MA MA - Joan Risch, 30, Lincoln, 24 Oct 1961

[Betty P]

Does anyone have the name and author of the book being referred to in the posts?

Amazon.com

It’s a very good book. Well researched and written.

 

[HarmonyE.]

Amazon.com

It’s a very good book. Well researched and written.

It really is very good. Unfortunately, it's likely to be the final word on this case.

 

[ChuckMaureen]

FACTS and MOO and SPECULATION follow:

The Risches had moved in to their new house on Old Bedford Rd six months previous to JR having gone missing. A National Park Service Minute Man Historical Park representative met with Joan Risch one month before she went missing. It was a discussuon regarding NPS intent on purchasing properties on Old Bedfod Rd for the Minute Man National Historical Park project. Other women residents on Old Bedford Rd reported they felt the representative overstayed his visits. This caught investigators attention, but to what degree is unknown.

During her interview with investigators, JR's friend Sabra Morton agreed with what another JR friend, Jane Butler said: “She [JR] was more protective with her children than the average mother.” Neighbor Jeanette Swartz talked about JR being “friendly and relaxed” at a coffee that Mrs. Swartz had at her home on October 4, 1961, and she added that JR said at the time “it was like living again to have her home in Connecticut sold.”

The Butlers were in the process of selling their home to the Minute Man National Historical Park project.

It makes me wonder what JR thought about the National Park Sevice's push for residents to sell their respective property on Old Bedford Rd, noting that it had been only a few months after the Risches moved in, and having it made known to neighbor friends that she was "living again" after their home on Connecticut was sold. JR was once again facing the stress of having to relocate to yet another location.

I have not found what JR explicitly thought of the prospect of selling their home to the Minute Man project, but given her previous off-the-cuff comment, we may assume she wasn't happy about it. Maybe to the point of *resisting*?

How would the Minute Man Historical Park representative have reacted to pushback from residents? Overall, approximately 100 residents in the broader area were facing NPS pressure and were not thrilled with losing their homes. Would there be any reason why JR's possible resistance might have been cause for her being in jeopardy of her well-being? This is just me pursuing a potential reason for JR having gone missing. I have no specific reason to suspect an NPS rep other than the timing of interactions with JR and her neighbors. One wonders if LE determined the make, model and color vehicle the rep was driving? Did it match description of the unknown vehicle seen parked in and backing out of the Risch's driveway on various days?

Here's another thought... going out on a long limb with this one. I'll keep this brief, as it's just a thought experiment: what if JR had an affair before leaving Connecticut and the man she may have been involved with suspected JR was pregnant, for whatever reason? The man discovered where Jr was then living, surprised her that afternoon and after stressing for months about it finally had his chance to end an 'assumed' pregnancy? JR's attempts to convince the man otherwiser (that she was not pregnant) fell short and ... I needn't go further with this as we're all familiar with the blood scene and JR's missing status. I'd suspect no harm was intended from him, other than he wanted to end the 'assumed' pregnancy. Could someone have become so crazed that they'd risk such exposure? He didn't want to hurt JR, and that could explain why they left the property together: he wanted to get her help after the frantic attempt but realized he couldn't bring her to a hospital. Your own conjecture can take it from here.

Getting back down to earth, this is most-likey IMO: someone who had been watching JR for some time had once again seem JR during her earlier excursion to the dentist's office and clothing shopping that day, and her grocery shopping the previous day. Two days in a row proved too much for him and he ultimately decided to follow her home and have his way. What I can't make sense of, though, is why not murder her and leave? Why force a bloodied JR into his vehicle? Maybe rape was his limit, and murder was an act too far, at least during the moments while still at the residence?

 

[HarmonyE.]

It makes me wonder what JR thought about the National Park Sevice's push for residents to sell their respective property on Old Bedford Rd, noting that it had been only a few months after the Risches moved in, and having it made known to neighbor friends that she was "living again" after their home on Connecticut was sold. JR was once again facing the stress of having to relocate to yet another location.

I have not found what JR explicitly thought of the prospect of selling their home to the Minute Man project, but given her previous off-the-cuff comment, we may assume she wasn't happy about it. Maybe to the point of *resisting*?

