Massachusetts authorities announced Tuesday that human remains and a car of a missing 17-year-old girl were recently recovered, in disruption of the cold case spanning four decades.
Investigators recently found a car that sank in the Concord River, a 16.3-mile-long tributary of the Merrimack River in eastern Massachusetts that was uniquely identified as the 1972 Dodge Dart Swinger, which was last seen by Judith Chartier on the 5th at Seen leaving a party.
As part of an ongoing investigation into her disappearance, the Massachusetts State Police diving team and civilian divers found significant parts of a vehicle in the river. Later Tuesday, it was confirmed that these pieces were from Chattier’s vehicle by matching the vehicle identification number (VIN).
FAMILY OF MINNESOTA WOMAN KILLED IN THE 1980s CONTINUE TO PROGRESS COLD CASE
“This is a very significant development in this case and we are still testing the car for additional evidence,” Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said in a statement. “Unfortunately, this discovery comes after Judith’s friends and family have missed her for nearly forty years and wondered what happened that day. We are determined to continue our search for these answers.”
Judy Chartier holds a photo of her missing daughter, also known as Judith Judy Chartier, on May 10, 1990 in Lowell, Massaschusetts.
(Tom Landers / The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
On June 5, 1982, Judith Chartier, then 17, disappeared from Chelmsford after leaving a party in Billerica. Friends said she was last seen around 2 a.m., according to prosecutors.
Ryan said the car was found along with “various human remains” and a Chartier work ID – but prosecutors could not confirm whether the remains belonged to the missing teenager, the Boston Herald reported. Ryan also credited the new sonar technology for helping investigators locate the vehicle, submerged about two to three meters in the murky river.
The only surviving members of Chartier’s family are two of her brothers, one of whom said he “went through all the emotions at once” upon learning of the car and the human remains found.
“We can finally get her to rest,” Joe Chartier told the Boston Herald on Wednesday, describing how he felt “mostly relieved” to be able to hold an appropriate burial for his sister’s “kind soul”.
Joe Chartier pointed out two Billerica men who were acquaintances of Judith Chartier’s then fiancé, who turned up at their parents’ house around 7am on the day of their disappearance to tell them they were missing. Nobody said they saw who she left the party with, but Joe said Judith had previously turned down romantic advances from one of the men who came to his family that day.
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The investigation is being conducted by the Middlesex District Attorney’s Cold Case Unit, the Billerica Police Department, the Chelmsford Police Department, the Massachusetts State Police detectives assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office and the Massachusetts State Police diving team.
Ryan also thanked Bruce Stebbins and Hans Hug of Sonar Search and Recovery, civilian experts, for their “critical assistance” in using the EdgeTech sonar system to locate the vehicle.
