MA MA - Sandra Crispo, 54, Hanson, 7 August 2019 #2

[Shamrock1]

A couple of thoughts on this....

The cell phone thing wouldn't bother me EXCEPT for the fact that she was a full time caregiver to her three very young grandchildren. As a parent myself, I would not have been comfortable with the no cell phone arrangement as a safety precaution if nothing else.

The thing found in the house all that time later was something discovered while looking "on hands and knees." LM has said she won't say what this is out of respect for the investigation. My speculation would be that she thinks she found some kind of blood evidence. But that's just an educated guess.

To my knowledge the house has never been ruled in or out as a crime scene. In fact, LE have never said they are investigating this as foul play or that they suspect foul play. In the podcast, Sandra's family says that LE are so far unable to get uncooperative people to talk (or to get search warrants) because this is a missing persons case, not a criminal case. If that's true, I would assume that no one's cell phone location data has been analyzed yet.

On the lack of cellphone: As a parent, I’d insist on it from a caregiver. BUT - I may also weigh the risk of losing presumably free childcare against that. In my area, full day care is 18-24k per year per child. If offered free care by my parent, I might pick & choose my battles. JMO.

 

[HarmonyE.]

On the lack of cellphone: As a parent, I’d insist on it from a caregiver. BUT - I may also weigh the risk of losing presumably free childcare against that. In my area, full day care is 18-24k per year per child. If offered free care by my parent, I might pick & choose my battles. JMO.

My parents managed to raise us without a cell phone and just one corded landline phone. If Sandra was trusted not to take the boys out on trips in her car (she would have needed three car seats to manage that) then I don't see why she'd need a cell phone to look after them. A cordless landline phone should have worked fine in that tiny backyard.

 

[jenpil]

@Dotrat It is very weird to leave a note (under a statue where it might not ever be found?)

I thought it was probably put under the little statue so it didn't blow away, meaning it definitely would be found.

(I'm presuming a bit of the paper was sticking out from underneath the statuwe so you'd see it of course, the lady wouldn't have left the completely covered up, she wanted someone to know if her genuine suspicions.....)

 

[Yemelyan]

On the lack of cellphone: As a parent, I’d insist on it from a caregiver. BUT - I may also weigh the risk of losing presumably free childcare against that. In my area, full day care is 18-24k per year per child. If offered free care by my parent, I might pick & choose my battles. JMO.

Yeah. I was just thinking of a time when my kids were young and one was seriously hurt on a walk around the block....an activity which we know Sandra did with the kids (from the podcast). I'd insist on it as a parent.

They have enough control over their mom's life to relocate her 45 minutes away when they felt it was in her best interest, to put money in a bank account for her to use, and micromanage her affairs down to buying her sheets and dishes (also from the podcast), but when it comes to carrying a flip phone, that's something where they have to pick their battles? It doesn't make sense to me. I'll admit that there are families out there with odd dynamics and this is likely one of them. But I think the lack of a cell phone is a red flag.

 

[jenpil]

But I think the lack of a cell phone is a red flag.

I think it's a bit odd too. She has a landline, so it's not like a cell phone is a big step up.

When you consider she was babysitting 3 grandchildren several times a week and was living out in the sticks a bit, well, why NOT have a cell phone? There's no harm in having one. If not for her, at least for the grandkids. Her daughter and SIL should've really encouraged it, like they did with her house move, finances and car repairs.....

 

[BostonTimes]

In that particular neighborhood, you could hear gravel crunching (the whole street may have been gravel at that time if I recall correctly) and not even know which driveway was making the noise. That's how close the houses were.

People are pretty self-absorbed and busy these days, is my only point. I don't even remember what I had for breakfast two days ago, so how can I remember if my neighbor, who I don't know, went out after dark and in what car?

However, having said all that, I think she left voluntarily but what happened to her next may have been misadventure, accident, violence - I don't know. Suicide isn't high on my list but I kind of shake my head whenever people say it's just not possible for this or that reason. It's always a possibility, and that's proved by reading these missing persons threads day in and day out.