It's always been my understanding that they were fully aware that the house would have to be moved some day down the road when they decided to buy the property, but they got a deal on it because of the park plans and hadn't planned on living in it for too many years anyway. The house was not moved until the mid-1970s, nearly 15 years later. It's supposedly still standing somewhere in Lexington. Martin bought a similar Cape (the traditional ones all seem to have the same floor plan) in Lincoln and continued to live in that house until his death in 2009.

 

[ChuckMaureen]

It's always been my understanding that they were fully aware that the house would have to be moved some day down the road when they decided to buy the property, but they got a deal on it because of the park plans and hadn't planned on living in it for too many years anyway. The house was not moved until the mid-1970s, nearly 15 years later. It's supposedly still standing somewhere in Lexington. Martin bought a similar Cape (the traditional ones all seem to have the same floor plan) in Lincoln and continued to live in that house until his death in 2009.

I now recall much of what you posted. It's been some time since I last posted on this case, and my then-research was more extensive then than what I incorporated this time around. I'm slowing down in my older years.

All of my previous research items are in storage. I was planning on retrieving it all but decided to not pursue this further, as it appears the case is frozen. Opinion and Speculation are the only furtherances we might expect unless we see additional LE reports. I'm guessing even LE isn't expecting fresh info if they were to release remaining case files, if any still exist; paper and memories are covered under sixty+ years of dust.

The main standout of this case is that JR('s body) wasn't left at the scene. This tells me one of two possibilities: one thought is a perp wanting to abduct JR in whatever condition to satisfy sick urges elsewhere, and the other is the perp concern that JR's children would see their mother's body if he left it behind.

 

[HarmonyE.]

The main standout of this case is that JR('s body) wasn't left at the scene. This tells me one of two possibilities: one thought is a perp wanting to abduct JR in whatever condition to satisfy sick urges elsewhere, and the other is the perp concern that JR's children would see their mother's body if he left it behind.

Agree. My best guess is that she knew the perp pretty well, and agreed to go with him under threat that little David would be harmed. But it's a very mysterious case.

 

[jgfitzge]

It's always been my understanding that they were fully aware that the house would have to be moved some day down the road when they decided to buy the property, but they got a deal on it because of the park plans and hadn't planned on living in it for too many years anyway. The house was not moved until the mid-1970s, nearly 15 years later. It's supposedly still standing somewhere in Lexington. Martin bought a similar Cape (the traditional ones all seem to have the same floor plan) in Lincoln and continued to live in that house until his death in 2009.

One thing I’ve never quite understood is why were all the other homes on old Bedford Road taken over by the federal government for Minuteman Park except for the Barker house and I believe the Butler house on the opposite side of the street from the Risch’s house. Today those are the only two homes that still exist on old Bedford Road.

 

[Same Old Stella]

I believe there was a map of the street and the houses that may have shown where Minuteman Park was going to be located. As it was in the earlier part of this thread, I can't find it; most of the links no longer work.

 

[HarmonyE.]

One thing I’ve never quite understood is why were all the other homes on old Bedford Road taken over by the federal government for Minuteman Park except for the Barker house and I believe the Butler house on the opposite side of the street from the Risch’s house. Today those are the only two homes that still exist on old Bedford Road.

I read somewhere that all homes that were built after the Revolutionary period were to be moved for the sake of authenticity. Older homes of the correct time period were allowed to stay. Is it possible those two homes were significantly older than those that were moved?

 

[jgfitzge]

I read somewhere that all homes that were built after the Revolutionary period were to be moved for the sake of authenticity. Older homes of the correct time period were allowed to stay. Is it possible those two homes were significantly older than those that were moved?

Those two homes were built in 1950. There were not many houses on Old Bedford Rd in 1961. I think there were 8-10 houses total.I am going to assume the other homes on the street were built around the same time

 

[Skigirl]

I found an article from the Boston Globe (Nov 2, 1975, p. 5) that says that the house was purchased by the Lexington Housing Authority in August, 1974 and was to be moved to "tax-title" land on Wood Street in Lexington to be used as low/middle-income housing. I found one Lexington Housing Authority property at 50 Wood Street, and it looks like a house of about the right age, but not the same house. There are a number around it that are possibly the house, though I couldn't find one with the right window configuration and chimney placement. It's possible that they did not move the chimney with the house. You can see the area by via google street view.

 

[digitective]

Yes,it is an upsetting situation. it is unsettling to say the least, to have no answers for the family who certainly must have suffered then and bear the scars today. Back then, though, there were not many instances of women or men "staging" a disappearance. It was not as sophisticated an art as it is today. I still feel that most moms, no matter if unhappy, will not leave the children, no matter what.

