ME Robert "Bobby" Desmond, 11, Kennebunk, August 1964

[StarrChance]

 

[StarrChance]

What evidence do we have that Bobby's stepfather died in 1977? My research comes up with a Chester "Chet" Marden, who died in Maine in 2005. Born 1939, Died October 2021. Could he be related to Bobby?

Chester J. “Chet” Marden (1939-2021) - Find a...

www.findagrave.com

Satch

Chester Maxwell Marden (1916-1977) - Find a Grave...

Military - WWII.

www.findagrave.com

 

[Satch]

Chester Maxwell Marden (1916-1977) - Find a Grave...

Military - WWII.

www.findagrave.com

I found this yesterday,

Thank you for posting!

Satch

 

[Alleykins]

@StarrChance
Thank you for all your help.

 

[MadMcGoo]

Details of disappearance updated: Robert Leon Desmond – The Charley Project

Details of Disappearance​

Robert was last seen in Kennebunk, Maine on August 1, 1964. He lived with his mother, Alice, and stepfather, Chet, on Hovey Street at the time of his disappearance. He has never been heard from again.

His mother and stepfather never reported him missing. It wasn't until about a month later, when he failed to return to class after the summer break, that anyone realized he had disappeared. When asked, Robert's parents stated they believed their son had run away. They told the same thing to his siblings.

According to Robert's younger sister, Dawn, their family life was "chaotic". Chet drank and would become violent, breaking furniture and assaulting people when he was intoxicated. The police had been to the home on numerous occasions.

Dawn stated that on the night of Robert's disappearance, Chet got upset because the children's beds hadn't been made correctly. That night, Dawn's older sister hid her in a bedroom closet and told her not to come out until the screaming had stopped. She was in the closet so long that eventually she fell asleep. When she woke up, everything was quiet and Dawn's sister had fled the house via the window, using a rope made out of a sheet.

Dawn said she then went to another bedroom and saw Robert lying on the floor, dressed only in underwear and not moving. She tried to drag him into the closet, but he was too heavy for her, and their mother saw and got angry. Dawn dropped Robert and hid under a bed, but Alice pulled her out by her foot and dragged her by the foot down the stairs, through the kitchen and into the basement, where she locked Dawn in a wooden crate. Dawn screamed, cried and tried to break out of the crate, but wasn't able to.

When she woke up in the morning she was in bed and wondered if the whole thing had been a bad dream. However, when Dawn went downstairs, Alice showed her her purse and said money was missing from it, the front door was open, and Robert was gone. Alice told Dawn that Robert had stolen money from the purse and run away. She then told her to eat her breakfast.

Dawn said no one spoke about Robert for years after his disappearance, and photos of him began to disappear from the family's home. At one point Dawn asked Alice what had happened to him, and Alice replied, "I don't know what you think you know, but you're wrong." Chet refused to speak about him at all. Dawn said she was so traumatized by her childhood that she didn't remember the night of Robert's diasppearance until she was seventeen years old.

Shortly after his disappearance, Robert's family moved out of the Hovey Street house. The house's basement floor was cemented over in 1968. In 1976, authorities dug up the cement floor, looking for his body, but the search turned up only a pair of eyeglasses and some animal bones.

There wasn't any further investigative activity after the search, and eventually Robert's missing persons casefile was closed, archived and destroyed. It has since been re-opened and a new detective has been assigned to investigate the case.

Alice and Chet are both deceased, but Robert's three siblings are still alive and would like to learn his fate. His case remains unsolved.

 

[Satch]

This is one of the saddest cases one can ever read!

Dawn (Bobby's sister) was so traumatized by what happened to Bobby, that she was not able to recall the events of that horrific night until she was 17 years old in therapy. What kind of sick twisted parents, stepparents, drag their kid through the house, down a flight of stairs, and lock them in a dog's transport cage! Thank God these sick people (Alice and Chet) are dead!

As I understand it, Dawn's recollection of what happened to Bobby, is only based on her memories and is not a part of the current case file, at least not officially. But the new detective working on the case has allowed her story to be told.

Horror of horrors, Bobby could have been dead when Dawn first saw him in his room wearing only his underwear. Additionally, the abuse may have been so traumatic and so painful, that Dawn may have a blocked out memory from the time Alice locked her in the dog crate, to the time she woke up the next morning in her own bed. Considering the anger and rage that Chet and Alice were in, I am having a hard time thinking that Dawn "slept through" being in a crate for an extended period of time to waking up in her own bed. Poor thing was lucky to be alive following that night.

Dawn's sister who fled the home when the rage and abuse was happening, is it known when she came back to the house, or what she might also remember about that night? I think Chet killed Bobby, and Alice covered it up for him. He is probably buried in a lake or makeshift grave. No way that this was a runaway situation for Robert "Bobby" Desmond.

What kind of people don't even report their child missing, refuse to allow the kids to talk about it, and remove all traces of his poor kid's life from all elements of the family? Horrible, horrible, people!

Satch

 

[Skigirl]

I started a second thread without realizing this one existed and I subsequently put in a request to have them consolidated. I had posted a bunch of articles, and MadMcGoo had posted a bunch of others. Some of the questions asked here are answered in those. There is still not much known, in any event.

MOO, I believe the stepfather/mother did this, which would suggest, potentially, some locations for his body. That said, I have local knowledge of the area because my parents used to live in Portsmouth, right across from the Naval Shipyard. That is where poor Lizzie Marriot's body was taken. The currents are very strong in that part of the Piscatiqua, so strong that they never found her, and never expected to find her. It's possible that that's what happened to this poor boy.

