MA MA - Simone Ridinger, 17, Sherborn, 2 Sept 1977

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SherbornMADetective said:
Unfortunately the 70 y/o has since passed and there was never any follow-up interview with him or into his story.... Doing it 40 years later is difficult but it is in the works. Striking out on finding records of a MV stop but I have a different way I plan to go about it. But yes those follow-up questions would've made a ton of sense, unfortunately, they were never asked.... I know who the 70 y/o is and his history etc. I also tracked down the only surviving member of his family a son who would've been in his teens in 1977. Conversation with him revealed the 70 y/o never shared this story with him or his family to his knowledge, interesting.
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SherbornMADetective, your last line just gave me a big WOW. That is very curious indeed...Compared to the 70 year old I realize Simone was younger, faster, etc..but she was only 5'2" or 5'3" Maybe under the right conditions, with her guard down she could have been overpowered. Keep researching his world...maybe an ex-co-worker or neighbor could shed some light. On the MV stop search, I got to thinking you might come up empty there. If the 70 year old was good enough to give Simone a ride, I would think the trooper would let him go with a warning or nothing at all...
 
jgfitzge said:
SherbornMADetective, your last line just gave me a big WOW. That is very curious indeed...Compared to the 70 year old I realize Simone was younger, faster, etc..but she was only 5'2" or 5'3" Maybe under the right conditions, with her guard down she could have been overpowered. Keep researching his world...maybe an ex-co-worker or neighbor could shed some light. On the MV stop search, I got to thinking you might come up empty there. If the 70 year old was good enough to give Simone a ride, I would think the trooper would let him go with a warning or nothing at all...
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BBM
That's along the lines as to what I was thinking, that he may have been let off with a warning if he agreed to take Simone. Heck, that could have been the real reason why he was pulled over, so she could be handed off. That early in the morning, if he was due to head home, I could see that happening so he wouldn't have to mess with traffic. I imagine it would have been a madhouse over a holiday weekend.
Did the old man say approximately where he was when he was pulled over? I seemed to have missed that if it were mentioned.
 
SherbornMADetective said:
Hey Jmoose; So it definitely seems unlikely but in 1977 I could see this being possible unfortunately - today the liability would make this literally insane to consider. But 1977 was a different world I am sure. I plan to speak with retired troopers to get their sense on the how common this may have been. Thanks for your question I hope I answered it.
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You understood exactly where I was going!
 
Hey JGFitz, So yes I understand what you are saying; younger/faster. I agree though that a 70 y/o man could still over a teenage girl. He by no means was ever described as being a feeble old man. He had just retired at the age of 72 so he was still very capable. I do agree, a break for a favor is possible in terms of the trooper stop. Even if it did occur is it on record? Maybe not.
 
So I tracked down the 70 y/o's son a few months ago and spoke to him. He said his dad would've left so early to avoid the traffic on labor day weekend. So the timeline makes sense. His dad was a hobby clock builder and he said his dad went to the cape often for clock parts. His dad is his 1986 interview said he was going to Osterville for clock parts so the story makes some sense. ONE thing I saw after re-reading the interview report apparently the girl who got into the 70 y/o's car said she was "heading to the rotary in Hyannis to meet her folks." THIS may explain a little bit less suspiciously as to why he dropped her off at the rotary in Hyannis instead of the Bourne or Sagamore bridge.
 
No kidding! Haha small world! Well glad to see you on here and we certainly appreciate your interest in this case. I honestly think we got a shot - just follow the clues piece by piece, eliminate the leads you can close out and confirm as not connected and move onto the next one. The 70 y/o man lead is very viable and we will exhaust every avenue we can to figure it out. Just a heads up to ALL - the CAPE COD TIMES should be doing a story on this case soon. Please keep your eyes out for it if it hasn't already come out. We want as much attention on this case down on Cape Cod as possible!!!!!
 