I think it could be possible if she had some sort of psychotic break... I don't put too much stock in the true crime library books, though. Could just mean she liked true crime, although it's an interesting coincidence. Any of our reading lists would probably look the same!

 

[digitective]

The one point against a voluntary disappearance, at least to me, is the amount of blood that was present. For a 4 year old to say the room was "covered in red paint" and for a trail to extend outside...Seems like a lot of blood. If it were a few smears, some droplets here and there, then I would find the idea of a voluntary disappearance a lot easier to accept.

Also the bloody fingerprint that doesn't match anyone... if it was her staging the scene, it would match her prints. So sad that people saw a bloody, dazed woman wandering the streets and nobody stopped to help her.

 

[digitective]

I don't think I have ever, ever thought this before in any case Ive ever read about. But the fact that her child was at the neighbors AND her husband was out of town tends to make me think she staged her own disappearance. And how sad he never remarried. I also wonder if they were perhaps Catholic & had he even suspected that she was not really dead, he thought he must remain true to his marriage vows and/or he would be committing bigamy? In any event, I do not think this case needs to remain unsolved. I hope and believe someone from WS could even solve this & gives this family answers.

Or it could just mean that a predator was watching her for a while and purposely chose a time to attack when her husband was out of town and her daughter was away from the house, so the only possible witnesses were Joan and the baby...

 

[digitective]

Some of the info seems to point to a seizure/post-seizure event.

Even without a history of epilepsy, a person can suddenly suffer an isolated seizure, for various reasons.

I'm very close to someone who has seizures, have seen them be injured during a seizure, and have witnessed their post-seizure physical and mental state---their altered mental state lasts quite some time after the seizure ends.

If Mrs. Risch had a seizure, alone (only very young children in the house, who may not have even witnessed the event), she could have injured herself causing bleeding (even superficial scalp wounds are known to bleed profusely, and the blood could run down onto the person's legs).

When she "came to", very groggy, very confused & dazed, very uncoordinated, possibly with a minor head injury in addition to the after affects of the seizure---she may have stumbled in her dazed state around the house, gone outside, gone back in, tried to make a confused phone call, stumbled while holding onto the phone for support, ripping it out of the wall...then stumbled out of the house while no one happened to see her leave.

When she dazedly made her way to the side of the road, several people saw her, none of those who reportedlater that they'd seen her, stopped to help. But someone may have then stopped and picked her up, and the person who at last stopped to pick her up didn't report it....they may have harmed her, or just dumped her off somewhere else and she then wandered into the woods, or water, or a construction area where she met w/ an accident, etc.

After a seizure an individual can be so confused that they are very vulnerable to anyone telling them what to do, or stopping to give them a ride, they very likely might just dully say "ok" and get into a car.

The unidentified fingerprints in the blood could have been Mrs. Risch's own, as in her uncoordinated post-seizure state she held onto areas that already had blood on them. Unless for some reason she already had her prints on record somewhere to compare them with, they would not be able to rule out the prints in the blood as being her own.

as for the mystery/murder/disappearance books from the library? That puts her in a category with millions of others who are interested & read about the same subject matter---back then the only way to read about it was to check out all the books you could find, no internet to read on!

Interesting theory about the seizures.

But even if they didn't have her fingerprints on file, all they'd have to do is check the prints on her belongings and around her house. They could get prints from her husband to rule out his and the rest of the adult-sized fingerprints around the house and on items she used often are most likely hers.

 

[digitective]

It's possible that she tried to use the phone but collapsed and dislodged it from the wall. Maybe she thought she could flag someone down for a ride; maybe she realized that getting a ride would have meant getting someone's car very bloody, and perhaps she was too proud to do that. Pride goeth before a fall, as the saying goes. She was a career woman before getting married, so it wouldn't surprise me if she were independent enough to attempt to walk to a hospital rather than asking for help.
*
What I keep coming back to is that she was seen alone both times that she was seen--first in her yard or driveway and later by the road. There was no attacker in sight.That fact suggests to me that her situation was a medical emergency rather than an attack.

Maybe the attacker was done with the attack and already left? Or she managed to escape from him.

