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Molly Bish murder


JonathanVonErich

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Molly Anne Bish (August 2, 1983 – June 27, 2000) was a sixteen-year-old girl from Warren, Massachusetts who was abducted and then murdered while working as a lifeguard in rural Massachusetts. Her body was found three years later after the largest search in the history of Massachusetts.

During the summer of 2000, Bish had been working as a lifeguard at Comins Pond in Warren. The day before her abduction, her mother Magi Bish claimed that she saw a man in a white sedan in the parking lot of the beach where her daughter's lifeguard post was positioned. Although the man looked suspicious to Magi, she had forgotten about him until after Molly's disappearance. The last person to see Molly before she was kidnapped was her mother.

It was believed that Molly's kidnapper had tricked her into believing he needed help from her and when she went to help him, she was abducted.

An extensive search took place to find Molly Bish. It was the largest and most expensive search for a missing person ever held in the commonwealth of Massachusetts. Her case was profiled on the American television shows America's Most Wanted, Unsolved Mysteries, and 48 Hours. On June 9, 2003, Bish's remains were found five miles from her family home. A hunter had seen a blue women's bathing suit in the woods on Whiskey Hill in Palmer, Massachusetts in the late fall of 2002. When he mentioned this to an aquaintance in May 2003 the aquaintance made the possible connection to Molly Bish, who had been wearing a blue bathing suit when she was abducted, and notified police. An intense search of the area soon located Molly's remains.To date, there have been no arrests in the case, though in 2005 a Connecticut resident was under investigation.

In February 2009 a new suspect emerged in the Molly Bish murder. The suspect is Rodney Stanger, a Southbridge native who lived at 232 Everett Street in Southbridge until the home was sold on 6/18/2001 and was in Southbridge for more than two decades. Stanger is now being held awaiting trial for the stabbing and decapitation murder of his live in girlfriend in Florida. The sister of that victim alerted the Massachussets authorities about Stanger following her sisters murder. Stanger was known to have access to a white car similar to that seen on the day of Bish's disappearance, was known to fish in Comins Pond, was known to hunt in the woods where Bish's body was found, and closely matches the composite provided by Bish's mother for the man seen in the white car the day before the murder. He is also being questioned in connection with the 1993 murder of Holly Piirainen.

Here's a photo of Molly: molly-bish4.jpg

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Random murders committed by people who don't know the victim personally are the hardest to solve. This Stanger guy sounds like he might be a good suspect. If he's found to be a suspect in the Piirainen case also, three's the charm. He needs further looking into because now he's a serial killer. For the sake of the mother I hope this case gets resolved.

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I saw a documentary where Molly's parents talked about the case....they are great people and they deserve to know who did this horrible act...

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yeah She-Ra, many people saw the strange white car in the area days before Molly was kidnapped...

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In fact many people saw a strange man in a white car days and days before Molly's abduction. Here's a sketch of the suspect: 220_Suspect27.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...
Interesting... I bet he stalked her before abducting her... just a thought.

gee, you think? ;)

ofcourse he did. He was obviously staking out his hunting grounds. Just like an animal. He obviously also had his abduction technique well rehearsed which makes me wonder if he had done this before.

I wonder how many missing person cases and/or rape cases can be pulled up from that area in those years and I wonder what else is hidden out in those woods. One thing is for sure, a serial killer will never stop, they are driven to kill. They might change M.O, area and their targets, but they rarely ever stop.

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great find Lilly, thanks for the link....i knew about that article, so nothing new, but thanks anyway...i hope we will find the monster who killed Molly...

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  • 1 month later...

The link to the ABC article mentions how Stanger's (the suspect)brother hasn't been seen since 2006. Did he perhaps know too much? This Stanger guy sounds capable of doing anything. And sadly that means anything evil.

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  • 5 months later...

i grew up in warren and went to school with the bish family. molly was in my younger sisters class. these things really hit close to home.

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  • 7 months later...

