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

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SeaSparrow, good questions and analysis, at this point, I think the MSP trooper asking the elderly man to take Colleen to the Cape is BS. Now, if it did happen, and it was "innocent" the trooper would have come forward. In other words, he saw Simone stranded, it was near the end of the shift, and he lucked out with a motorist going down the Cape. You know, as I wrote that last sentence, even I don't believe it!.... The only thing I thought about his hesitancy about coming forward was maybe there was a little hanky-panky going on between the trooper and Simone and he knew it would look bad all around.

Anyway, I was thinking, when the elderly man reported this 9 years later, how would he get around the police looking into the trooper angle and getting caught in a lie? This is just speculation but how would he tell this story and not be concerned about LE checking it out? Did he just give a vague, "he was young, Caucasian, short hair, clean shaven" (probably 70% of MSP) and leave it at that knowing it really can't be verified? Or, did a young MSP trooper pass away in 85/86 and the elderly man say it was that trooper, knowing the story could not be verified? Also, him not telling his family speaks volumes to me. He had two occasions to do so.
 
jgfitzge said:
SeaSparrow, good questions and analysis, at this point, I think the MSP trooper asking the elderly man to take Colleen to the Cape is BS. Now, if it did happen, and it was "innocent" the trooper would have come forward. In other words, he saw Simone stranded, it was near the end of the shift, and he lucked out with a motorist going down the Cape. You know, as I wrote that last sentence, even I don't believe it!.... The only thing I thought about his hesitancy about coming forward was maybe there was a little hanky-panky going on between the trooper and Simone and he knew it would look bad all around.

Anyway, I was thinking, when the elderly man reported this 9 years later, how would he get around the police looking into the trooper angle and getting caught in a lie? This is just speculation but how would he tell this story and not be concerned about LE checking it out? Did he just give a vague, "he was young, Caucasian, short hair, clean shaven" (probably 70% of MSP) and leave it at that knowing it really can't be verified? Or, did a young MSP trooper pass away in 85/86 and the elderly man say it was that trooper, knowing the story could not be verified? Also, him not telling his family speaks volumes to me. He had two occasions to do so.
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Hey. Not sure if you read the Cape Cod Times article, but it is very extensive and informative.



"Police showed the man a photo of Ridinger and he said she was the girl.

“No question in his mind that girl was Simone,” Godinho said. The man also mentioned she was wearing ‘gaudy’ jewelry, which jibed with Ridinger’s reported penchant for turquoise, silver and rings on every finger.

But nothing ever came of it. Godinho has yet to find documentation in state or local police records of the man being pulled over, and there is no record of an officer or trooper picking up a girl that fit Ridinger’s description.

There was also no mention of why the man was pulled over in the statement taken by police.


“I’ve been trying like a son of a gun to try and confirm this guy’s story,” Godinho said. “There are so many questions.”

The man has since died, but Godinho tracked down his son, who would have been 31 at the time. The son said he never remembered his father telling him the story of giving the girl a lift.

The man’s story doesn’t pass muster with Stevens. “I don’t believe that,” he said, adding that he doesn’t think Ridinger ever made it out of the Natick area.

“I don’t think she made the Cape,” he said. “I have nothing to base that on. It’s just a gut feeling.” "


Stevens is the Officer who took the missing person report from Simones mother.

http://www.capecodtimes.com/news/20170924/cold-case-where-is-simone-ridinger
 
“Properties”, hmmm. It would be quite something to try and piece together his activities over that time period , try to confirm / verify any encounters he claimed to have had (especially for the alleged Osterville trip) and search his properties. I know that requires a warrant but just a crazy idea I had . I wonder if he owned any property on the cape .
 
Ha ha yes he did live in Framingham. ... I feel the same way .... could be entirely B.... S! I am actively working on the employee listings from 1977 and will be speaking to someone who worked for them back in that era. Regarding your other questions; He called Sherborn PD and then came in to the station; one thing I found interesting looking at the interview report; he calls Sherborn PD 4/24/86 at 9:50 AM and says he has info so they ask him to come on by for an interview. He then shows up at10:15 AM - kinda quick to come on down, always seemed to me like he was eager to talk.
 
The only thing about her going back to her apartment and possibly getting ready for the trip that I have doubts on is that this 70 y/o describes her in clothing & with belongings that matches almost exactly to what the waitress said she recalled Simone leaving in. So maybe its more likely he saw her sooner than he indicates....
 
Hey SeaSparrow - thank you very much for joining the conversation and glad the article peaked your interest. We are not putting all our eggs in one basket and believing the elderly man's story, but, the article is something we needed to do to try and get feedback from the Cape Cod area in the event it was true because sadly after this guy came in back in 1986...I can't find a shred of follow-up on his story.

So yes...he waits 9 years to come in and its' only because he finally sees an article - agreed very very suspicious. The thing with the logs; I've gone down that road extensively and we just can't find a single entry to confirm it.

Yes, son confirmed the clock parts and Osterville but did not know his dad's business ties with the clock building stuff. Regarding your other questions.... see above no follow-up done on his statement in 1986 - trying to do it in 2014-2017 (40ish years later) isn't exactly the most fruitful, however, those leads are being exhausted.

So yes, they both lived In Framingham in 1977...... (2.5 miles away In fact..... ) I 100% think he could've been familiar with Simone via the Rainbow, especially because he also worked in Natick (not far from the Rainbow) .... I have already begun looking into this and done some interviews pertaining to it just recently - he very well could have killed her but, a lot more follow-up to go.

