(TheRedWire.com) – All too frequently, missing persons cases go cold, and investigators rarely resolve them. Fortunately, it’s possible that a nearly forty-year-old case may finally receive closure. In 1982, a missing 17-year-old teen suddenly disappeared without cause. Recently, underwater divers discovered an ID card belonging to Judith Chartier and unidentified human remains in a Massachusetts river. Local authorities said divers also found large portions of Chartier’s 1972 Dodge Dart Swinger in the Concord River, a few miles northwest of Boston. Investigators verified the car’s ownership through its vehicle identification number.
Human remains, ID card found in search for Massachusetts teen missing since 1982 https://t.co/g9apo7yUkq pic.twitter.com/0yVXXpgi21
— New York Post (@nypost) November 4, 2021
In addition to human remains and ID, divers also found some clothing, and a purse that belonged to the teen. The discovery was made approximately 50 to 75 yards from a riverbank in about 8 to 10 feet of murky water. Investigators are unclear how the vehicle wound up in the river. They say the landscape had significantly changed since 1982 when Chartier vanished.
The teenager’s parents passed away. In 1990, Chartier’s mother told the local newspaper that not knowing where her daughter was or if she was okay changed her life for the worse. She said she had no way of knowing if foul play was involved or if she was alive, adding that not knowing her fate made things particularly difficult.
Authorities said it could take weeks or months to positively identify the remains as belonging to Chartier. Based on circumstantial evidence, it’s likely, but officials need scientific proof before making the identification official.
Copyright 2021, TheRedWire.com