 

[BostonTimes]

Leaving voluntarily at night, leaving lights on, door unlocked and the dog alone sounds strange. Where would you be going on short notice with someone unexpected. Based on phone calls if she did leave with someone, it doesn't sound planned so where would you go at that hour with someone that was not expected?

 

[HarmonyE.]

Leaving voluntarily at night, leaving lights on, door unlocked and the dog alone sounds strange. Where would you be going on short notice with someone unexpected. Based on phone calls if she did leave with someone, it doesn't sound planned so where would you go at that hour with someone that was not expected?

Agree.

Someone mentioned the weather upthread. You can search historical weather records at Weather Underground. Closest I can get is Boston which indicates it was cloudy all day with light rain and thunder starting in the early afternoon with a break in the rain starting at 3:30 pm with continued cloud cover. About 10:40 pm heavy rains started and thunder with rain continued until around 2:30 am.

No aha moment here, except it could indeed explain why Sandra had lights on in the house possibly even before she left to go to the mechanic's. And that it probably wasn't all that nice an evening to spend outside, especially later on.

For me, the basic questions are - Assuming she was dropped off as reported, did she make it back inside her house after she was dropped off? If she did, and later went off with someone, how would that person or persons have arranged a meeting without a phone call? The answer would seem to be that no one could have made arrangements with her (exception being her cousin), at least not on that day. And if she'd made plans earlier in the week with someone, why would she have also made plans with her cousin for the same evening?

If she did go off with someone who stopped by without prior arrangement, was she taken or did she go willingly? As we've heard from both the daughter and SIL that the house was not in disarray in any meaningful way and it seems she had her shoes and purse with her, who would she have known well enough to leave with, or at least go outside or into a car to chat with? Assuming the door was unlocked, was she expecting to go back inside after a chat or short visit with this person? But if this is the case, why take her pocketbook with her? (Unless she was paying him/her/them for something?)

Of course, if she never was dropped off, this would raise a whole other set of questions that we aren't in a position to really even speculate about.

 

[Yemelyan]

Of course, if she never was dropped off, this would raise a whole other set of questions that we aren't in a position to really even speculate about.

Snipped for focus.

If LE got to the stage where they really started to question whether she was dropped off, I feel like they could get a very good idea of this by analyzing cell phone pings and vehicle gps data. They know some definite time points, such as the exact time she was buying cigarettes. I think it would be hard to explain any discrepancies there.

 

[BostonTimes]

Yeah. I was just thinking of a time when my kids were young and one was seriously hurt on a walk around the block....an activity which we know Sandra did with the kids (from the podcast). I'd insist on it as a parent.

They have enough control over their mom's life to relocate her 45 minutes away when they felt it was in her best interest, to put money in a bank account for her to use, and micromanage her affairs down to buying her sheets and dishes (also from the podcast), but when it comes to carrying a flip phone, that's something where they have to pick their battles? It doesn't make sense to me. I'll admit that there are families out there with odd dynamics and this is likely one of them. But I think the lack of a cell phone is a red flag.

What kind of a red flag is it to you that she didn't have a cell phone.

 

[BostonTimes]

Agree.

Someone mentioned the weather upthread. You can search historical weather records at Weather Underground. Closest I can get is Boston which indicates it was cloudy all day with light rain and thunder starting in the early afternoon with a break in the rain starting at 3:30 pm with continued cloud cover. About 10:40 pm heavy rains started and thunder with rain continued until around 2:30 am.

No aha moment here, except it could indeed explain why Sandra had lights on in the house possibly even before she left to go to the mechanic's. And that it probably wasn't all that nice an evening to spend outside, especially later on.

For me, the basic questions are - Assuming she was dropped off as reported, did she make it back inside her house after she was dropped off? If she did, and later went off with someone, how would that person or persons have arranged a meeting without a phone call? The answer would seem to be that no one could have made arrangements with her (exception being her cousin), at least not on that day. And if she'd made plans earlier in the week with someone, why would she have also made plans with her cousin for the same evening?