I Saw the 48 Hours episode about the murder of Molly again today on TLC. Man, what a sad case. I started this topic in September of 2009 and back then i was sure the case would be solved before the end of 2010. Sadly nothing new in the case. 61 year old Rodney Stanger, a longtime resident of Southbridge, MA fits the suspect sketch we've seen for years in print, on TV, and on billboards. Last october Stranger pleaded guilty to murdering his girlfriend and will spend the rest of his life in prison. Just days before the girlfriend was killed, she called a sister in Massachusetts looking for a phone number for the FBI, and she implied in that phone message that Stranger might be connected to the Molly Bish case. We have discovered that Stanger was an avid outdoorsman. Not only did he fish in Comins Pond, he was also a hunter. And he hunted in the woods of Palmer, which is the next town over from Warren. That's where Molly's body was discovered in June 2003, three years after she vanished.In addition, Stanger had access to a white car similar to the make and model of the car Magi Bish saw that day. Our investigation also uncovered that Rodney Stanger was a very violent man while he lived in the Warren area. I'm sure he's the monster who killed Molly. Hopefully he will tell the truth before he die.

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I hope this guy finds some shred of decency in himself and confesses too. Not likely to happen, but he still sounds like the best suspect.

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I agree with you Susie. And by the way You were the first one who posted a reply on this thread back in 2009, so it's another proof that it's always the same people who post replies in the True Crime Section. ^_^

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  • 9 months later...

oops, i replyed to the wrong post

Edited by billyf
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Just found a new video about the case, from the short lived "new version" of Unsolved Mysteries.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Au1Jjb37SA

i can see my road in that video, its crazy how close to home things like this realy are. my sister went to school with molly.

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i can see my road in that video, its crazy how close to home things like this realy are. my sister went to school with molly.

Amazing stuff Billy; are people in your area still talking about the case ??

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Amazing stuff Billy; are people in your area still talking about the case ??

yeah, i dont think that people will stop talking about it for a long time. it was a big thing in such a small town.

i tend to disagree with the idea they have that she was taken from the pond to the cemetary through the woods. i know the trails around the pond very well( i have lived in town for 22 years now ) it would be easier to just park in the parking lot then to risk leaving the car in the cemetary and take the time to walk down either of the two trails that lead there from the pond. they are both well traveld trails and it would take at least five minutes to walk them(even longer if she was icapacitated and needed to be carried). the parking lot is thirty seconds a way and can only be seen by one house.

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by the way, im almost positive it was stanger. he fits the profile and looks alot like the sketch. i just hope for her family that someday they can prove it or he confesses.

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yeah, i dont think that people will stop talking about it for a long time. it was a big thing in such a small town.

i tend to disagree with the idea they have that she was taken from the pond to the cemetary through the woods. i know the trails around the pond very well( i have lived in town for 22 years now ) it would be easier to just park in the parking lot then to risk leaving the car in the cemetary and take the time to walk down either of the two trails that lead there from the pond. they are both well traveld trails and it would take at least five minutes to walk them(even longer if she was icapacitated and needed to be carried). the parking lot is thirty seconds a way and can only be seen by one house.

Very interesting Billy, thanks for sharing, first time I have the chance to talk with somebody from the area where the murder took place. :)

Thanks for sharing your opinion about the cemetary theory, very interesting. I have never been to your town so I'm sure you are right. I think the cemetary theory came up because some people have seen a white car parked outside of the cemetary, right ?? I have seen the episode of 48 hours mystery dedicated to the case many times and in the episode they have shown the alleged path of the abductor and I agree with you, the trails are very well traveled.

I agree 100% with you, there's no doubt in my mind that it was the work of a stranger, however in my opinion this man knew the area very well and made several trips there, and I'm sure that he had stalked Molly long before he abducted and killed her, weeks and maybe even months before he decided to act.

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Very interesting Billy, thanks for sharing, first time I have the chance to talk with somebody from the area where the murder took place. :)

Thanks for sharing your opinion about the cemetary theory, very interesting. I have never been to your town so I'm sure you are right. I think the cemetary theory came up because some people have seen a white car parked outside of the cemetary, right ?? I have seen the episode of 48 hours mystery dedicated to the case many times and in the episode they have shown the alleged path of the abductor and I agree with you, the trails are very well traveled.

I agree 100% with you, there's no doubt in my mind that it was the work of a stranger, however in my opinion this man knew the area very well and made several trips there, and I'm sure that he had stalked Molly long before he abducted and killed her, weeks and maybe even months before he decided to act.

i agree that he stalked molly long before the incedent. i also think he had something to do with the holly piirenin case witch unfortunatly i am also close to. i know it sounds ubeliveable but they found holly just off of my fathers freinds property in the brimfeild state forest. if you would like i can pm you some details that i am not comfortable posting publicly about that.
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