And yes the trooper story.....unlikely but I don't want to dismiss the possibility that it could've happened.
 
SherbornMADetective said:
The lack of ever telling that story to his son at all is odd - definitely something I think would've been shared at some point over the 9 years before he came in to Sherborn PD. Also, he never mentioned anything to his son about coming into Sherborn PD. Very unusual.
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OK, among several things, this one is most bewildering and says a lot to me. I know we are all different but, If I was the elderly gent, and I got home later that day and my wife asked "how was my day?" I think the first thing I would say was "honey, you would never believe what happened...I got pulled over on 128 and got no ticket, instead I gave this young girl a ride down the Cape!!" OK maybe he missed that opportunity, But...years later he reads a report in the paper (would love to find out if there was a story in early 86...) and Rip Van Wrinkle realizes the girl he gave a ride to 9 years earlier is missing (see my eyes roll...) and reports it to LE. And once again, he doesn't say anything to his family...Please...
 
SherbornMADetective said:
Hey SeaSparrow - thank you very much for joining the conversation and glad the article peaked your interest. We are not putting all our eggs in one basket and believing the elderly man's story, but, the article is something we needed to do to try and get feedback from the Cape Cod area in the event it was true because sadly after this guy came in back in 1986...I can't find a shred of follow-up on his story. - I am still wrestling with how he got the Trooper story out without fear of Sherborn PD checking the specifics. So, I can only say he gave no details on this aspect. Think about it...if the elderly man said, yes, the trooper's name was Smith, well, Sherborn PD could easily check to see if there was a MSP trooper by that name in that area. Another thing...he was very specific and detailed about Simone's clothing, jewelry, etc, yet, apparently lacking in detail concerning the trooper...that is why there is no detail in the report.

So yes...he waits 9 years to come in and its' only because he finally sees an article - agreed very very suspicious. The thing with the logs; I've gone down that road extensively and we just can't find a single entry to confirm it. - Beside the Boston Globe and Herald, was there a Metro West newspaper in 1986? There is some reference to a "story" from 1986 and would love to find out if that was published before or after April, 1986.

Yes, son confirmed the clock parts and Osterville but did not know his dad's business ties with the clock building stuff. Regarding your other questions.... see above no follow-up done on his statement in 1986 - trying to do it in 2014-2017 (40ish years later) isn't exactly the most fruitful, however, those leads are being exhausted.

So yes, they both lived In Framingham in 1977...... (2.5 miles away In fact..... ) I 100% think he could've been familiar with Simone via the Rainbow, especially because he also worked in Natick (not far from the Rainbow) .... I have already begun looking into this and done some interviews pertaining to it just recently - he very well could have killed her but, a lot more follow-up to go. - OK, according to all published reports, there was a lot of media coverage, posters, searches, etc...especially in the Natick/Framingham area, and the elderly did not know about this until 1986?? He lived and worked in the area...comon...

And yes the trooper story.....unlikely but I don't want to dismiss the possibility that it could've happened.
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I made a few comments in red...
 
Fitz, good stuff - the extensive detail about " the girl " is quite eye catching. I mean verbatim from his interview he even uses adjectives to describe the shoes such as "grubby white sneakers" And reported "she smelled like she needed to take a bath" (not sure I shared that before) but just oddly specific and detailed. Yet as you indicated bland and vanilla on most other parts - almost as if he was with her long enough to remember all those specifics in such intimate detail even 9 years later... and the rest is vague with basic/generic specifics because it was created instead of remembered.

Regarding the article he claims to have seen I have a paper dated the day before.... catch is who ever secured it for the case folder hand wrote the date (the day before elderly man calls) - not a copy of the whole paper with the printed date etc... hmmm.

AND yea - lives down the street and works in same town as Rainbow Restaurant where Simone worked but he only sees it 9 years later.... unlikely
 
When she was reported missing, was her apartment ever checked for work clothes on the bed or in a laundry basket? Or if clothes and personal belongings were missing as if she came home and packed. Theory of leaving work first, diner clothes...or going back to the apt to change.
 
Sweetluv said:
Wonder if the coworker could ID the elderly man as a regular customer in the restaurant? Something is off with the timeline....maybe he used the cop story to seem more credible? Criminal record of any kind?
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I was wondering the same thing, if the 70 yr old was a regular and if some of her former coworkers could confirm that, considering he lived in the same town as she, and not too far away. I was also trying to come up with reasons as to why he might possibly fabricate the story about the trooper; surely he knew they could possibly verify the story at that time, a lot easier than they could today.
Your idea about him trying to lend more credibility to the story is the only reason I could think of, but it seems to me it could have just easily refuted it, too?
 
Alleykins said:
I was wondering the same thing, if the 70 yr old was a regular and if some of her former coworkers could confirm that, considering he lived in the same town as she, and not too far away. I was also trying to come up with reasons as to why he might possibly fabricate the story about the trooper; surely he knew they could possibly verify the story at that time, a lot easier than they could today.
Your idea about him trying to lend more credibility to the story is the only reason I could think of, but it seems to me it could have just easily refuted it, too?
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Hi Alleykins,

I think I put forward a couple of possibilities of how the 70 yr old gets around that trooper story. I believe he kept that part of the story intentionally vague. So, IMO he accomplishes a few things, he gets to "confess without consequences" knowing full well there is no way they could verify his trooper based on the sketchy details he gave. See, that is why I believe the trooper story is BS, If it was he would have provided as much detail as he did in describing Simone's clothing and jewelry.
 
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