If she did go off with someone who stopped by without prior arrangement, was she taken or did she go willingly? As we've heard from both the daughter and SIL that the house was not in disarray in any meaningful way and it seems she had her shoes and purse with her, who would she have known well enough to leave with, or at least go outside or into a car to chat with? Assuming the door was unlocked, was she expecting to go back inside after a chat or short visit with this person? But if this is the case, why take her pocketbook with her? (Unless she was paying him/her/them for something?)

Of course, if she never was dropped off, this would raise a whole other set of questions that we aren't in a position to really even speculate about.

If you watched the video of Sandra at Cumbys you see her in a tank top and light pants and it seems sunny out. The SIL states he yelled we love you and his windows were open, if it were raining the windows would have been up.

 

[Shamrock1]

I’m just not seeing the lack of cell phone as a red flag. When someone is providing (presumably) free, full-time child care, the parents may pick their battles when the alternative is 40-60k/year. We know that SC went to the convenience store to buy cigarettes. Convincing a beloved parent to avoid smoking around kids is not easy, IMO. Adding demands like a cell phone (or no screens or no sugar or no refined grains etc) may not have been the hill the parents wanted to die on. MOO as a crazy, organic, no-screen, no-sugar parent who’d happily send them to Grandma’s with Cheetos and iPads (and best car seats & sunscreens) if we had the option.

 

[Yemelyan]

What kind of a red flag is it to you that she didn't have a cell phone.

Maybe taken by itself, it isn't. But then you look at the whole picture and you add in: depressive episodes, re-locating (it wasn't necessarily your idea but you went along with it), family members with control over your finances (even though you're an adult - and you want them to have it).

I just start to wonder if not having the cell phone (as well as the re-locating, etc) is a conscious decision to put aside negative influences or negative experiences in the past and re-create a different life free of old habits or ways.

Just a question I have. Certainly do not mean to say that this is anything but speculation.

 

[Yemelyan]

I’m just not seeing the lack of cell phone as a red flag. When someone is providing (presumably) free, full-time child care, the parents may pick their battles when the alternative is 40-60k/year. We know that SC went to the convenience store to buy cigarettes. Convincing a beloved parent to avoid smoking around kids is not easy, IMO. Adding demands like a cell phone (or no screens or no sugar or no refined grains etc) may not have been the hill the parents wanted to die on. MOO as a crazy, organic, no-screen, no-sugar parent who’d happily send them to Grandma’s with Cheetos and iPads (and best car seats & sunscreens) if we had the option.

Was it free or was it paid? Was it how she made her living?

She watched them dating back to well before she moved to Hanson because we were told in the first podcast that the extra piece of the commute to drop them off was one of the reasons to move her closer.

 

[HarmonyE.]

If you watched the video of Sandra at Cumbys you see her in a tank top and light pants and it seems sunny out. The SIL states he yelled we love you and his windows were open, if it were raining the windows would have been up.

It wasn't raining at 5. It rained before and later in the evening. See above.

 

[BostonTimes]

True, although the daughter has mentioned it two or three times and said it was cut up for the boys for Friday. Not sure how she'd know this but maybe Sandra wasn't a watermelon fan herself. but I guess daughter would have to explain why she felt it was significant beyond the implication that Sandra planned on being home for them on Friday.

Watermelon cut up 2 days before? To me, IMO that's stretching it. Does not sound right to me.

 

[SayWhatNow?]

Okay, this is the section of the episode of the Vanished podcast that deals with her disappearance and the note, sorry for any misspellings or omissions, I typed as quickly as I could:


Narrator: While they waited, Tim took some action of his own and an unexpected lead soon came in.