SherbornMADetective said:
So I tracked down the 70 y/o's son a few months ago and spoke to him. He said his dad would've left so early to avoid the traffic on labor day weekend. So the timeline makes sense. His dad was a hobby clock builder and he said his dad went to the cape often for clock parts. His dad is his 1986 interview said he was going to Osterville for clock parts so the story makes some sense. ONE thing I saw after re-reading the interview report apparently the girl who got into the 70 y/o's car said she was "heading to the rotary in Hyannis to meet her folks." THIS may explain a little bit less suspiciously as to why he dropped her off at the rotary in Hyannis instead of the Bourne or Sagamore bridge.
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Hi SherbornMADetective - thanks again for your input on this case. Again, being a local just a little effort and creativity can bring you closer to solving a lot of these cold cases. Just look at the news yesterday concerning the Ziegert 25 year old murder case in Agawam. Anyway, your re-reading of the interview prompted a question you may want to ask the family. Check to see if Simone was to meet them first on the mainland (Hyannis?) before going to Martha's Vineyard. The reason I say that is back on one of the earlier pages there is a blog entry (see below) where Simone mentioned to coworkers "[FONT=&quot]she had to meet her mother at a relative's home in Cape Cod, which is about 81 miles (one hour and thirty six minutes) away"[/FONT] Maybe both the interview and the blog entry really mean Martha's Vineyard and not about meeting at a house on the mainland first before going over to the MV. It may be worth clearing this point up.

http://deaniepeters-missingangels.blogspot.com/2012/08/simone-stephanie-ridinger-missing-35.html
 
So I did track down Simone’s mothers’ boyfriend. He wasdating Simone’s mom during the time Simone went missing. I interviewed him about2 years ago. He and Simone’s mom went to the Vineyard together and wereexpecting Simone etc. When I interviewed him he did not indicate any stops on themainland prior to heading to Martha’s Vineyard. He reported that they wentright to the Vineyard to the family house for the holiday. Now, one thingof note, one of Simone’s uncles resided on the mainland believed to be Cotuitat the time. From the airport rotary it would’ve been a straight shot downRoute 28 to get to his house. We obtained DNA from the unlce’s (2 of them so wecould upload it into the database etc) but I do not believe they ever did an extensiveinterview with them. I will put them on my list as they are still alive.

 
So there is no documentation at all about an officer having Simone in his vehicle?
Is the officer & the man's 'exchange' with giving Simone a ride based on evidence or only the man's 1986 report?
Where did the clothing description from the restaurant come from, is it known or documented?


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intriguedcuriosity said:
So there is no documentation at all about an officer having Simone in his vehicle?
Is the officer & the man's 'exchange' with giving Simone a ride based on evidence or only the man's 1986 report?
Where did the clothing description from the restaurant come from, is it known or documented?


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Hi there - Currently it looks like it is based on the 1986 report. However, there seems to be some credibility as the clothing descriptions given by eye witnesses the day before match the elderly man's clothing description. The clothing description came from Rainbow restaurant employees when interviewed by LE.

Please check out some of the previous posts as these questions were brought up and answered along with other comments and questions.
 
jgfitzge said:
Hi there - Currently it looks like it is based on the 1986 report. However, there seems to be some credibility as the clothing descriptions given by eye witnesses the day before match the elderly man's clothing description. The clothing description came from Rainbow restaurant employees when interviewed by LE.

Please check out some of the previous posts as these questions were brought up and answered along with other comments and questions.
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Hi. I did read all the previous posts. Thanks.

Based on the new information from the more recent investigation, the clothing description changed.

Originally she was described as wearing the clothing in the picture provided to the police when reported missing.

Upon investigation in 2016, they interviewed the restaurant employee for the first time.

It was then the new description of what she was wearing was released, because the detective said it was also what the 70 year old man described. And was DIFFERENT than originally reported outfit of a skirt and brown boots.

My question was, where did that original description of the clothing she went missing in come from?