 

[digitective]

Snipped. The PDF at this link ^^ is a must read. It is 57 pages, of which about 40 are the original police logs and photos, and excellent newspaper articles. The other 17ish pages seem...misplaced. How are they are related, other than by geography?

The compiler of the PDF did a good job, and he presents the first part of how he thinks the events played out near the end of the document. It is the only thing I've ever read that makes sense.

Telephone

Handle = part you hold in your hand, includes the mouth and ear pieces

Cradle = part attached to the wall, where the dials are, where the handle sits when not in use

Cord = spiral cord that attaches handle to cradle

The telephone was the type that was affixed to a wall, not the kind that sits on a table. The cord and handle had been detached from the cradle.

I found pics online that show some older phones with the 'quick connect' cords and some with permanently attached cords.

Did someone just disconnect the cord from the cradle? Or did they grab the cord and yank hard to rip the wires from the cradle?

A small trash pail (size of a bathroom trash can) had been moved to the middle of the kitchen floor. It was full and the handle of the phone was hung on the rim of the can. Newspaper reports said the mouth piece, the spiral cord, and the cradle portion (dials) all had blood on them.

The whiskey bottle and beer in the trash can is explained by Jane's husband--They purchased beer that weekend when they had company, and he made himself and Jane a drink the previous evening, finished the last of the whisky.

View attachment 85405

The original PDF link no longer exists but I found it here on the Wayback Machine. I'm also attaching it to this post, so people can continue to access it.

 

[digitective]

There is a blog post that discussed this case and theories into Risch's disappearance; the comments are also interesting.

Here's the link:

Joan Risch: Runaway Wife or Murder Victim?

Just pasting the full text of this article below, in case it disappears from the internet.

I wonder who the tradesmen were who visited the home? Could one of them have left a window or door open while he was there, gone back later and attacked her?

Since her coat was missing, it seems like she had time to put it on before leaving or being kidnapped.

The disappearance of Joan Nattras Risch is a disturbing story, no matter which view of the case you believe. Either a troubled woman fled her life in what was probably a futile search for happiness, or she was the victim of a terrible crime that will never be avenged.

In 1961, Risch lived in Lincoln, Massachusetts. She was married with two young children. On October 24 of that year, her husband Martin was away on a business trip in New York. (He was an executive in a paper company.) Neighbors described the couple--who had only lived in their home for six months--as "quiet and reserved," but showing no visible signs of any domestic trouble. That morning, Mrs. Risch did some routine errands. Two tradesmen who visited the home later that day recalled that she seemed in good spirits. Around mid-day she settled her two-year-old son David in for a nap, and sent her four-year-old daughter Lillian to visit at the home of a neighbor. Around 2 pm, a neighbor glimpsed Joan in the Risch driveway. She appeared to be "walking fast or running and carrying something red."

Lillian arrived home about two hours later. She soon returned to the neighbor’s home, saying that her mother was gone, the baby was crying, and there was “red paint all over the kitchen."

What the child saw was not paint, but blood. It was type O, the same as Joan Risch's. (Although it was never conclusively proved it was her blood.) Investigators believed the blood came from a superficial wound which would not have been fatal. The telephone receiver had been ripped from the wall, and a telephone directory lay open at the section showing emergency numbers. (No such calls had been made.) A kitchen chair was overturned. Risch's son was still safely upstairs in his crib, and the house was otherwise undisturbed. Curiously, considering all the blood, there were no bloody footprints anywhere. Unidentifiable bloody finger and palm prints were found on the wall. There are conflicting reports about those prints. Some accounts state that they were from an unknown intruder. Others say that there was no record on file anywhere of Risch's fingerprints, making it impossible to say if they were hers, or some stranger's.

Drops of blood led from her son’s nursery to the kitchen, and then out to her car on the driveway. It was also noted that someone had made an attempt to mop up the blood with a pair of little David's overalls and some paper towels. The trench coat Joan had worn earlier in the day was in a closet, but her cloth coat was missing. Her purse and other belongings were also still in the house.

Neighbors later reported that an unfamiliar blue/gray sedan was parked in the Risch driveway around 3 pm, although investigators decided that what they had seen was an unmarked police car parked there some time later. (These witnesses, however, continued to insist the car had been there before police were summoned.) Later that day, other witnesses saw a disheveled woman generally matching Risch's description walking aimlessly along a nearby site where a highway was being constructed. Her legs were covered either in reddish mud or blood. Unfortunately, no one stopped to talk to her.