 

[Satch]

I started a second thread without realizing this one existed and I subsequently put in a request to have them consolidated. I had posted a bunch of articles, and MadMcGoo had posted a bunch of others. Some of the questions asked here are answered in those. There is still not much known, in any event.

MOO, I believe the stepfather/mother did this, which would suggest, potentially, some locations for his body. That said, I have local knowledge of the area because my parents used to live in Portsmouth, right across from the Naval Shipyard. That is where poor Lizzie Marriot's body was taken. The currents are very strong in that part of the Piscatiqua, so strong that they never found her, and never expected to find her. It's possible that that's what happened to this poor boy.

Oh absolutely!

They both could have done this! Horrible

Satch

 

[Alleykins]

Did his stepfather work at the shipyard, do we know?

 

[Skigirl]

Did his stepfather work at the shipyard, do we know?

Yes, that's where he worked.

 

[Aurora90]

If she's alive, have they tried knocking on her door and asking her for me details, because it doesn't really sound like they have, due to the lack of info.

the parents didnt report him missing, then prompty moved out shortly afterwards, not before they placed a new cement floor in their basement. I can't see her saying anything now if she hasn't spoken up all these years.

What about anyone who knew or was friends with him? How would they describe his home situation?

 

[Aurora90]

This is one of the saddest cases one can ever read!

Dawn (Bobby's sister) was so traumatized by what happened to Bobby, that she was not able to recall the events of that horrific night until she was 17 years old in therapy. What kind of sick twisted parents, stepparents, drag their kid through the house, down a flight of stairs, and lock them in a dog's transport cage! Thank God these sick people (Alice and Chet) are dead!

I think the heartbreaking thing is just how common this is.

I have read many threads where years later a sibling will speak up about what they witnessed, but were too young to comprehend. I believe they say that around 80% of the time, the murderer is known to the victim. I feel that a large portion of that 80% is within the household itself.

Often times houses are powder-kegs. Whether it's a roommate, spouse, a sibling, or a child. Oxcam's Razor tends to apply in most missing persons cases, I think.

 

[Skigirl]

the parents didnt report him missing, then prompty moved out shortly afterwards, not before they placed a new cement floor in their basement. I can't see her saying anything now if she hasn't spoken up all these years.

What about anyone who knew or was friends with him? How would they describe his home situation?

His mother and stepfather have both passed away. One of his sisters has been speaking publicly about it, including in an interview on the podcast Dark Downeast.

 

[Rush4087]

What evidence do we have that Bobby's stepfather died in 1977? My research comes up with a Chester "Chet" Marden, who died in Maine in 2005. Born 1939, Died October 2021. Could he be related to Bobby?

Chester J. “Chet” Marden (1939-2021) - Find a...

www.findagrave.com

Satch

Based on information in a couple of the excellent July and August 1974 newspaper articles linked by MadMcGoo in post #26, I suspect that the stepfather was Chester Maxwell Marden (b. July 23, 1916, d. Nov 1977). I believe he was born in MA, but grew up in Rockingham, NH. He is buried in Rockingham.

In a July 14, 1976 article in the Biddeford-Saco Journal (‘Grieving mother still has hope’) - before the basement dig - Alice Marden reported that her husband was ill in bed with terminal cancer.

Person:Chester Marden (1) - Genealogy

www.werelate.org

Jmo

 

[Satch]

Yes, I wonder why his parents were suspects.

The Mother and Stepfather are suspects because of the violence in the family, and the way that they treated Bobby and his siblings.

Satch

 

[Skigirl]

The Mother and Stepfather are suspects because of the violence in the family, and the way that they treated Bobby and his siblings.

Satch

Not to mention what his sister has said about the night before he disappeared and the fact that they said that they had just accepted that this young child had run away, without taking any of the steps that a caring parent would take, like notifying the police and asking for assistance.

 

[Richard]

Bumping this thread up. It is likely that Bobby was killed by a family member, and his body disposed of. The case, however remains officially unsolved and he is still missing.

 

[xxashleyxx]

What evidence do we have that Bobby's stepfather died in 1977? My research comes up with a Chester "Chet" Marden, who died in Maine in 2005. Born 1939, Died October 2021. Could he be related to Bobby?

Chester J. “Chet” Marden (1939-2021) - Find a...

www.findagrave.com

Satch

Not sure if they're one in the same, but it sounds like it could be.
My ex-MIL was told her father, who was shell shocked from the war and very abusive, died when she was a small child, to explain his absence.The truth was he actually abandoned the family and passed away in the 80s, not the 50s, like she was told, and attended his funeral.

Chester J Marden 1939-2021 is Chester Marden's son from his first marriage to his other wife Edwina. So, this Chester would be Robert Desmond's older step brother.

Chester James Marden (1939-2021) is Chester Marden's son from his first marriage to his other wife Edwina. So, this Chester would be Robert Desmond's older step brother.

https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/62308/images/43290879-Massachusetts-083954-0016?pId=155079024

 

[xxashleyxx]

Not sure if they're one in the same, but it sounds like it could be.
My ex-MIL was told her father, who was shell shocked from the war and very abusive, died when she was a small child, to explain his absence.The truth was he actually abandoned the family and passed away in the 80s, not the 50s, like she was told, and attended his funeral.

Chester James Marden (1939-2021) was Chester Maxwell Marden's (Robert's step father) son from his first marriage to a woman named Edwina. This would make him Robert's older step-brother. Also, Robert's mother, Alice, was married a total of 4 times. She was married to Robert's biological father from 1948-1960 (sighting abandonment). Then, she married Chester ("Chet") in January 1964 only 7 months before Robert went "missing". Robert's father Phillip remarried a lady named Florence soon after his divorce from Robert's mother Alice and they also had children.

 

[Diane Redfern]