wore blue

11:24

blouse and a pair of green sorts. If.

11:27

The evening turn chile her on could always

11:29

drive her back or one of her brother's

11:31

could pick her up. After

11:34

school, child care was in constant demand

11:36

in a town of second and third

11:38

shift workers. Baby. Sitting with a

11:40

common way for responsible teenagers to earn

11:42

some money. As she made her

11:44

way into the center of town, she greeted a

11:46

girl from the neighborhood who was also on her

11:48

way to baby Said. Minutes. later

11:50

duty ran into another friend who walked

11:53

with her into the downtown of farming

11:55

ten were middle street dead end it

11:57

into high street at the american legion

11:59

home The red brick building

12:01

sat in the heart of the University

12:03

of Maine campus. With

12:05

fall term in session, the town must

12:08

have felt active and vibrant. In

12:11

the days to come, when the

12:13

interviews and witness statements and recollections

12:15

were pieced together, the police would

12:18

acknowledge this as the last definitive

12:20

sighting of Judy alive, a small

12:22

blonde girl dressed in summer clothes

12:25

standing on the street corner near the

12:27

center of town. Across

12:31

the river and a short time

12:34

later, Aunt Barbara was growing irritated.

12:37

She had places to be and every

12:39

minute that ticked by was a minute

12:41

closer to a tantrum. She

12:43

had promised the kids that their cousin Judy was

12:45

coming to play with them. She

12:48

supposed all teenagers, even responsible

12:50

ones like her niece, could

12:52

be inconsiderate sometimes. Judy

12:54

had probably turned on a TV show or stopped

12:56

to chat with friends and lost track of time.

12:59

It was a mistake everyone made at some point, but

13:02

she did feel a hint of concern

13:04

beneath her annoyance. Her

13:06

sister-in-law's oldest girl was reliable.

13:10

A little before 4pm, Barbara called

13:12

the Forster factory and asked for

13:14

Lillian. For Lillian Hand,

13:16

there was no hesitation. Her

13:18

daughter had been trustworthy since she was a

13:20

small child. If she hadn't made

13:23

it to her babysitting appointment, it was

13:25

time to be worried. She phoned

13:27

her house and had one of her sons pick her up

13:29

from the factory. They drove

13:31

around Farmington and West Farmington looking

13:33

for Judy. Following the

13:35

path she would have taken to Barbara's house

13:37

and asking for her at any building she

13:39

may have stopped at along the way. The

13:43

sun had vanished under the horizon and

13:45

the Hand family was left in the

13:48

growing darkness. Lillian was convinced

13:50

that something had happened to her Judy.

13:53

At about a quarter past 8, Lillian called

13:56

the Farmington PD. She would

13:58

claim later that the police assured her that she had been in the house for a long her

14:00

that her daughter would turn up by Monday

14:02

morning, just in time for classes at Mount

14:04

Blue Junior High. Kids her age

14:07

would skip town, blow off steam, and

14:09

then come home. Lillian

14:11

recalled that the officers told her they couldn't do

14:13

anything for 48 hours anyway, and

14:16

she just had to wait. It

14:18

was a hellish night for the Hand family.

14:22

Judy was out there, possibly alone

14:24

in the elements, or worse, and

14:26

maybe with somebody who wished her harm. The

14:29

waiting was particularly hard on her father, Edward,

14:31

who was too sick to get out of

14:34

bed, even though he desperately

14:36

wanted to search for his daughter. Hours

14:40

passed in agony. The phone

14:42

didn't ring. There was no shame-faced

14:44

Judy walking through the door. Despite

14:48

their initial reluctance, by Saturday morning,

14:50

the family convinced the Farmington police

14:52

to begin looking for the missing

14:55

girl. They knocked on doors

14:57

along Middle Street and the surrounding

14:59

neighborhoods, asking residents if they were

15:01

called seeing the girl. Officers,

15:04

firemen, and local volunteers walked

15:06

the roads between High Street

15:08

and West Farmington surging. At

15:11

some point during the weekend, a portion

15:13

of the Sandy River was dredged. The

15:16

search party must have breathed a

15:18

sigh of relief when nothing of

15:20

consequence was pulled from its currents.

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Monday morning September thirteenth there were

17:09

still no sign of due to

17:11

hand. School. Started at Blue

17:13

Junior High without her. She'd. Been

17:15

missing for three nights. Overnight

17:18

lows or in the forties. The.

