Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)
SEVEN YEARS LATER, CASE IS STILL OPEN \ DISAPPEARANCE OF
April 11, 1993
Section: LOCAL NEWS
Page: B1
By Harold A. Gushue Jr.; Telegram & Gazette Staff
STURBRIDGE - Deborah (Pappas) Post was four months pregnant and two weeks past her 25th birthday the last time she was seen at her cape-style home at 7 Wallace Road.
That was seven years ago this week, and the April 13, 1986, disappearance of the pretty 5-foot, 3-inch brunette still puzzles Police Chief Kevin Fitzgibbons, who worked hard on what is still technically an open case. "I think that there is someone involved in this investigation who has additional information that did not come out during the course of the initial investigation," the chief said in a recent interview.
Declining to be specific, he speculated that "fear and loyalty" have stopped the person from coming forward - fear of being involved in the investigation, and loyalty to some others who were questioned.
It was 12:09 p.m. April 13, 1986, when Larry B. Post, 26, reported his wife missing. Police said Post reported seeing his wife late in the afternoon of April 12 at their home.
He told police someone forced entry into the house and it appeared his wife was removed forcibly from the residence. "That was his opinion," Fitzgibbons said. Evidence included some damage to a piece of furniture and items strewn around. Police said they found no sign of forced entry. Deborah Post's car was left at the house.
Police used a helicopter, dogs and also had the water level lowered at Westville Dam, not far from Wallace Road, but the search for Deborah Post proved fruitless. Her pocketbook was found in a trash container on Interstate 91, just south of Rocky Hill, Conn., where the couple lived before moving to Sturbridge. The purse contained her identification and personal items.
After police questioned Post the day he reported her missing, he left to get some paperwork from his office at Aetna Life and Casualty Insurance Co. in Middletown, Conn. Police said he believed the papers might help in the investigation. That was the last police saw of him for some time.
On June 16, 1986, the Nevada National Bank reported a man using Post's identification had cashed two checks stolen from Southern Nevada Goodwill Industries in Las Vegas. The checks totaled about $5,000.
A subsequent handwriting analysis showed Post signed the checks. Warrants were issued for his arrest in August 1986 at the request of Metropolitan Police in Las Vegas. He was arrested Sept. 7, 1986, and after a court trial, was sentenced to five years in jail, the sentence suspended, and he was to make restitution, Fitzgibbons said. Fitzgibbons said local police traveled to Nevada to question Post about his wife's disappearance, but the interviews produced no new leads.
HE WON'T TALK
Post, who now lives in the area of Meriden, Conn.,, turned down a request for a telephone interview last week, saying, "I'm not going to do any of that."
Deborah's mother, Shirley Pappas, sobbed as she also declined a telephone interview recently.
Post's father, William Post, said the couple met in the insurance office where they both worked, and had been married between a year and 18 months when she disappeared.
A 1979 graduate of Enfield, Conn., High School, Deborah Pappas was an honor student in a class of about 400 students. Although her smiling face can be seen in several club pictures in the school yearbook, several of Deborah's former teachers and classmates and her National Honor Society adviser could recall little or nothing about her except that she was pleasant.
Besides four years on the honor roll, Deborah worked on committees for a prom and variety shows, held student government offices, and was manager of the junior varsity baseball team. In her junior year, she joined the Future Business Leaders of America and was in the club in her senior year as well.
Her low profile apparently continued into married life. The Posts' next-door neighbor, Monique Hager of 9 Wallace Road, said she knew little about them. Hager said she only saw the Posts a couple times during the six months they rented their home, adding that the shades were usually drawn at the Post house.
The Crime Prevention and Control unit attached to District Attorney John J. Conte's office also investigated the Post case. Conte's office said the case remains open, but would make no further comment.
"NO SIGN OF HER'
Fitzgibbons said, "I think there is enough time that has gone by that anyone with information that would assist us would be looked upon as someone who is attempting to cooperate with the authorities. Anyone that would like to discuss the case or information regarding the case can contact me directly and it will be handled discreetly and totally on a confidential basis."
"I think probably the thing that bothers me the most," Fitzgibbons said, "is the fact that we did have physical evidence at the scene which indicated some sort of altercation, and then the total disappearance of the victim, Deborah Post ... But the fact that there has been no sign of her or any indication of her leaving, picking up a different name, residence. Normally, there is something which surfaces after a period of time."
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