Mark Harnish and Theresa Marcoux Murder 1978

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UnknownHarnish

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Hi everyone,

This is my first post here and I am seeking help.

In 1978 there was a murder in West Springfield MA of two 18 year old kids - Mark Harnish and Theresa Mercoux. Below are a couple links to supple some more insight into the murders.



The reason for this post, and I have no connection to the two victims except for the fact that I think I have a suspect/info but can’t go to police.

Jeffery Phillips is an East Longmeadow resident with a wife and two daughters, tall strong person who is in late 60’s now probably.

Despite denying it to police - he knew Mark, they were in high school togrther and both mechanics.

In the late 70’s there was a fire in East Longmeadow that the three of them (Jeff, Mark, Theresa) supposedly started to rob an elderly women.

A couple nights before their murder, Mark and Theresa went to Jeff’s doorstep and asked if they could stay with him for a bit or else they’d be living out their car. Jeff went back and grabbed his mother Alice and asked and she said absolutely not. Mark left but told Jeff where’d they be staying in his truck in West Springfield if he needed anything.

Fast for 45 years and Alice (Jeff’s mother) on her deathbed at 98 years spoke to a family member and said “how is Jeffery is he okay, did he make it out of the fire?” Alice had lost it a bit mentally towards the end so no one knew what she was talking about as her son hadn’t visited in years. She then remembered a story from YEARS back where there was a fire and Jeff came to visit afterwards and he said to his mother “I have to go away for a while to Flordia to get away”. This coincides with him moving to flordia in late 78’.

She also said “he did something bad” on her deathbed but never mentioned what.

Jeffery has also molested two family members in the late 70’s but none of them would actually come forward to police to talk about that. But he wrote letters to them apology in 2013.

The police did question this past summer as they looked into the case but couldn’t find anything as far as I know.

My question - can you websleuths find something on this man and if he guilty, get him put away.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and, if there are any, I will try my best to answer any questions and give anymore information I have.
 
Hi everyone,

This is my first post here and I am seeking help.

In 1978 there was a murder in West Springfield MA of two 18 year old kids - Mark Harnish and Theresa Mercoux. Below are a couple links to supple some more insight into the murders.



The reason for this post, and I have no connection to the two victims except for the fact that I think I have a suspect/info but can’t go to police.

Jeffery Phillips is an East Longmeadow resident with a wife and two daughters, tall strong person who is in late 60’s now probably.

Despite denying it to police - he knew Mark, they were in high school togrther and both mechanics.

In the late 70’s there was a fire in East Longmeadow that the three of them (Jeff, Mark, Theresa) supposedly started to rob an elderly women.

A couple nights before their murder, Mark and Theresa went to Jeff’s doorstep and asked if they could stay with him for a bit or else they’d be living out their car. Jeff went back and grabbed his mother Alice and asked and she said absolutely not. Mark left but told Jeff where’d they be staying in his truck in West Springfield if he needed anything.

Fast for 45 years and Alice (Jeff’s mother) on her deathbed at 98 years spoke to a family member and said “how is Jeffery is he okay, did he make it out of the fire?” Alice had lost it a bit mentally towards the end so no one knew what she was talking about as her son hadn’t visited in years. She then remembered a story from YEARS back where there was a fire and Jeff came to visit afterwards and he said to his mother “I have to go away for a while to Flordia to get away”. This coincides with him moving to flordia in late 78’.

She also said “he did something bad” on her deathbed but never mentioned what.

Jeffery has also molested two family members in the late 70’s but none of them would actually come forward to police to talk about that. But he wrote letters to them apology in 2013.

The police did question this past summer as they looked into the case but couldn’t find anything as far as I know.

My question - can you websleuths find something on this man and if he guilty, get him put away.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and, if there are any, I will try my best to answer any questions and give anymore information I have.
Why can’t you contact police? If this is still an open unsolved case you should call them. You say you have information, this information may be incredibly important to police. Sometimes small tips can lead to closure in cold cases.
 
Why can’t you contact police? If this is still an open unsolved case you should call them. You say you have information, this information may be incredibly important to police. Sometimes small tips can lead to closure in cold cases.
Hi! Thanks for the reply - There was a Reddit post from 2 years ago from the same name as me who claimed to be the Mark’s would be niece and was seeking information. I wanted to ask her if her father knew Jeffery Phillips and what info they may have on him first before taking this further.

To be 100% honest, this man in question is a relative in my family and before I go any further with it I’d like to find some concrete evidence somehow on this. Plus when mentioned he molested two of his nieces, no one in my family knows this outside of 2 people so I no my opinion it is not my story tell I feel.

However, I do believe this man to be capable of doing a crime like this - he’s always been a strange man, living in his basement with his wife and kids upstairs, not much of a people person, has very little if any friends, did not care for his mother last couple years and instead left it to his nieces.

I just feel like a rock in a hard place in this scenario.
 
Welcome to Websleuths UH and thanks for posting about this horrible murder of two young people who deserved to live a long, full life but were shot to death instead. Such an awful death and sad to read about. I would luv to hear more if u have any more info to add.
Hi Blondie!

I don’t have too much more info as it was about 20 years before I was born and I only just heard about this and Jeffery’s possible connection to this murder this past summer.

Supposedly the police interviewed him and asked if knew Mark and Theresa and lied and said he didn’t. His daughter overheard the conversation.

One piece of information and I need to ask again if this 100% accurate - someway somehow Jeffery mentioned or the police while questioning him that a “can was lodge in Theresa vagina” at the time of death. This was never made public so I can’t verify if that’s true or if it is a piece of information the police have kept close as only the killer would know that.

I will ask a few more questions to some family members and see what else I can get out of them and reply back.

Thanks for taking the time to read my post!
 
Welcome to Websleuths UH and thanks for posting about this horrible murder of two young people who deserved to live a long, full life but were shot to death instead. Such an awful death and sad to read about. I would luv to hear more if u have any more info to add.
Here is a Reddit post from Mark’s would be niece from 2 years ago that originally sparked my curiosity in websleuths and everything else. I’d love to try and find this person and ask her questions but I don’t know where to begin - new to this! Lol

 
That was me in the original reddit post. I'm Mark's niece. Took me a while to make an account; the emails weren't sending. Feel free to ask away.
 

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