17:20

Farmington Police returned to her family's

17:22

home to review the missing persons

17:24

report. While. They were now

17:26

taking the teenagers disappearance more seriously, louis

17:28

and had the sense that they still

17:30

viewed her as a hysterical mother. She.

17:33

Told him that he had a distinct feeling

17:35

that something was very wrong. And.

17:38

According to her, they are dismissive.

17:40

She. Would later recall they looked at

17:42

me as if to say put, are

17:45

you nuts know mother has that feeling.

17:48

Monday. Was also the day the duties

17:50

disappearance hit the papers. The. morning

17:52

sentinel wrote a local junior high school

17:54

girl due to his hand was reported

17:56

missing friday evening when she failed to

17:58

report at a babysitter job in West

18:01

Farmington. The beast was brief

18:03

and buried on page 16 in the

18:05

local Franklin County town news. But

18:07

its publication seemed to make Judy's

18:09

absence more real. A teenage

18:12

girl had disappeared in broad daylight

18:14

in the center of town. The

18:17

following day, the Franklin Journal picked

18:19

up the story, running Judy's picture

18:22

beside the paper's local interest column

18:24

from this corner. The author,

18:26

Mickey McGuire, openly questioned the authorities'

18:28

lack of action following the girl's

18:30

disappearance and why it was taking

18:32

so long for them to find

18:34

her. On Friday the

18:37

17th, one week since Judy had

18:39

vanished, the Morning Sentinel published a

18:41

slim follow-up article with the header,

18:44

Where is Judy? They

18:46

criticized the fact that police had not

18:48

dispatched organized search groups from the moment

18:50

she was reported missing. The

18:53

unknown author praised neighbors, college students,

18:55

and members of the community for

18:57

jumping in to help search. The

19:00

entire county, the article read, is

19:02

sharing the anguish of the Hand

19:04

family. Lillian

19:06

was beside herself. She kept her

19:09

younger children home from school. There was

19:11

no telling what they might hear, and

19:13

she couldn't stand the thought of another

19:15

child being out of her sight. Her

19:18

older sons joined search parties, dreading

19:20

the moment they had to walk

19:22

through the door with no news

19:24

or the worst news. Unfortunately,

19:27

none of the Hand family was

19:29

on the team that finally found

19:31

Judy nearly two weeks after her

19:33

disappearance in the sawdust pile off

19:35

the end of Lincoln Street. They

19:38

didn't have to see their sisters'

19:40

badly decomposed remains peaking from

19:42

the decaying woodchips. It

19:45

was a testament to the long hours and

19:47

thorough work of the authorities that the search

19:49

party had even revisited Lincoln Street. Judy's

19:52

body was so well hidden that

19:54

it might have sat there for years

19:56

unnoticed. Her body was only

19:58

a quarter mile from where she was. she was

20:00

last seen on High Street. A

20:03

little past noon, the authorities removed Judy

20:05

from the scene. Awaiting ambulance

20:08

took her to Thayer Hospital in Waterville,

20:10

about 45 minutes to the east,

20:13

where her autopsy would take place.

20:18

Almost immediately, it was clear that

20:20

the investigation was beyond the meager

20:22

resources of the Farmington PD. Since

20:25

the 1960s, homicides in Maine have

20:27

been handled by the Maine State Police

20:30

Major Crimes Unit and prosecuted by the

20:32

AD. The team assigned

20:34

to Judy's case consisted of seven men, led

20:36

by Detective Sergeant Gerald Butillier,

20:38

who was a veteran officer of 14

20:40

years, having joined the state

20:43

police in 1957. He

20:45

and his men would receive support from

20:47

their colleagues in Farmington and the Franklin

20:50

County Sheriff's Office. The Maine

20:52

State Attorney General's Office appointed Assistant

20:54

AG Richard Cohen as the media

20:56

liaison for the investigation. The

20:59

day after Judy's body was discovered, he

21:01

told the press that the Deputy Chief

21:03

Medical Examiner who had conducted the autopsy

21:06

said that no cause of death could

21:08

be determined, nor could he assess whether

21:10

she had been sexually assaulted. Her

21:13

body had simply been in the sawdust and

21:15

the elements for too long. There

21:17

were two heavy rains in the last two

21:19

weeks that she was missing. Sheriff

21:22

Dennis Pike would later recall in 2014, the sawdust

21:24

was wet. That

21:27

generates heat, speeding decomposition.