Tim: At first with the Hanson police, nothing was really coming up, so we installed the RING cameras on her house just for activity or, again, we didn’t know if someone would try to break in now that they knew she was missing - or who knows. So we put the cameras up for everyone’s safety. We had a car pull up one day, some younger woman, she had a hoodie on, covering her face, couldn’t really make out what was going on. She had left something on the front stoop. I got the notification on my phone, we were in the backyard hanging out. I said “Laina, some girl’s just dropped something off!” I flew to the house, again we are only 7-10 minutes away, and there was a note under a statue she had on her stoop. And there was a note, it said “you need to start looking into this certain guy in Hanson. I think he has something to do with it, they knew each other” - or so far and so forth. We went to the Hanson Police, they didn’t think it was anything crazy. It was a couple weeks in and we had no news on her so we thought this was it, this was the breaking news. They took the note, made a copy and they investigated but nothing really ever came of that.

Narrator: It turned out that there was a local man who had been released from prison around the time of Sandra’s disappearance. There was no connection between Sandra and the man. Local LE established that he was not near her home or in her neighborhood during the time she disappeared. It was a lead that fizzled out.

Thanks for posting this. It was very informative and eye opening.
I hadn’t read about a note being left. Interesting....
So the daughter & SIL were concerned with LE “not coming up with anything”, which motivated the SIL to install a RING doorbell.
Now I could understand installing the RING, for the safety of my children and my mother. But, Installing the RING to motivate LE to investigate my mothers disappearance... This makes no sense to me, at all.
Until the note shows up on SC’s doorstep.
Why not mail an anonymous letter to LE? Why leave it on the doorstep of SC’s empty home? Possibly to lead LE on a wild goose chase. Rookie mistake. I have no doubts that LE will solve this case. It’s only a matter of time. My goes out to SC, I hope she’s found soon.

 

[BostonTimes]

Maybe taken by itself, it isn't. But then you look at the whole picture and you add in: depressive episodes, re-locating (it wasn't necessarily your idea but you went along with it), family members with control over your finances (even though you're an adult - and you want them to have it).

I just start to wonder if not having the cell phone (as well as the re-locating, etc) is a conscious decision to put aside negative influences or negative experiences in the past and re-create a different life free of old habits or ways.

Just a question I have. Certainly do not mean to say that this is anything but speculation.

IMO .. We know Sandra did not support herself before the father died. She lived with him. Its possible she shared a plan with her father or even her father paid for her cell phone whatever the case was and when he died she gave the cell phone up because she would have to pay, and she did not have a job. She didn't sell his house for over a year, so plenty of time to decide you didn't need a cell. She did not work, if she was mostly home, why would she really need a cell phone?

 

[Yemelyan]

Thanks for posting this. It was very informative and eye opening.
I hadn’t read about a note being left. Interesting....
So the daughter & SIL were concerned with LE “not coming up with anything”, which motivated the SIL to install a RING doorbell.
Now I could understand installing the RING, for the safety of my children and my mother. But, Installing the RING to motivate LE to investigate my mothers disappearance... This makes no sense to me, at all.
Until the note shows up on SC’s doorstep.
Why not mail an anonymous letter to LE? Why leave it on the doorstep of SC’s empty home? Possibly to lead LE on a wild goose chase. Rookie mistake. I have no doubts that LE will solve this case. It’s only a matter of time. My goes out to SC, I hope she’s found soon.

I think that the camera was not installed to motivate LE, it was installed because the house was standing empty and the family didn't know if people might try to break in.

I agree that leaving a note that might blow away, get rained on, or otherwise never be found is not as effective as an anonymous note mailed to LE if you really thought you had a useful tip.

 

[Yemelyan]

IMO .. We know Sandra did not support herself before the father died. She lived with him. Its possible she shared a plan with her father or even her father paid for her cell phone whatever the case was and when he died she gave the cell phone up because she would have to pay, and she did not have a job. She didn't sell his house for over a year, so plenty of time to decide you didn't need a cell. She did not work, if she was mostly home, why would she really need a cell phone?

Possibly what you say is correct and while it would not be the choice of many people to go without a cell phone or computer, there would be a few who didn't see the usefulness and for them it would be a totally normal decision.

But, as I said, these decisions are not made in a vacuum and when you look at other circumstances in her life - the re-location that was not her idea, etc etc it does raise the question. I'm sure police have also asked for specifics on this.