**if I have misinterpreted what the investigator has shared, I apologize, but my post and questions regarding Simone's disappearance were made after reading this thread twice and taking notes. I was unable to find clear answers to my questions. If you could link me to the posts I missed it would be appreciated.*

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Hey intriguedcuriosity; so thank you for your interest and the clarification of your question; that frankly is a excellent question; one which I asked myself when I began to re-examine this case in 2014. That original description of the purple Indian print wrap around skirt, brown boots and broad brimmed hat is strongly believed to have been obtained from the photos obtained by SPD from the family shortly after she was reported missing. Clearly that is a massive issue as her outfit in the photos has nothing to do with what she was wearing when she left work.
 
Hey Justice, the articles jumbled a couple things: I began re-examining the case in 2014 and finally was able to track down women who worked with Simone just last fall in 2016. Sadly my contact with them was the first time they had ever been interviewed by Police.... despite this the interviews with 5 former Rainbow waitresses were extremely helpful & one of them has been confirmed to have been working with Simone on Friday 9/2/77. She provided that description which was eerily similar to the 70 y/o man. She had no knowledge of his description from 1986 and has no connection to him. These circumstances paint a very convincing scenario where it's highly likely that our 70 y/o saw Simone the morning after she was last seen leaving work. This is clear because the descriptions were so close all the way down to her carrying a small gray duffel bag. The question now.... did he drop her off on the cape as claimed or did he not? I am and have been working diligently to verify everything I can regarding his story. I know quite a lot about who he was, his past, his family, his properties so we shall see where his story leads us. It's just very exciting to corroborate such a vital piece of information.
 
Thanks again, SherbornMaDet.

Would you please be able to provide a list of rule outs of unidentified remains cases she has been compared to & ruled out for over the decades?
 
SherbornMADetective said:
Alleykins, I believe you can find the list of exclusions on Simone's NamUs page. Check it out on there, I tried posting an image of it on here but was having some difficulty. Let me know if that answers some of your questions. Simone has been compared to 25 unidentified parties.
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I'm not sure if I have the same access to NamUs that you do, as part of the general public, but I really appreciate you trying.
 
SherbornMADetective said:
Hey Justice, the articles jumbled a couple things: I began re-examining the case in 2014 and finally was able to track down women who worked with Simone just last fall in 2016. Sadly my contact with them was the first time they had ever been interviewed by Police.... despite this the interviews with 5 former Rainbow waitresses were extremely helpful & one of them has been confirmed to have been working with Simone on Friday 9/2/77. She provided that description which was eerily similar to the 70 y/o man. She had no knowledge of his description from 1986 and has no connection to him. These circumstances paint a very convincing scenario where it's highly likely that our 70 y/o saw Simone the morning after she was last seen leaving work. This is clear because the descriptions were so close all the way down to her carrying a small gray duffel bag. The question now.... did he drop her off on the cape as claimed or did he not? I am and have been working diligently to verify everything I can regarding his story. I know quite a lot about who he was, his past, his family, his properties so we shall see where his story leads us. It's just very exciting to corroborate such a vital piece of information.
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Hi SherbornMADetective,

Whenever, I research these cold cases or missing person cases, I try to block out all extraneous stuff and try to narrow the time and place as much as I can, earth shattering concept, eh:) So, I see that Simone was last seen leaving her job at the Rainbow on Friday, 9/2 and was around 2- 3:00 PM, thereabouts? She was seen with a gray duffel bag and the 70 yo man who allegedly gave her a ride also described a gray duffel bag. He claims he picked her up at around 6:45 AM the next day, Saturday. I am going out on a limb here and say she made it through that Friday night. I have no idea what she did or where she stayed in those 14-15 hours. The son of the 70 yo said he made made semi-regular trips down to Osterville for parts, leaving early on Saturday to beat traffic. I am going to assume he was coming from either the North Shore...maybe metro-west...I cannot see him crossing paths with Simone in the Sherborn/Natick area, only on the highway that morning. So, for me, I really don't care how Simone ended up in the trooper's car or whether she ever was in a trooper's car, I believe she made it to 128/95. Now, whether it was 6:45....may be open to debate. And if the focus is going to be on the 70 yo man who gave her a ride, then it may also call into question whether she even made it over the bridge....
 
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