21:31

One of the reporters asked Cohen

21:33

if Judy's case shared any similarities

21:35

with the unsolved Olinchuk murder. Just

21:38

over a year prior, 13-year-old Mary

21:40

Olinchuk had gone missing while riding

21:42

her bike near her family's Ogunquit

21:44

summer home. Two weeks later,

21:47

her decomposed body was found under

21:49

a pile of hay in a

21:51

barn in Kennybunk, another vacation hotspot.

21:54

Mary had been strangled with a length of

21:56

rope that was still around her neck when

21:58

she was discovered. The

22:00

case received a lot of coverage, not

22:02

only because violent crimes against children were

22:05

rare in the seaside town, of because

22:07

her father was a brigadier general. In

22:09

the army. It was only ever

22:11

one lead to tip the she might have

22:13

been picked up by a younger dark haired

22:16

man and a maroon colored car. The

22:19

memory of marry only in shock what

22:21

if weighed heavily on Detective Sergeant Boots

22:23

Hillier, as he was also the lead

22:25

investigator on her case. That. You

22:28

crimes shared some remarkable similarities.

22:31

Duty. Who looks young for fifteen

22:33

would have appeared roughly the same age

22:35

as marry. Both. Disappeared in

22:38

broad daylight after leaving their homes on

22:40

foot. Boat. Were found

22:42

buried in relatively obscure

22:44

locations under decomposing material.

22:46

Duty. Under Sawdust, Marry Under

22:49

Hey! The. Murders occurred over

22:51

one hundred miles apart. Could they be

22:53

the work of the same predator? The.

22:56

Lillian It was hard to believe. Outside

22:59

of the family, her daughter

23:01

was almost painfully shy. Very

23:04

unlikely to talk to strangers, let

23:06

alone accept a ride with someone

23:08

she didn't know. Both.

23:10

Killings predated Dna technology in

23:12

a state of the girls remains

23:14

left a little physical evidence.

23:17

In. Duties case the authorities, the most

23:19

valuable resources or the memories of

23:21

those he saw her last. Name.

23:24

Canvas the area, interviewed her friends

23:26

and family and visit the stores

23:28

she may pass that day. Duty.

23:31

Would have made her way down Middle Street

23:33

straight through the heart of downtown and the

23:35

University campus. Did you girls? The dude he

23:37

had met up with earlier on the walk

23:39

confirmed that she had made it at least

23:41

as far as the Legion Home at the

23:43

corner of Middle and High Street. From.

23:46

There are steps became less

23:48

clear. One. Unnamed witness

23:50

claimed that they saw her around three

23:52

Pm near the Angle School and One

23:55

Forty Four High Street. This was

23:57

not along the most direct route to

23:59

World. But it wasn't

24:01

a big diversion either, only about

24:03

200 feet from her route. It

24:06

had been reported by the mainstay police that

24:08

she had one errand to run before heading

24:10

to her aunt's. She had to pick up

24:12

some money she was owed for babysitting from

24:14

another client. It was never been identified. That

24:18

could explain the reason she was spotted off

24:20

the most direct route to her aunt's. No

24:24

one recalled seeing the teenager on the

24:26

bridge that crossed the Sandy River, which

24:28

separated from West Farmington. On

24:32

a busy September afternoon, surely someone

24:34

would have remembered passing a young

24:36

blonde girl hugging the sidewalk of

24:39

the bridge. It seemed

24:41

to the investigation that Judy had not

24:43

walked much further than the area near

24:45

High and Middle Streets where she was

24:47

last seen. So how

24:49

did Judy vanish from the center of

24:51

town on a busy Friday afternoon in

24:53

the early fall? One

24:55

way would have been in a car. A

24:58

Lillian found it unlikely Judy would have gotten

25:00

in a car with someone she didn't know.

25:03

But what if it were someone she

25:05

did know? Perhaps

25:07

he didn't even mean to kill her. Perhaps

25:10

in the midst of assaulting Judy, her

25:12

attacker smothered her. Or in

25:14

a panic that they might be overheard, strangled

25:16

her. Then there was the

25:19

matter of what to do with her body. If

25:21

her attacker was local, then they would have

25:24

known about the sawdust pile that had been

25:26

abandoned for years. Perhaps

25:28

they took her body there under the cover

25:30

of darkness later that Friday night. But

25:33

that would be a risky choice, to

25:35

move her body from the trunk of

25:37

a vehicle parked on a downtown street

25:39

and then walk a few hundred feet

25:41

into the woods. It's

25:43

possible the assault took place there. But

25:46

how did Judy get down to the saw pile in

25:48

the first place? Maybe the

25:50

killer was a boy, a classmate that

25:52

Judy trusted. And he

25:54

lured her to the sawdust pile under the

25:57

guise of having something cool to show her.