That is the last we know of Joan Risch. It is anyone’s guess what happened to her or where she went. Her husband was questioned by police, but nothing was found to connect him to his wife’s disappearance, and he was quickly eliminated from suspicion. However, this left police with no possible suspects at all, and they began to publicly suggest she had left voluntarily, possibly "for medical treatment." They pointed to the lack of evidence there had been an intruder, and declared that "certain key persons" in the case were not telling authorities all they knew.

One day early in November, an unknown woman called the Risch home at least twelve times. The calls were answered by the missing woman's father-in-law, who reported that the caller refused to speak to him. One of the Risch's neighbors said that on that same day, a "terribly excited" woman called her, complaining that she had been calling the Risch house, but had not been able to contact anyone she knew. This neighbor claimed that she had gotten a similar call the day after Mrs. Risch disappeared. This mystery-within-a-mystery was never solved, or at least publicly explained.

The investigation into her presumed kidnapping took an even more peculiar turn when it was learned that in the months prior to her vanishing, she had obtained from the library at least 25 books dealing with murder or disappearances. One book she checked out revolved around a woman who vanished, leaving nothing behind but blood stains that had been smeared with a towel. Although she had always been fond of mystery novels, many people begin to suspect that she had used these books, not as casual entertainment, but as how-to manuals to stage a “hoax” kidnapping that would leave her free to start a new life.

It’s dangerous to read too much into anyone’s taste in reading material—if I should ever, for any reason, catch the eye of law enforcement, I shudder to think what conclusions they may reach about me by examining my blogs—but there is more that gives this particular scenario some credibility. Friends said that Risch, who had a successful career in publishing before she gave it up to raise a family, was a naturally driven, ambitious woman who was frustrated as a homemaker. Although she seems to have been deeply devoted to her husband and children, they may not have been enough for her. But was this dissatisfaction enough to make Mrs. Risch--described as "a very intelligent and well controlled woman"--abandon them in such a cruel fashion?

Even before her marriage, the missing woman’s life had been deeply troubled. Her parents died in a suspicious house fire when she was only nine, leaving her to be raised by an aunt and uncle. According to some reports, she had been sexually assaulted as a child. Perhaps, it was suggested, she was so miserable being Joan Risch that she gave it all up in order to try her hand at being someone else altogether? Or perhaps, according to another school of thought, her present-day stresses and past traumas, combined with an injury from some fall in her kitchen, left her an amnesiac. Some believe she simply lost her memory and wandered blindly away, possibly—assuming the woman on the highway was Risch—making a fatal fall into the highway construction pit. To this day, there are those who believe Highway 128 is the grave site of Joan Risch. It has even been theorized that the sedan seen in Risch’s driveway was a doctor there to give Joan an abortion she wished to keep secret from her husband. Perhaps the operation went wrong and she began hemorrhaging, causing her to wander off in a state of shock?

Until the day he died in 2009, Martin Risch continued to express the belief that his wife was alive somewhere. For some years after her disappearance, he kept his old telephone number, just in case she called. He never remarried.

Or perhaps, to take the simplest, albeit grimmest, view of the case, the attractive 31-year-old was the random victim of a brutal fiend. After all, there was all that blood and those mysterious prints in her kitchen…

 

[digitective]

The original PDF link no longer exists but I found it here on the Wayback Machine. I'm also attaching it to this post, so people can continue to access it.

Hm, it didn't attach and I tried again but it doesn't seem to work. I think it might be too large of a file to attach.

 

[digitective]

Ray, allow me to respond to your points. Yes, there was talk of past sexual abuse by the foster father towards Joan. However, that information came from her friends, passed on to the police. When they asked about this to Mr. Risch he denied it. I did not read about visits to her adoptive parents in the weeks leading up to her disappearance. Yes, the police did travel to New Jersey/New York to interview the father on at least two occasions. Yes, sleaze ball as the father may be, I don't believe he had anything to do with her disappearance. If he traveled to Massachusetts and stopped into her see her on the day of her disappearance, witnesses would have noticed the out of state plates. That is why the blue/gray sedan seen in the weeks before and the day off her disappearance holds the key. I believe the vehicle was local, Massachusetts registered. I tend to think people remember if a car had out of state plates, especially where one witness saw it backing out of the driveway.

Maybe she only told her friends about the abuse but didn't share it with her husband, so that's why he denied it.