26:00

maybe a litter of kittens. She

26:02

went willingly, and then things took

26:04

a dark turn. He smoothed

26:06

the surface of her shallow makeshift

26:08

grave and walked away. It's

26:10

just a matter of waiting for nature to

26:12

dispose of his problem and for

26:15

the missing posters to tatter with age

26:17

and fall from the telephone pole. Detective

26:21

Sergeant Boutillier and his team had one

26:23

thing working in their favor. If

26:26

the person who murdered Judy Hand was

26:28

a local or even one of the

26:30

students attending the university, they

26:32

would feel the pressure. The whole

26:34

of Farmington was outraged by the

26:37

violence perpetrated against them. That,

26:39

coupled with the imposing presence of

26:41

the state homicide squad, the killer

26:44

must have been feeling the probing

26:46

eyes of everyone upon him. On

26:52

Monday, September 27th, four days

26:54

after Judy's body had been discovered,

26:56

the police questioned a man whose

26:58

name has never been publicly disclosed.

27:01

His narrative of the afternoon that

27:03

Judy disappeared had some discrepancies, they

27:05

thought, but ultimately they had no

27:08

reason to detain him. He

27:10

agreed to take a polygraph two days

27:13

later and was determined to be offering

27:15

truthful answers. While polygraphs

27:17

weren't admissible in court by the 70s, they

27:20

were and still are considered

27:22

a useful investigative tool for

27:24

interviewing suspects. A

27:26

second suspect, also unnamed, was questioned

27:29

by authorities in Augusta. That

27:32

person also agreed to take a polygraph.

27:34

The results of this test were deemed

27:37

inconclusive, but the police didn't feel that

27:39

there was enough direct evidence connecting the

27:41

suspect to Judy's death. So

27:43

the authorities turned to an unusual

27:45

resource to help them early in

27:47

the investigation. Kathleen

27:49

Blaisdell, who went by the name

27:51

Kamora, is a professional

27:54

psychic living in Rangeley, Maine. A

27:57

lecturer and self-proclaimed healer, Kamora

27:59

conductors, The and hundreds of d

28:01

hauntings in the Us during her career.

28:04

She. Also occasionally assisted police departments throughout

28:06

mean until her passing in two

28:08

thousand and three. It's. Unclear

28:10

who first reached out to Kimora in

28:13

the duty hand case. In. A

28:15

Ninety Ninety Seven Interview The Psychic

28:17

Recall that she told investigators that

28:19

Judy was definitely abducted and was

28:21

held a day or two before

28:23

she was killed. She. Added

28:25

I was able to describe the house

28:27

where the killer lived. He was somebody

28:29

in the community. And could

28:32

see this person. But then it was up

28:34

to the police to prove it. We.

28:36

Have no information about how much

28:38

of an impact Timorese assistance heard

28:40

on the case. Duties

28:44

family said goodbye to We're in

28:46

a private Baptists service on Sunday,

28:48

September twenty fifth. Of. The Adams

28:51

Funeral Home on court during farming Ten.

28:53

After the service, the family members

28:56

moved on to Fairview Cemetery, a

28:58

tiny green rectangle located and miles

29:00

southeast of the town centre. It

29:03

situated on High Street. The. Same street

29:05

where. She was last seen. In.

29:08

Years that followed when he held

29:10

parked cars that the fairground each

29:12

item right across high street from

29:14

the cemetery. Roger. Hand could

29:17

see his sister's final resting

29:19

place. It may have been

29:21

a comfort to him or a grim

29:23

reminder of his family's loss. Or.

29:25

Perhaps a little bit of both. The.

29:28

Residence of farming Ten were left without

29:30

an outlet for their anger about what

29:32

happened. a duty. Or sense

29:35

of helplessness grew as each day

29:37

ticked by without an arrest. On.

29:40

The Dave Her funeral The Morning

29:42

Sentinel announced that members of the public

29:44

had created a fund to offer

29:46

the community of Farming Ten and the

29:48

area and opportunity to express sympathy for

29:51

duties tragic death. Readers. Were

29:53

directed to leave contributions at First

29:55

National Bank or Mickey's Variety Store.

29:58

Businesses. bank churches and

30:00

schools were invited to contribute. Within

30:03

four days, the fund had reached $3,000. On

30:08

the 1st of October, Mickey McGuire wrote

30:10

a piece for the Franklin Journal, titled

30:12

A Response to the Judy Hand Fund,

30:15

in which he called on god-loving folks

30:17

to donate. Two weeks

30:19

later, the journal published a second call

30:21

to action, urging readers to

30:23

help the fund reach $5,000. It

30:26

met the mark by 8 a.m. the following morning,

30:28

and climbed to about $5,600, or roughly $42,000 today.

30:31

Most of the money went to help Judy's parents,

30:37

while a small portion was added for a

30:40

reward fund for any information about her

30:42

murder. Lillian and Edward

30:44

used the money to cover the cost of

30:46

Judy's funeral, and with the remainder,

30:48

they repaired their well and purchased a

30:50

new refrigerator. It was a great

30:52

help. But even more powerful

30:54

was the message that it sent. The

30:57

community stood with the Hand family,

30:59

enveloping them with their love and

31:02

support in a great time of

31:04

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told. The

32:25

weather grew colder and the daylight

32:28

hours shortened. The residents of Farmington

32:30

were on high alert, aware that Judy's

32:32

killer could very well be living among

32:34

them. Some families put

32:36

floodlights in their backyards and many parents

32:39

refused to let their children walk around

32:41

after dark or wait alone at a

32:43

school bus stop. At

32:45

the junior high school that Judy had

32:47

attended, teachers stopped issuing detentions that would

32:50

keep students late. One

32:52

Mount Blue High School teacher told the

32:54

press that they had given rides to

32:56

several students who stayed after school as

32:58

their parents didn't want them walking alone

33:00

under any circumstance. One

33:03

mother said, the murder has affected our

33:05

family and friends to a great extent.

33:08

Before it happened, we thought by living in

33:10

a town like Farmington, we were immune to

33:12

that sort of thing. Now

33:14

we know we're not. For

33:17

Halloween, one month after Judy's

33:19

death, several organizations collaborated to

33:21

offer alternatives to traditional trick

33:24

or treating for the town's

33:26

youngest children. The Farmington Businessmen's

33:28

Association held a Halloween themed

33:30

window painting contest with prizes

33:32

urging parents to accompany their

33:35

kids to participating stores. The

33:38

local lions and rotary clubs along with

33:40

Mount Blue Junior High students held a

33:42

party at the community center for little

33:44

kids through second grade. Other

33:46

clubs, the high school and the university

33:48

students held other Halloween parties for the

33:50

rest of the town's younger kids. It

33:53

was a dark time, but the community

33:55

adapted and looked out for one another, particularly

33:58

the children. In

34:01

February, Judith's father, Edward

34:03

Hand, passed away. After

34:06

battling cancer and living through the death

34:08

of his daughter, he was finally at

34:10

rest. In early

34:12

March, Chief Orr published a six-month update

34:15

on Judy's case, which he presented

34:17

with his annual report to the town

34:19

council. He wrote, I

34:22

feel at this time I should remind the people

34:24

of Farmington of the tragedy of the Handgirl and

34:26

ask again for any information or

34:29

help that anyone can give. There

34:32

is still a $5,000 reward being offered.

34:35

I'd like to inform people that this tragedy

34:37

has not been forgotten by police. He

34:40

also stated that the Farmington and

34:42

State Police were still dedicating every

34:44

spare moment to following up on

34:46

leads and speaking to witnesses. But

34:49

with that said, the trail was growing

34:51

cold. Going

34:54

forward, only one full-time investigator from

34:56

the State Police would continue to

34:58

work the case. The others

35:00

had been reassigned. Judy's

35:03

death would be the only murder in town

35:05

during Chief Orr's time on the force, and

35:07

it haunted him that the killer was never brought

35:10

to justice. In 1978,

35:12

for an article commemorating his 20th

35:14

anniversary on the force, he

35:16

noted that little short of confession

35:18

is likely to solve this case

35:21

at this late date. Judy's

35:24

siblings grew up and started families of

35:26

their own. Lillian remained

35:29

in Farmington surrounded by her friends

35:31

and family. Every fall,

35:33

when the college kids returned to campus

35:35

and the leaves began to change from

35:37

green to red, the family was

35:40

reminded that Judy's case remained

35:42

unsolved and her killer had

35:45

never faced justice for taking her away from

35:47

them. By

35:50

the fall of 1988, Judy's

35:52

case was cold and was

35:54

only occasionally reviewed, but

35:57

in late September of that year, Farmington

35:59

Police Office officer, Dennis Pike, was

36:01

watching the news and saw a

36:03

segment about a man being jailed

36:05

in Connecticut, who was being questioned

36:07

in connection with the death of

36:09

Mary Olinchuk, the girl murdered in

36:11

Kennebunk the year before Judy died.

36:14

The program brought up the old question

36:16

of whether the two girls had been

36:18

killed by the same person. There

36:20

was also a fleeting mention that at

36:23

least two people had confessed to Judy's

36:25

murder over the past 17 years, both

36:28

of which turned out to be false. Seeing

36:31

the segment reignited a spark in Officer

36:33

Pike, and he brought the case up

36:35

for review by the Farmington PD and the

36:37

state police. In October

36:39

of 1988, Stephen McCausland, public information

36:42

officer for the state police, shared

36:45

that there was new evidence in Judy's

36:47

case and that the investigation was reopened.

36:50

Farmington Police Sergeant Nolan Wilcox, now

36:52

the lead officer, refused to confirm

36:54

whether the evidence was based on

36:56

the arrest of the man in

36:59

Connecticut, but said that they would

37:01

be following up on new leads and

37:03

conducting interviews based on the information they

37:05

now had. Three state

37:07

police detectives traveled to Farmington to work

37:09

on the case. Meanwhile,

37:13

the morning Sentinel published a retrospective

37:15

and reached out to Lillian for

37:17

comment. Judy's mother told

37:19

the reporter that it was deeply painful

37:22

to remember that period of time, but

37:24

it would be worth it if the

37:26

renewed interest produced results. It's

37:29

been hard, she said. You

37:31

wonder if the killer is right near you, but

37:33

Judy had been put to rest, and

37:36

to dig her up again like this, it's hard

37:38

for all of us. Lillian

37:40

was still angry about the Farmington

37:42

PD's slow response to her initial

37:44

report when Judy went missing. If

37:47

they had gone out that night while the trail was

37:49

still fresh, they might have found her alive, or

37:52

if not alive, they might have found the

37:54

person who killed her. G4

37:57

had now retired from the force, but it was

38:00

serving as chairman of Farmington's board of

38:02

selectmen. He defended the department's

38:04

actions saying 48 hours

38:06

is the usual procedure. You

38:09

write it down and you put it out

38:11

over the radio, but you don't mount a

38:13

search because they generally show up. This

38:16

is the one that didn't. In

38:18

November, the main state police captain

38:20

told the media that while the case

38:23

was still being worked on, the

38:25

new evidence had not proven fruitful. That

38:28

said, the police were reviewing

38:30

the original case files and had

38:32

identified lingering questions from early in

38:34

the investigation that weren't properly answered

38:36

and interviews that weren't as thorough

38:38

as they could have been. They

38:41

continued working on the case. But

38:44

by the spring of 1989, the investigation had once again slowed to

38:46

a stop. In

38:51

1997, main state police detective

38:53

Mark Lopez told a reporter,

38:56

I think at this point to solve the case

38:58

would be almost short of a miracle. An

39:01

act of conscience or something as

39:03

sensational as a deathbed confession. How

39:06

do we know the killer is even alive? We

39:08

might be looking for a ghost. In

39:13

2001, there were some articles that surfaced

39:15

that mentioned Judy in connection to a

39:17

couple of nefarious characters. A father and

39:20

son duo that had done some bad

39:22

things. Raymond Trimmer, the

39:24

father and Raymond Parsons, the son, were

39:26

both arrested for the rape of a

39:28

12 year old girl in Massachusetts in

39:31

1972. The

39:33

son was convicted for it and served

39:35

a long sentence at Bridgewater State Hospital.

39:38

He was still incarcerated in 2001

39:40

when he implicated his father in

39:42

some unsolved crimes in New York.

39:45

Authorities took his statement seriously and

39:47

started investigating the father for the

39:49

crimes. This inspired a

39:51

multi-state task force to take a closer

39:53

look at the father's movement over the

39:55

years to see if he could be connected

39:58

to any other unsolved cases. One

40:00

of those cases was Judith's hand. The

40:03

son was 15 years old when Judy was killed in

40:06

1971. The father

40:08

was 38. It seems that

40:10

they were both free at the time. While

40:12

it is possible that one or both of them

40:14

could have been involved, there is nothing to connect

40:17

them to the case that I'm aware of. There

40:19

are no reports that they were in Farmington at

40:21

that time, nor did they seem to have any

40:24

connections to Farmington. The son didn't

40:26

implicate him in Judy's case specifically,

40:29

and more importantly, the other crimes

40:31

were in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and

40:33

New York, not Maine. Other

40:37

than these guys being serial offenders, nothing

40:39

else appears to connect them to Judy.

40:44

When Lily in hand passed away

40:46

in 2013, she was predeceased by

40:48

three of her children, Victoria,

40:50

the baby who died at birth,

40:53

Roger, one of the twins, who had lost his

40:55

son. She reached his battle to diabetes six years

40:57

prior, in Judy. Her

40:59

third son, Larry, told the local paper that

41:02

he believed his mother learned in death what

41:04

she could never find out in life. Now

41:07

she's up there with her. She

41:09

said then that she would know, and I

41:11

think she does now. There

41:14

have been multiple articles and TV segments

41:16

over the years that have turned over

41:19

Judy's case, inspected it seems, and tried

41:21

to find some piece of evidence that

41:23

was missed, or a witness who was

41:26

never interviewed. Without

41:28

DNA, and with memories waning and

41:30

relatives passing on, her murder may

41:33

remain a mystery. From

41:35

time to time, a member of the

41:37

state police, the Franklin County Sheriff's Department,

41:40

or the Farmington PD, will express

41:42

their remorse at never having solved

41:44

the case, never bringing peace

41:46

to the family. Judy's

41:49

hand is fading. Her

41:51

childhood predated the digital age, and

41:53

the only public photo of her

41:55

is the cherubic yearbook photo that

41:57

is circulated among law enforcement agencies.

42:00

and the media for decades. I

42:02

would absolutely love to see more photos of

42:05

her. The articles all refer

42:07

to her shyness and her

42:09

reliability even as a young child. But

42:12

that tells us nothing about her dreams, her

42:14

quirks, the things that made her laugh and

42:16

annoyed her, all the parts that make

42:19

up a person. Those reside only

42:21

in the memories of her loved ones.

42:24

We tried to reach her many surviving siblings,

42:26

but were unable to. To

42:29

the Hand family, if you're listening, I'm

42:31

still interested to speak with you and learn

42:33

more about Judy. But for

42:36

now, I'll leave you with some comments made

42:38

on a Facebook post about the case. From

42:41

a classmate, I went to

42:43

Mount Blue with her. Judy was the

42:45

most friendliest person you could ever meet.

42:47

Such a sweet girl. Bring

42:49

a friend. Judy was the kindest

42:52

person I knew, even though it's been

42:54

40 plus years. She touched us

42:56

all. From her future sister-in-law,

42:58

I hadn't known Judy long,

43:00

but she made me feel like I belonged

43:03

with Roger. I miss her too. Farmington

43:05

Fair is always a reminder. And

43:08

from her sister, Patricia. Thank

43:11

you everyone for caring about my

43:13

sister. If

43:19

you have any information about the murder of

43:22

Judith Hand, I encourage you to call the

43:24

Main State Police Major Crimes Unit South at

43:26

207-624-7076, extension nine. Thank

43:32

you so much for listening. A

43:34

detailed list of sources and photos from

43:36

this episode and more can be found

43:39

at murderstotoll.com. If you want

43:41

to support the show, there's a link in

43:43

the show notes with options. You can find

43:45

Murder, She Told on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook.

43:48

Thank you to Morgan Hamilton for her

43:50

writing, Iron Willis for his research

43:52

and writing support, and to Samantha

43:54

Colthart, Amanda Connolly, and Sam Wood

43:57

for their research support. If

43:59

you have a case suggestion... or a correction,

44:01

or you just want to say hi, you

44:03

can email me at hellowhatmurdershetold.com. My

44:05

hope is that I've kept the memories of your

44:07

loved ones alive. I'm Kristen

44:10

Seavey. Thank you for listening.